·Also published in this Series
Arturo Barea: UNAMUNO
Roy Campbell: LORCA
Hans Egon Holthusen: RILKE
P. Mansell Jones: BAUDELAIRE
Iris Murdoch: SARTRE
L. S. Salzberger: HÖLDERLIN
Elizabeth Sewell: PAUL VALÉRY
Cecil Sprigge: BENEDETTO CROCE
J. P. Stern: ERNST JÜNGER
Martin Turnell: JACQUES RIVIÈRE
Other titles are in preparation

·M I S T R A L
BY
ROB LYLE
BOWES & BOWES
CAMBRIDGE

·First published in 1953 in the Series
Studies in Modern European Literature and Thought
by Bowes & Bowes Publishers Limited, Cambridge
Dedicated to
FÉLICIA LYLE
Printed in the Netherlands
by Joh. Enschedé en Zonen, Haarlem

·I - - unt Rhône. But his most striking illumination will come when he approaches the heart of this country of Provence which he has entered: and for this moment nature and man have combined to provide an appropriate setting The Roman arch at Orange is the gateway to the 'sweet South', the gateway to both the southern cl'-- 'n mind. For nowhere el . plendour of Our world immediate physical impact. This country is one of the anvils upon which Mediterranean civilization was hammered out. Inhabited originally by the Ligurians, it knew the Phoenician traders, and the Phoceans Lalond. pl. Rome. Thoma-T-L-'---' il is 111 portant lo realise that thus country has never been truly French: the change of atmosphere that our traveller experienced was not merely an effect of climate, still less of imagination. Even 5 ·Scais has lef: is maris tery. for the l'is Sueliz. which rar from Fire to Cacis. passed through the city of Arles. iself an insco Fest contre Saracecic iivasick. At the same time, ter biccric accogatical reasces, Provence reter aitzined to a mulindrical erstecce. Vov. Ive are apt to think of it as 2 lid of pice.teborecf the Troubadours and the Courts ci Lcrt. a indeed it was: 20c nezreapt to forget that it was also I cer- wiere cbe Medrerraces peoples intermitgled. a place terperd Ey cocial scite. ac svept by Estorical wirds as Serce 3tie istral which whistles across iss sparse plains and tama-s. TE '3c Ecer: He can be seer ard studied tocar is the famous cf the women of Prorecce and core parcuz those cf te wiper cf. bries. I Eave before pe an old pccccf crie suce circle cf catur. as I write. Her face Las the scit tu. Elise cf the Greekand with the traditional Gres Sess cfsen: 2 cobik of prcfle that was, and still is, Rors: a rich ac sccclderis filless that is Spanish: 2 celicacy ci fa da referir: that is wholly French. Iris Serracialaste serental citute, Eus expressed Be ca ci siam, eat makes of Provence a wirdow then cócce car ceseretbe Lamarind. For the Medicarnearis prcäc za cverse; the Italizn ard the Spariard. tie Eerberac the Govekar Frofcu-diy. Tte essential çuality which they have is co-cris clscurec by existential differesces. The forces which cave prcduced accrefced these distinct 2005. ac caused these direcces, cave played less Eercely, or less eficace the people cf Provence with the result that me bare scceria bat is cet Frorerçal, ac yet belongs [Qwhere else: sobeching. is stort. that is truly “Vlediterracean? 2-0 La. it the sese tice this very quality tisdered the country's adecuace sekeression. Ever the Troubadours. popularly the creaico cf: Proverçal Literatze. wrote II a synthetic larguage. It *33 a literary language. 2 reficerert or "higtest common factor of the pavariants of the Largue d'Oc spoken in the several districts of te Vlidi. This language cene into being with Gomme de Poicters. the eleventh century, and it died with the VECES Szes to which it belocgs. Subsequert poets, writing - Langue d'Oc. wocte in whatever variant of that tongue hapfered to freva in their own district: thev certainly did not atart to follow in the radition of the Troubadours. The Largce coc. one of the oldest of the Romance languages. had Eecccea peasant patris. It was left to literary Roracticisras always ccecerring itself with what is recote and unrealto reawaker interest the reglected tongue:its protagonists turned Ecstalgically to the Middle Ages for inspiration, and unearthed che Trocbacous:vele their interest in fok-lore served to revive 6 ·1 TL who possessed the poetic name of Jasmin These writers and poets, with others like them, were the pioneers in a revival that, if we except the harshly realistic Gelu, was essentially Romantic The mixture of forces and elements already noted was the very factor which, while giving to Provence its unique character, prevented its individual expression indilt roch andra 1 Tha mhananthan nnnn ed, there was the promise, subsequently fulfilled, of an epic literature which would be truly Mediterranean just because it was truly Provençal it was also natural that, when this came, it should have a nostalgic and valedictory quality All epics tend to be heroic laments, summaries of, or funeral orations upon, the days that are no more, carrying with them the implication that Il was Luunu a uiuerent xmu Ol Voice Un May 2181, 1054, an II The tree-lined road that can be seen stretching southwards, : T the facha lies the last Lady's' Fréd riage ] + 7 ·how