Ballads, Lyrics, and Poems of Old France

Andrew LangLongmans, Green, and Co.; Start Classics1872

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Chapters
20
ISBN
9781609776336

Tags

Literature Foreign Literature Lyric PoetryTranslated LiteraturePoetry and BalladsPoetry CollectionAnthologyClassical MythologyBalladsFrench Poetry

Summary

This book is an anthology of English translations of French poetry and ballads compiled by the Scottish man of letters Andrew Lang (1844-1912), first published in 1872 by Longmans, Green and Co. in London under the full title Ballads and Lyrics of Old France: With Other Poems. The first part consists of "translated poems": arranged chronologically by poet, Lang selected and translated works ranging from Charles d'Orléans and François Villon in the 15th century, through the Pléiade poets of the 16th century—Du Bellay, Ronsard, Rémy Belleau, Jacques Tahureau, and Passerat—to Hugo, Nerval, Musset, and Henry Murger in the 19th century, in forms including the rondeau, sonnet, ode, and narrative ballad, such as Villon's "Ballad of the Hanged" and Ronsard's "Roses." The second part collects several French and Greek folk narrative ballads and Greek folk songs, and the third part contains Lang's own compositions—"Poems on Pictures," "Songs and Sonnets," and "To the Poets"—on subjects including Scottish scenery, classical myth, and tributes to earlier poets. As the work of a Victorian scholar-poet, the book preserves a sense of meter and an archaic feel, and is one of the earlier systematic English-language anthologies introducing Old French poetry. No widely circulated Chinese translation is currently available; Chinese readers generally read the original English edition or public-domain e-books.

Editor's review

这是一本容易被书名耽误的好书。它并非古法语原文，而是安德鲁·朗在二十六岁时交出的英译诗集：一位后来以十二卷“彩色童话书”闻名的学者，用维多利亚时代的诗笔，把从维庸到雨果的四百年法国诗心移植进英语。读它最痛快之处在于“跨度”：一边是查理·德·奥尔良回旋诗里的春天与囚禁，一边是维庸在绞刑架阴影下的自嘲与忏悔；翻过几页，又是龙萨劝少女及时采撷玫瑰的著名吟唱，直到雨果式的雄辩与奈瓦尔式的朦胧。朗的译文讲究韵脚与节奏，读起来有声，适合朗读；他的诗人小传与注释简短而可靠，可当作法语诗歌史的入门线索。美中不足是选目带有强烈的个人趣味，希腊民歌与朗本人的诗作占去不少篇幅，与原书名略有出入。若你手上是公版电子本，可对照Project Gutenberg第795号文本进行阅读，版本信息清晰可查。

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Reading tips

  1. 先读开头的“译诗诗人小传”，了解每位诗人所处年代与身份，再进入作品，脉络会清楚很多
  2. 对照Project Gutenberg第795号电子文本按诗人分组阅读，一次只读一位诗人的几首，避免审美疲劳
  3. 尝试朗读并注意韵脚与重音，朗的译文以音节与韵式见长，默读会损失大半乐趣
  4. 遇到回旋诗、十四行诗等体式，先查一下格律规则再回头重读，能看出译者的取舍

About the publisher

Longmans, Green, and Co.; Start Classics

Longmans, Green, and Co. and Start Classics are listed together in our catalog as a single publisher. Public information about them is limited, and details such as their founding background and scale cannot be verified. Judging from the titles currently on record, this publisher focuses on foreign literature, especially the traditions of old French and Anglo-French folk literature. The representative title, Ballads, Lyrics, and Poems of Old France, was compiled by Andrew Lang and gathers old French ballads, lyrics, and poems. Its subjects include folk songs, love, and short narrative verse, and its language combines rhythm with storytelling, reflecting an editorial approach that balances scholarly care with readability. Overall, its publishing direction emphasizes presenting classical and folk poetry of Europe in selected editions, offering readers an entry point into the old French poetic tradition.

Contents

  1. Translator's Preface (Biographies of the Translated Poets)
  2. Charles d'Orléans: Spring, Rondeau
  3. François Villon: Rondeau, The Tree of Love, Ballad of the Hanged
  4. Du Bellay: Ode to the Wind, Vow to the Venus of Heaven, To a Friend in Bliss, Sonnet to Heavenly Beauty
  5. Rémy Belleau: April
  6. Ronsard: Roses, Roses (II), To the Moon, To a Young Lover, The Fatal Kiss, On His Lady's Growing Old, His Lady Waking, His Lady's Death, His Lady's Tomb
  7. Jacques Tahureau: The Lover's Shadow, Moonlight
  8. Passerat: Love in May
  9. Victor Hugo: The Grave and the Rose, The Birth of the Butterfly, Stronger Than Time
  10. Gérard de Nerval: An Old Refrain
  11. Alfred de Musset: Juana
  12. Henry Murger: Spring in the Student Quarter, Old Loves, Musette
  13. Ballads: The Three Captains, The Bridge of Death, Father Sévère, The White Fawn, The Noble Lady, Lost for a Rose
  14. Modern Greek Ballads: The Brigand's Grave, The Sudden Wedding
  15. Greek Folk Songs: Yannoula, The Informer
  16. Twilight and Other Poems: Twilight on the Tweed, A Flower, The Transmigration of Souls, Lost in Hades, Star in the Night, Sunset at Yarrow
  17. Far West Poems: Seeking the Phaeacians, The Song of the Phaeacians, Leaving Phaeacia, Farewell Ballad, Hearing the Sirens Twice, Revisiting Circe's Isle, The End of the Earth
  18. Poems on Pictures: Corinnette, Watteau's Sunset, Botticelli's Christmas
  19. Songs and Sonnets: Two Homes, The End of Summer, Nightingale Weather, Love and Wisdom, Farewell, An Old Prayer, The Miracle of Love, Dream, Fairyland, Two Siren Sonnets, To Fair Helen, Sylvie and Aurélie, The Lost Path, Helen's Shade
  20. To the Poets: Jacques Tahureau, François Villon, Pierre de Ronsard, Gérard de Nerval, The Death of Mirandola

FAQ

这本书是法国诗歌原文吗？ 不是。这是安德鲁·朗编选的英译本，收录他对15至19世纪法国诗人作品的英译，并附本人诗作、希腊民歌等，书中没有古法语原文。
作者是安德鲁·朗还是多位诗人？ 两种说法都对。诗作出自查理·德·奥尔良、维庸、龙萨、雨果等多位法国诗人，安德鲁·朗负责选编与英译，故常以朗的名义出版。
初版是哪一年，有中译本吗？ 初版为1872年伦敦Longmans, Green and Co.印行；2014年Start Classics推出电子版（ISBN 9781609776336）。目前未见通行中译本。
可以在哪里免费读到？ Project Gutenberg第795号收录了该书全文，依据1872年原版转录，可免费阅读或下载，适合与纸本或电子版对照。

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About the author

Andrew Lang Author

Andrew Lang was a British man of letters whose biographical details are limited in publicly available sources; this library holds nine of his works. His writing spans literary criticism, essays and miscellany, translations of foreign literature, and the retelling of folklore, and he left his mark on renderings of old French ballads and lyrics. Representative works held here include Adventures Among Books, the satirical lecture How to Fail in Literature, Letters to Dead Authors, and The Puzzle of Dickens's Last Plot, along with Angling Sketches, New Collected Rhymes, Ballads, Lyrics, and Poems of Old France, and Tales of Troy. These works range widely in subject, offering learned argument, discursive essays on art and letters, and retellings of ancient legend, with a tone that combines erudition and wit and opens a window onto the literary and historical tastes of the late nineteenth century.