Details
MAUPASSANT, Guy de (1850-1893). Autograph manuscript poem, 'Ce que pense Charlemagne', Rouen, 28 January 1869, 132 lines of verse, on a bifolium, 4 pages, 8vo (slightly browned, a few tiny holes from ink erosion, small tear in outer edge of 2nd leaf).
'Certes, mes bons amis, je ne sais rien de pire
Que de faire des vers quand on n'a rien à dire,
Depuis bientôt un mois j'attendais tous les jours
Une inspiration; mais je l'attends toujours
Ma verve s'est éteinte, il faut qu'on la rallume,
Mon pauvre esprit grelotte et ma muse a le rhume
Moi, je dors ... '
An amusing poem written when Maupassant was eighteen to be read at the traditional banquet of the Lycée Corneille of Rouen, celebrating the feast of Saint Charlemagne, patron saint of students. The poet describes his arrival, despite St Peter's obstruction, in Paradise where he finds Charlemagne and the other saints enjoying a noisy and convivial dinner, discussing recent inventions including steam trains, gas, electric light and the bicycle-- 'Et le Vélocipède intriguait Saint Eloi'. Charlemagne greets him warmly and utters some patriotic sentiments but is shocked that the collège celebrates his feast with only a half-day's holiday for the pupils: 'Un demi-jour pour moi! Tu mens mon bon ami ... Comment, dans ce collège, il n'est point de recteur?', and Maupassant neatly slips in a protest at the better treatment of students in Paris.
First printed in the Revue illustrée in 1898, the poem is published from the present manuscript in Emmanuel Vincent's edition of Maupassant: Des Vers et Autres Poèmes (Rouen, 2001, pages 181-185). The only other known autograph manuscript of the work, signed but undated and including minor variants, is in the Musée de l'Education de Rouen.
'Certes, mes bons amis, je ne sais rien de pire
Que de faire des vers quand on n'a rien à dire,
Depuis bientôt un mois j'attendais tous les jours
Une inspiration; mais je l'attends toujours
Ma verve s'est éteinte, il faut qu'on la rallume,
Mon pauvre esprit grelotte et ma muse a le rhume
Moi, je dors ... '
An amusing poem written when Maupassant was eighteen to be read at the traditional banquet of the Lycée Corneille of Rouen, celebrating the feast of Saint Charlemagne, patron saint of students. The poet describes his arrival, despite St Peter's obstruction, in Paradise where he finds Charlemagne and the other saints enjoying a noisy and convivial dinner, discussing recent inventions including steam trains, gas, electric light and the bicycle-- 'Et le Vélocipède intriguait Saint Eloi'. Charlemagne greets him warmly and utters some patriotic sentiments but is shocked that the collège celebrates his feast with only a half-day's holiday for the pupils: 'Un demi-jour pour moi! Tu mens mon bon ami ... Comment, dans ce collège, il n'est point de recteur?', and Maupassant neatly slips in a protest at the better treatment of students in Paris.
First printed in the Revue illustrée in 1898, the poem is published from the present manuscript in Emmanuel Vincent's edition of Maupassant: Des Vers et Autres Poèmes (Rouen, 2001, pages 181-185). The only other known autograph manuscript of the work, signed but undated and including minor variants, is in the Musée de l'Education de Rouen.
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