his father, François, met Delaïde, the young daughter of the mayor of Maillane, working in the fields at harvest: he likens the scene to that of the meeting of Ruth and Boaz. Six months after this mecting the couple were married. François is a character of extraordinary grandeur, 'brought up and cducated, like the Provençaux of old, in the Roman tradition': he was to Icave an indeliblc impression on the mind of his son, and is immortaliscd in thc patriarchs of Mistral's epics. This man, who would have been equally at home in Genesis, or Hesiod, or Homer, was the stern but just ruler of his rustic kingdom. Frédéric's childhood was idyllic and his development was nurtured by a patriarchal tradition of immense antiquity whose ancient ways and wisdom the forces of progress threatened but had not then overthrown: How gay it was, that world of rustic works! Each season rencwed the cycle of labours. The ploughing, the sowing, the shearing, the mowing, the silkworms, the reaping, the threshing, the picking and gathering of the olives, spread out before my eyes the majestic motions of the agricultural life, always hard, but always calm and free. A whole race of servants, of labourers hired by the month or the day, of weeders, and of haymakers, came and went on the farm, carrying on their shoulders goads or pitchforks or rakes, and worked always with noble gestures, as in the paintings of Léopold Robert. When, for dinner or supper, one after another, they entered the farmhouse, and sat down, each according to his rank, round the great table, with my father at the head, he would gravely ask them questions and make his observations, on the Hocks, the weather, and the work of the day, if things had been well, if the earth were hard or soft or in good order. Then, the meal over, the first carter closed the blade of his knife and all rose at once. My father dominated all these country people by his stature, by his judgement, and by his nobility. He was a great and beautiful old man, dignified in his speech, kindly to the poor world, harsh only to himself. Appropriately too, this patriarch was a man of profound faith. He had lived too near to life not to feel and reverence its majesty and wonder, and he who had read but three books, the Bible, the Imitation of Christ, and Don Quixote, was too wise and too perceptive not to feel humility. Mistral has described how each evening, winter and summer, he would kneel on a chair, head bare and hands crossed, and read the prayers to the assembled company: but it was at Christmas that the fervent glow of his 8

·No text on this page.

·could recognise that the individual person is sacred, while, at the same time, it was humble enough to realise that he is continually at the mercy of his own fallen nature. With much shouting and self-glorification, the prophets of progress, the pundits cf infinite knowledge, the professional radicals, the merely greedy, announced the release of mankind from the chains of ignorance and superstition. They succumbed to the silliest superstition of all—that God is made in the image of man-and forged for themselves the terrible chains of that presumptuous licence which is the mockery of liberty. That way of life cannot return as it was; but return it must, in a form appropriate to the time. Its structure and its fruits can, however, be studied; for, fortunately, its Latin harmony, the flower of Christian civilization, found immortal expression in the works of the poet whom it brought forth. Frédéric Mistral's early schooling was in keeping with this background. At the age of eight he was sent to St Michel-de- Frigolet, an establishment run by a certain M. Donat who, very sensibly, was more interested in play and happiness than in work. Unfortunately, this gay institution went the way of all flesh, and, at the age of thirteen, Mistral was sent to the Collége Royal d'Avignon. Here he was subjected to two decisive influences. First, he found himself among people who spoke French, and despised him for his regional accent (at home he spoke the dialect) and for his country ways; and here, also, he met the college usher, Roumanille. The first experience touched his pride and, because his upbringing had been of that traditional kind which forms character, its effect was to stimulate his innate independence and his interest in the speech and customs of his people which were to lead both to his writings and to his public life as a regionalist. The meeting with Roumanille belongs to a different order of experience: it represents that moment in the creative life when all which before was confused aspiration becomes inspired purpose. There is a break in the clouds, and the stars without which one can yoyage no further can clearly be seen. Joseph Roumanille was twelve years older than Mistral; 'a young professor with a fine black beard', and a gifted lyric poet of delicacy and pastoral simplicity. One day he found Mistral translating the penitential psalms into Provençal and thereupon recited a group of his own lyrics: 'a true blossoming of April flowers', writes Mistral, ‘of wild flowers, flowers prophetic of the felibrean spring which ravished me until I exclaimed to myself: Here is the dawn for which my soul was waiting so that it might open to the light!' Roumanille initiated Mistral into the mysteries of his own poetic art, and recited to him the work of Jasmin, the Marquis de la Fare-Alais, and Gelu: for him, poetry and morality and religion must go hand in hand: the purest vision will come of the 10

