Chanson d'automne on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Translating Verlaine
a
textetc.com"Chanson d'automne"
text of the poem, and reading by
'Chanson d'automne '
de Paul Verlaine - (''Association'' Audiocité). * {{librivox book , title=Chanson d'autommne, author=Verlaine (multiple versions) 1866 poems History of telecommunications in France Operation Overlord Poetry by Paul Verlaine
"Chanson d'automne" ("Autumn Song") is a poem by
's Radio Londres had signaled to the Paul Verlaine
Paul-Marie Verlaine (; ; 30 March 1844 – 8 January 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement and the Decadent movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the '' fin de siècle'' in international and ...
(1844–1896), one of the best known in the French language. It is included in Verlaine's first collection, ''Poèmes saturniens
''Poèmes saturniens'' is the first collection of poetry by Paul Verlaine, first published in 1866.
Verlaine was linked with the Parnassien movement in French poetry. He published his first poem in their journal, ''Revue du Progrès moral, litté ...
'', published in 1866 (see 1866 in poetry
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).
Events
*Charles Baudelaire's collection ''Les Épaves'' is published in Belgium containing poems suppressed from ''Les Fl ...
). The poem forms part of the "Paysages tristes" ("Sad landscapes") section of the collection.
In World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
lines from the poem were used to send messages from Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...
(SOE) to the French Resistance
The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...
about the timing of the forthcoming Invasion of Normandy.
Content
Critical analysis
The poem uses several stylistic devices and is in many ways typical of Verlaine, in that it employs sound techniques such asconsonance
In music, consonance and dissonance are categorizations of simultaneous or successive sounds. Within the Western tradition, some listeners associate consonance with sweetness, pleasantness, and acceptability, and dissonance with harshness, unpl ...
(the repetition of "n" and "r" sounds) that also creates an onomatopoeic effect, sounding both monotonous and like a violin. In the second verse, the stop consonant and pause after the word ''suffocant'' reflect the meaning of the word. At the age of 22, Verlaine uses the symbolism
Symbolism or symbolist may refer to:
Arts
* Symbolism (arts), a 19th-century movement rejecting Realism
** Symbolist movement in Romania, symbolist literature and visual arts in Romania during the late 19th and early 20th centuries
** Russian sym ...
of autumn in the poem to describe a sad view of growing old.
Use in World War II
In preparation for Operation Overlord, theBBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...French Resistance
The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...
with the opening lines of the 1866 Verlaine poem "Chanson d'Automne" were to indicate the start of D-Day operations under the command of the Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...
. The first three lines of the poem, "Les sanglots longs / des violons / de l'automne" ("Long sobs of autumn violins"), would mean that Operation Overlord was to start within two weeks. These lines were broadcast on 1 June 1944. The next set of lines, "Blessent mon coeur / d'une langueur / monotone" ("wound my heart with a monotonous languor"), meant that it would start within 48 hours and that the resistance should begin sabotage operations, especially on the French railroad system; these lines were broadcast on 5 June at 23:15.
Adaptation in songs
In 1940Charles Trenet
Louis Charles Augustin Georges Trenet (; 18 May 1913 – 19 February 2001) was a renowned French singer-songwriter who composed both the music and the lyrics to nearly a thousand songs over a career that lasted more than 60 years. These include ...
made changes to the words of the poem in order to change it into a song. There has been speculation that it was the popularity of his version that led to the use of the poem by SOE.
A later French singer, Serge Gainsbourg, uses parts of the poem in the lyrics of his song " Je suis venu te dire que je m'en vais" ("I've come here to tell you that I am leaving").
The poem was also set to music by French-American artist Laurent de Kiev on his "De Musset à Sardou" album in 2021.
See also
*The Longest Day (film)
''The Longest Day'' is a 1962 American epic war film, shot in black and white and based on Cornelius Ryan's 1959 non-fiction book of the same name about the D-Day landings at Normandy on June 6, 1944. The film was produced by Darryl F. Zan ...
* Verlaine Message Museum
References
External links
Translating Verlaine
a
textetc.com
text of the poem, and reading by
Jean-Claude Pascal
Jean-Claude Villeminot (24 October 1927 – 5 May 1992), better known as Jean-Claude Pascal (), was a French comedian, actor, singer and writer.
Early life
He was born in Paris into a family of wealthy textile manufacturers. His mother, ...
* Livres audio mp3 gratuit'Chanson d'automne '
de Paul Verlaine - (''Association'' Audiocité). * {{librivox book , title=Chanson d'autommne, author=Verlaine (multiple versions) 1866 poems History of telecommunications in France Operation Overlord Poetry by Paul Verlaine