"Chanson d'automne" ("Autumn Song") is a poem by Paul Verlaine (1844–1896), one of the best known in the

French language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...

. It is included in Verlaine's first collection, '' Poèmes saturniens'', 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 lines from the poem were used to send messages from Special Operations Executive (SOE) to the French Resistance about the timing of the forthcoming

Invasion of Normandy Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Norm ...

Content

Paul Verlaine - Chanson d'automne - Pieterskerkhof 4, Leiden

Critical analysis

The poem uses several

stylistic device In literature and writing, stylistically elements are the use of any of a variety of techniques to give an :wikt:auxiliary, auxiliary meaning, ideas, or feeling to the literalism or written. Figurative language A figure of speech is any way of ...

s and is in many ways typical of Verlaine, in that it employs sound techniques such as consonance (the repetition of "n" and "r" sounds) that also creates an

onomatopoeic Onomatopoeia is the process of creating a word that phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Such a word itself is also called an onomatopoeia. Common onomatopoeias include animal noises such as ''oink'', ''m ...

effect, sounding both monotonous and like a violin. In the second verse, the

stop consonant In phonetics, a plosive, also known as an occlusive or simply a stop, is a pulmonic consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases. The occlusion may be made with the tongue tip or blade (, ), tongue body (, ), lips ...

and pause after the word ''suffocant'' reflect the meaning of the word. At the age of 22, Verlaine uses the symbolism of autumn in the poem to describe a sad view of growing old.

Use in World War II

In preparation for

Operation Overlord Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allies of World War II, Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Front (World War II), Western Europe during World War II. The operat ...

, the BBC's

Radio Londres ''Radio Londres'' (, French for "Radio London") was a radio station broadcast from 1940 to 1944 by the BBC in London to German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi-occupied France. It was entirely in French Language, French and was o ...

had signaled to the French Resistance 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 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 1940 Charles Trenet 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 Serge Gainsbourg (; born Lucien Ginsburg; 2 April 1928 – 2 March 1991) was a French musician, singer-songwriter, actor, author and filmmaker. Regarded as one of the most important figures in French pop, he was renowned for often provoca ...

, 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.

References

External links

Translating Verlaine
a
textetc.com"Chanson d'automne"
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, ...