·Three years later Mistral went to the University of Aix, to
T
1
J
0
Thoma -
ma ha had haan
III
In 1851, Mistral started to write Mfireto This poem was not
completed until 1858, when he gave the first reading of at to a
group of friends, including the poet Aubanel who, as a critic
has said, 18 to Mistral what Catullus was to Virgil It is the first,
and perhaps the finest flower of that cıvılızation into which he
to make clear that he is to do this, not through some exalted
character, 'with golden diadem and damask mantle', but, as
befits one who 'sings only for you, shepherds and people of the
farms', through the person of a typical maiden of his beloved
countryside, in whom it is not difficult to see a recollection of
that young girl whom his father woocd, the mayor's daughter,
standing alone amid the alien com
A maiden of Provence I sing
In the love of her youth's spring,
Towards the sea, across the Crau !
1 For the or gical Provençal of this and the following translations (which are all by
Rob Lyle) see Appendix page 38
II

·This introduction is followed by an invocation to Christ, 'born among shepherdis', from whom is all inspiration, and to whom thc poct's prayer riscs, that, like thic birds, on the wings 'of our Provençal longuc', he may attain to that branch whosc fruits lic beyond the roach of the pickers. Then thc talc begins. Mestc Ambròsi, thc baskct-maker, and his son, Vincen, ask hospitality at the Mas di Falabrego, thc Farm of thc Mulberries, whcrc Mirčio, daughter of Mesto Ramoun, makes them wclcomic. Nieste Ambròsi is prevailed upon by the farm-labourers to sing an old ballad, and Vincen, qucstioned by Mirčio, tells of youthful sports and contests. As a result, love opcns in her heart, as sw'cctly and naturally as a flower in spring. Between our world and Mirčio's, Ircud has lct fall the cold fog of his puritanical analysis, and has reduced to the dead level of sexual appctitc thc sharp pcaks of youthful passion, with thcir snow-caps of sunlit joys and thcir alpenrol of transitory despairs. For, in Nircio's world, though they bc touched with the shadow of Original Sin, its characters are not yet warped by the revolt of a much greater presumption; thcirs is a world wherein it is permitted 10 children to bc young, and to old men to be wise. And what delightful children they arc; this Mirčio: Fiftccn summers had Mirdio And thc bluc coast of Font-Vicio, You hills of Baux, you plains of Crau, You've never scon such lovcliness! The sun had granted it such grace, And, fresh and innoccnt, her face With dimplcd checks like flowers did blow. Her look was dew upon the lcar That dissipates all sign of grief, Starlight is less sweet and purc: It shonc in those black locks whose flow Fashioncd its ringlets on her brow And her rounded brcast was now A double pcach, still immature. . and this Vincèn: Vincèn was not as yet sixteen But in his form and face was seen Fine youth, and promise in his glance- Burncd brown, it's truc... but the black earth To the best vintage will give birth And from the raisin dark as dearth There comes the wine to make you dance. 12 ·T--- 1.'13.- 1 A. the second canto, Mirèio and Vincèn declare their love for each other, in one of the most delicately sweet love-scenes in all literature, they do so with all the reverent eagerness of people imbued with the idea that one's neighbour is uniquely and irreplaceably valuable; they do so with a kind of awe at this perennial but ever fresh exposure of divinity--the eternal love and grace somehow manifesting itself under the symbols of darkes 3d red lips, and the inexplicable tenderness of line utics de the onset of human passion, that sweet cry in the corresbo of our existence whose echoes sound through the toolsmes for ever and ever. This scene, of pure enchantment, is introdde rupted, by a refrain which delicately paint aire acond to the human drama; for it is the time of the ring: Sing, magnanarello, sing! For to harvest is to sing! The silkworm its third crop sa The mulberry trees and Round whom the Sy was A flight of golden beste was To rob the rosemary ! Mistral is particularly happy Sisszadobo painting, and he is sensitite to v zrizis of nature, but, unlike many porthagecrot patur at the expense of man; for him to of creation, and his nature STErrico y es . . trovençal history and Bilepnerd, Alari. Mistral exploits the integridade, he leads his huge bend descris hand and with his white , SE pastoral agç, biblicalzados no which remind one ·The second suitor is Véran, the gardian, or herdsman, of the Camargue, and through him we are given a vision