French Fries!!

Synopsis: French poetry started as a reaction against dependence upon traditional uses of line in verse.
At the time of the prose poem's emergence,French poetry was dominated by the concept of "Alexandrine".An alexandrine is a line of poetic meter comprising 12 syllables where each line is divided into two equal parts by a caesura(that is puntuation marks) between the sixth and seventh syllables. Alternatively, the line is divided into three four-syllable sections by two caesuras. This extremely strict and demanding form of poetry was initaly rebelled by noteworthy poets such as Aloysius Bertrand and Charles Baudelaire rebelled agaist. Further proponents of the prose poem included other French poets such as Arthur Rimbaud and Stéphane Mallarmé.
The prose poem however, continued to be written in France till the 20th century by such writers as Max Jacob and Francis Ponge.
Heres a classic poem taught to students in all French institutions called "Le Printemps" (Springtime) by noted poet Théophile Gautier.



Le Printemps -par Théophile Gautier

Regardez les branches
Comme elles sont blanches,
Il neige des fleurs.
Riant de la pluie
Le soleil essuie
les saules en pleurs.
Et le ciel reflète
Dans la violette
Ses pures couleurs…
La mouche ouvre l’aile
Et la demoiselle
Aux prunelles d’or,
Au corset de guêpe
Dépliant son crêpe,
A repris l’essor.
L’eau gaiement babille,
Le goujon frétille
Un printemps encore !


TRANSLATION:

Springtime
-By Théophile Gautier

Look at the boughs,
How white they are,
It’s snowing flowers!
Scoffing at the rain,
The sun dries
The weepy willow.
And the sky reflects
In the violets
Its pure colors…
The fly opens its wings
And the dragonfly
With the golden pupils,
And the wasp-like corset,
Unfolding its silky wings,
Has resumed its flight.
The water happily babbles,
The tiny fish wriggles
It’s Springtime again!