of the wild horses of the plain, which roam there to this day, watched over by the cowboys with their tridents, or triple-pronged lances. Finally, there comes the toucadou, Ourrias, the breeder of fighting bulls. In stanzas of great vigour, Mistral describes the rounding up of the herd for branding; the epic contest between Ourrias and one of the bulls, which he eventually overturns by the horns; and his final goring, by another bull, which leaves him with a long and sinister scar. While each suitor has been used to elaborate on an aspect of Provençal life, the story has been suspended: but each suitor is rejected, and with the refusal of Ourrias, it begins to move forward quickly again. For, unlike the others, Ourrias cannot reconcile himself to the blow. Angry and sullen, he turns homeward over the desolate Crau. There he meets Vincèn, coming towards him: Ourrias insults him, and they fight. Ourrias is beaten, but when Vincèn spares him Ourrias treacherously strikes him with his trident and leaves him for dead. He hurries on his way which leads him to the banks of the Rhône. Crossing in the ferry, he sees, upon the further bank, the St Medard's night procession, composed of the souls of those who have been drowned in the river: and he too must drown, for it is a phantom boat in which he is crossing and it slowly sinks beneath him. The fight between Vincèn and Ourrias is characteristic of Mistral's reading of life. His hero must be a man and prove worthy of his beloved; for, in that world, lovely girls desire marriage, and a large family, and fine sons. The epic hero is usually, of necessity, almost super-human, a man of destiny, for he must be a symbol as well as a leader of men. In Mirdio, Mistral combines, in Vincèn, the qualities required of an epic hero with those common to any spirited young man of his country. In that vision of the world which the Mediterranean seems to impose on its sons, the keynote is clarity. Line and colour combine to limit, to order, to define. The individual takes on a special significance, and his functions are more precisely ordered than elsewhere. It is the same with the person's relations with his neighbour: these too must be clarified; each must have his place and his function, for the ultimate aim is harmony, between men and men, between men and women, between man and nature, between man and God. Hence Vincèn, who defeats evil in the form of Ourrias, is not acting in an exceptional way, for the sake of a literary tradition: he is reflecting, idealistically if you will, a code of action, a code of honour, characteristic of his race and of the Catholic culture of which he is the product. Mistral on to the old epic tradition of the Aegean has grafted the shoot of a living religious ethos, filling out the form of the classical hero with the richer 14 ·1 L 1 Gods--to which even as late as Camoens the epic poet had re course—he introduces Christian mysticism, in this episode of the country Vincèn is found by swineherds and carried back to the farm The sixth canto tells how he is restored to health by the witch, Taven, who lives in a cave in the Alpilles It is a characteristic record of local legend and folk lore, which, however, somewhat holds up the action This is resumed in the next canto, wherein Vincèn prevails upon his father to visit Mèste Ramoun and ask, on his son's 1 1 10 François, are finally alone, Ambròsı has his say, the suit is rejected This set back, so necessary to the whole story, is the one vesters dance the farandole in honour of their patron saint With proud heads high and free of care, Tumbling in the vibrant air, As one, they jumped and struck the ground As into the farandole they sped The great flame crackled and was spread To strike reflections from each head By the great wind that whirled around A swirl of sparks soars furiously Like unleashed stars, into the sky, 1 I have portrayed him in my poem under two different forms Afeste Ambrose d Art Ramous I have not put into these two characters of old men I have not attributed to them a wogle word that I had not scen in my old father or hcard from his mouth. (from a letter to Adolphe Dramas ) 15 ·ing up The second suitor is Véran, the gardian, or herdsman, of the Camargue, and through him we are given a vision of the wild horses of the plain, which roam there to this day, watched over by the cowboys with their tridents, or triple-pronged lances. Finally, there comes the toucadou, Ourrias, the breeder of fighting bulls. In stanzas of great vigour, Mistral describes the roundof the herd for branding; the epic contest between Ourrias and one of the bulls, which he eventually ove urns by the horns; and his final goring, by another bull, which leaves him with a long and sinister scar. While each suitor has been used to elaborate on an aspect of Provençal life, the story has been suspended: but each suitor is rejected, and with the refusal of Ourrias, it begins to move forward quickly again. For, unlike the others, Ourrias cannot reconcile himself to the blow. Angry and sullen, he turns homeward over the desolate Crau. There he meets Vincèn, coming towards him: Ourrias insults him, and they fight. Ourrias is beaten, but when Vincèn spares him Ourrias treacherously strikes him with his trident and leaves him for dead. He hurries on his way which leads him to the banks of the Rhône. Crossing in the ferry, he sees, upon the further bank, the St Medard's night procession, composed of the souls of those who have been drowned in the river: and he too must drown, for it is a phantom boat in which he is crossing and it slowly sinks beneath him. The fight between Vincèn and Ourrias is characteristic of Mistral's reading of life. His hero must be a man and prove worthy of his beloved; for, in that world, lovely girls desire marriage, and a large family, and fine sons. The epic hero is usually, of necessity, almost super-human, a man of destiny, for he must be a symbol as well as a leader of men. In Mirèio, Mistral combines, in Vincèn, the qualities required of an epic hero with those common to any spirited young man of his country. In that vision of the world which the ,"i anean seems to impose on its sons, the keynote is clarity: and colour combine to 1'.:: to order, to define. The indi es on a special signifi and his functions are m ordered than elsew is the same with the with his neight too must be clarified; . his place and for the ultimate aim is men and women, nature, God. Hence Vincen il in the not acting in an ev the sake tion: he is refler ; if you wi a code of honour, culture of which i. M. tradition of the the ethos, filling out WY men and his rai ·content of the Christian interpretation of man; with the Roman reading of life. country. ... IL - L - 1.-'11--1 r holds up the action. This is resumed in the next canto, wherein Vincèn prevails upon his father to visit Mèste Ramoun and ask, on his son's ir . of them made in the image of the poet's remarkable father, François, are finally alone, Ambròsi has his say, the suit is rejected. This set-back, so necessary to the whole story, is the one With proud heads high and free of care, Tumbling in the vibrant air, As one, they jumped and struck the ground As into the farandole they sped. The great flame crackled and was spread To strike reflections from each head By the great wind that whirled around, A swirl of sparks soars furiously Like unleashed stars, into the sky 'I have portrayed him in my poem under two different forms, Afiste Ambrón e Mësis Romoun I have not put into these two characters of old men, I have not attributed to them a single word that I had not been in my old father, or heard from hu mouth (from a letter to Adolphe Dumas) 15 ·The second suitor is Véran, thc gardian, or herdsman, of the Camarguc, and through him we are given a vision of the wild horses of the plain, which roam there to this day, watched over by the cowboys with their tridents, or triplc-pronged lances. Finally, there comes thic toucadou, Ourrias, the breeder of fighting bulls. In stanzas of grcat vigour, Mistral describes the rounding up of the herd for branding; thc cpic contest between Ourrias and one of the bulls, which he cventually overturns by the horns; and his final goring, by another bull, which leaves him with a long and sinister scar. Whilc cach suitor has been used to elaborate on an aspect of Provençal lifc, the story has been suspended: but each suitor is rcjccted, and with the refusal of Ourrias, it begins to move forward quickly again. For, unlike the others, Ourrias cannot reconcilc himself to the blow. Angry and sullen, he turns homeward over the desolate Crau. Thcrc hc mccts Vincèn, coming towards him: Ourrias insults him, and they fight. Ourrias is bcaten, but when Vincèn spares him Ourrias trcachcrously strikes him with his trident and leaves him for dead. He hurrics on his way which leads him to the banks of the Rhône. Crossing in thc ferry, he sees, upon the further bank, the St Medard's night procession, composed of the souls of those who have been drowned in the river: and he too must drown, for it is a phantom boat in which he is crossing and it slowly sinks bencath him. The fight between Vincèn and Ourrias is characteristic of Mistral's reading of life. His hero must be a man and prove worthy of his beloved; for, in that world, lovely girls desire marriage, and a large family, and fine sons. The epic hero is usually, of necessity, almost super-human, a man of destiny, for he must be a symbol as well as a leader of men. In Mirèio, Mistral combines, in Vincèn, the qualities required of an epic hero with those common to any spirited young man of his country. In that vision of the world which the Mediterranean seems to impose on its sons, the keynote is clarity. Line and colour combine to limit, to order, to define. The individual takes on a special significance, and his functions are more precisely ordered than elsewhere. It is the same with the person's relations with his neighbour: these too must be clarified; each must have his place and his function, for the ultimate aim is harmony, between men and men, between men and women, between man and nature, between man and God. Hence Vincèn, who defeats evil in the form of Ourrias, is not acting in an exceptional way, for the sake of a literary tradition: he is reflecting, idealistically if you will, a code of action, a code of honour, characteristic of his race and of the Catholic culture of which he is the product. Mistral on to the old epic tradition of the Aegean has grafted the shoot of a living religious ethos, filling out the form of the classical hero with the richer 14 ·content of the Christian interpretation of man, with the Roman reading of life country 11 nous up the action This is resumed in the next canto, wherein Vincèn prevails upon his father to visit Mèste Ramoun and ask on his son's behalf, for Mireio's hand He arrives at the farm with a group of harvesters, and all are royally entertained by the master When these two old men so like each other in many ways and both of them made in the image of the poet s remarkable father, François, are finally alone, Ambrosi has his say, the suit is rejected This set back, so necessary to the whole story, is the one romantic element in the poem and is reminiscent of that Trou badour tradition which insisted that the highest love is unsatisfied and frustrated by circumstance, if not by the will of its prota- Am 21 JT 1 vesters dance the farandole in honour of their patron saint TE As into the farandole they sped The great flame crackled and was spread To strike reflections from each head By the great wind that whirled around A swirl of sparks coars furiously Like unleashed stars, into the sky, 1 I have portrayed h 11 my pocna uader two d fferent forms Misis Ambrds et Moste Ramow I have not put ato these two characters of old men I have not attnbuted to them a nagle word that I had not scca in my old father or heard from hu mouth (from a letter to Adolphe Dumas ) 15 ·As in the flamc thc firc-wood tumbles, Whilc mingling with the tumult goes Thc gay and playful flute that blows Like a trec-sparrow in the boughs- St John, for you thc pregnant country trembles ! Thc ſurnace sparked and danced with joy, Thc tambourine monotonously Droncd, buzzed and muttered like the sea When in the decp with peaceful beat It murmurs round carth's rocky feet, While thc burned dancers, dark with heat, Brandished their shining blades on high. Thon, with cnormous jumps, three times They firc off muskets through the flames And over the red blaze they gyre, While from one tress of corn they glean the Husks into the dying ember Clasping St John's Wort and verbena, Blessed in the purifying fire: 'St John! St John! St John!' they cried. And then it seemed the hills had died And stars through all the shades were pouring, The while a wilful gust had brought Air from the hills with incense fraught Which, with the glow the fire had wrought, Through the blue dusk towards the Saint went soaring. These descriptive frescos are common in Mistral, especially in his early work. The poet has constructive power of an unusual order for, while he builds up his scenes with many realistic details, these are successfully subordinated to the whole, which, at the end, emerges vivid and complete, standing out in the mind's eye like a piece of sculpture. Mistral has applied the plastic genius of the south, its visual sense and its sense of form, which is almost tactile, to poetry, the art of time, with marvellous results. Only Dante, among poets, excels him in this quality; but Dante's method, and his purpose, are quite different. Meanwhile, Mirèio remembers Vincen's advice, to call on the aid of Li Santo, the Holy Marys, if ever she be in trouble. She decides to set out, and leaves the house secretly. The eighth canto describes the first part of her journey across the barren Crau, a place of pitiless heat and waterless wastes. Eventually she comes across some Rhône fishermen who shelter her for the night. Back at the farm, Mesté Ramoun has discovered her absence. 16 ·He organuses a search, sending a runner to ask news of all the labourers By this perfectly logical device, we are given a picture of the whole farm and all who work on it, for the runner passes from the mowers to the ploughmen, from the plouglımen to the harvesters, and ends up, on the boundaries of the farm, with the solitary shepherds, keeping watch over their flocks One old shepherd saw Mireio pass by before dawn, and heard the name of L. Santo on her lips Her parents, hearing this, set off in pursuit This minth canto is a marvel of observation, organisation, and description, a feast of colour and energy At the same time it is n Chacate TO ܘܬ As he was speaking, on the Rhône, والها لله وان هه As shepherdess her snowy charges nen She masses on nto the As. cr di la re O Holy Marys dear, Who can change the tear Into the flower, Hear my prayer In this dark hour! Alas' when you will see My great agony And all my care, You will comfort me With piteous air I am a young girl Who loves a boy, 17 ·Vincèn the beautiful! Dear Saints I love him, he Is all my joy. I love him! I love him Even as the rill Delights to run, Or the strong bird will Soar in the sun. They would that I extinguish This fire so strong and free That does not wish to perish! They would I should not cherish The flowering almond-tree! O Holy Marys dear, Who can change the tear Into the flower, Hear my prayer In this dark hour! I have come from far To find peace here. Crau nor heath could bar Ny steps, nor mother's care Could hold me there! And the sun so fierce is, I feel his rays like rain Of nails and a great pain, As though with thorns he pierces My burning brain. But, have faith in what I say! Give me my Vincen; When, full of joy and gay We will both come back then, To see you once again. O the throbbing in my brain Will no longer burn; The tears that tumble down like rain And my looks with sorrow stain To shining joy will turn. This joy that joins us two My father won't behold: 18 ·To touch him where he's cold Isn't much to ask of you, Lovely Saints of gold For though the olive on the hill May grow up hard and bent And seem immutable The wind that blows at Advent Matures it when it will The medlar and the rowan, So bitter when one starts To cut, need but be shaken, A little grass be taken To soften their hard hearts 17 AL ann O Holy Marys dear, Who can change the tear Into the flower, Hear my prayer In this dark hour! --nront the Marys nd, bles, i to Provence, and their conyersion of her country Once again, Mistral is able to use the passionate and uncomplicated faith of his countrymen and women to raise his narrative to another level of experience, illuminating the old and worn out mechanism of epic powers with a delicate Christian mysticism W. L. 1. Vad me ngronto hase arrived and found her in the roof, where are the o arrives from over the r side and she welcomes nsoled by her vision, to Lomlort hin The chant of the alleluants rises, and Mirèio has her last vision the Marys appear, borne over the blue waves of that dissolves? CL 1 mantat on a hich is finally below "If it ment at your em peace 19 ·From its first appearance this poem had an astonishing success; for it made no concessions to the spirit of the times. Its triumph in Provence was to be expected, but in Paris it was acclaimed by Adolphe Dumas, who likened its author to Virgil, and by Lamartine, who compared him with Homer. Its beauty and freshness have never faded: on the contrary, its popularity has constantly grown. Since its first triumph it has been translated into more than a dozen languages. And Mirèio herself has become a part of our civilized consciousness; another Antigone, another Beatrice, another Juliet; only 'un chato de Prouvenço', but a country maiden, for all that, of an unsurpassed purity, beauty, and heroism, who is, and must forever be, the shining symbol of the country in which she was conceived. The desert Crau had miraculously flowered again, and with the fairest flower of all, IV Mistral's first epic was published at Avignon in 1859; but he had been active in other ways during the period of its composition. In 1852, a group of Provençal poets had met together at Arles, at the instigation of Mistral, Roumanille and Gaut. A similar meeting took place at Aix in the following year, and in 1854, at Font-ségugne, this association of poet-patriots was officially born, and baptised the Felibrige. The foundation of the Felibrige marks the beginning of Mistral's political life, for this association carried with it patriotic as well as poetic implications. These were to emerge more clearly after the success of Mirèio, which conferred a sudden lustre and authority upon the group. It was certainly required, for, with minor exceptions, the Provençal poets of the time were undistinguished: they needed, above all things, the leadership and example of genius. There was, too, some confusion in the growth of the movement. The great Romantics embraced the cause of regionalism principally for political reasons--the tendency dates from 1848-and, with characteristic inconsistency, sentimentalised over 'worker-poets”; although their leader, Reboul, while not much of a poet, was a passionate adherent of the cause of Henri V. Mistral's attitude, by contrast, is from the start entirely consistent, and he moves step by step in the formulation of his politik. From the beginning he is, then, a regionalist, desiring to see put into effect that degree of decentralization which will preserve local language, custom, and tradition. He is therefore in opposition to the Empire. At the same time he has vision: he is not a separatist. He understands very well that a chain is as strong as its weakest link; that the distinct provinces of a great country will be all the stronger, and more loyal, by virtue of their 20

·independence. The wise ruler, sure of his authority and position,
can afford to allow his subjects a large measure of freedom, his
peoples a large measure of autonomy; they will be all the
1
the persons are symbols rather than portraits, mouthpieces for a
dissertation on the wines of the country, or the fish which can
1.
This time, it is a simple fisherman to whom we are introduced
in the first stanza. The scene has moved from the farms and the
pastures to the coast. Then, without pause, follows the great
invocation to the soul of Provence:
... soul of my natue land
You that flarned forth and came to be
Both in her speech and history
When German, Picard and Burgundian,
Besieged Toulouse, and then Beaucaire,
You who did kindle everywhere
Against the dark invaders there
Men of Marseilles and Avignon;
You who by force of memory
Preserved our hope in days to be,
You who, despite the grave and death,
Fairer, more fruitful, more on fire,
Did still the Troubadours inspire,
Rejuvenating sage and sire
Till Mirabeau spoke with the mistral's breath;
21

·The inundations of the years And all their tempests and their fears In vain mix race and boundary; For nature and the earth, our mother, Will feed us, sister, son and brother, With the same milk; their breasts discover The good oil to the olive tree. Soul eternally reborn, Noble, joyful, full of scorn, That in the Rhône and Rhône-wind neighs! Great soul of the harmonious wood, Of inlets where the sun's rays brood, Dear soul of our Provençal blood, I call thee! Live within my lays! This passage is accompanied by a long and important note, which throws much light on the poet's outlook at the time, and reveals an interesting historical preoccupation which in all probability Mistral never abandoned, but which in any case is especially relevant to the composition of Calendau. The line 'Quand li baroun picard, aleman, bourguignoun' is, as the note explains, a reference to the Albigensian crusade, which Mistral saw as an aggressive movement spurred on by racial rather than by religious feeling. He refers to the Crusaders as 'the invaders from the north'. The peoples of Languedoc, from the Alps to the Gulf of Gascony, from the Loire to the Ebro, have always been, the poet asserts, drawn together by a similarity of climate, instincts, customs, beliefs, law and language, with their nationality revealed and propagated by the Troubadours. One thing only was needed to effect a unity: a common enemy; but when, in crusader's dress, he appeared, he did so armed by the Church and in overwhelming force. The defeat of the peoples of Languedoc, as Mistral rightly notes, marked the beginning of the development of modern France; but he is insistent that these peoples desired rather a 'federal state', which is, to put it mildly, doubtful. Mistral is attributing to his ancestors national sentiments which were only born into consciousness in his own epoch. It is certain, however, that these peoples had a distinct existence, and, once this is granted, it is difficult not to agree with the poet's solution: but the federal idea, for which Mistral doubtless drew sustenance from the example of Alexander Hamilton, in America, and from the Swiss Republic, is a comparatively modern one, even today by no means accepted. While, therefore, we may take exception to aspects of Mistral's historical interpretation, the principle upon which he has seized, and to which he adheres, is one which reveals him a practical visionary, and places him, politically, well in advance of his 22 ·time In the light of which, and before following him further Esterello flees, by night, to take refuge in a cave in the mountains, and to be identified by local superstition with the fairy Esterello' (we are never told her real name) and, subsequently, to meet with Calendau, who, having heard all, sets out in search of the Count He crosses Provence, and his journey is used as a pretext to enlarge on the beauties of the country, its vistas, its hills, valleys and rivers, its trees and fruits At last he meets with Severan, to whom he recounts the story of his life and exploits, with the object of provoking him 'I am from Cassis, by the sea', he begins, and proceeds to describe it, not forgetting to mention its wine Oh'could you taste it, you would see It's sweeter than the honey-bee, Scented with rosemary, diamond clear, The heather and myrtle that do grow Over our hills, enrich it so, It dances in the glass--I know I'd drain a flagon, were one here. nunta L.GL 1 L L ܙܙ L. And to the far horizon glows It is a magic scene, that e'er surprises Calendau then speaks, in the fourth canto, of his father, and of Provence, home of his Ligurian ancestors he tells of the Pho- 23 ·ceans who brought to Provence the arts of civilization; of the Roman colonics at Agatha (Agde), Antipolis (Antibes), and Nicoa (Nice), and of Marscilles, whose inhabitants embraced the cause of Pompcy against Cacsar; of the coming of Christianity; of his country's independence and effloraison under the rival dynastics of the Raimonds de Toulouse and the Raimonds-Bérengers, when Provence, as Mistral tells us in a note, from the Midi to Catalonia, 'attained a degree of political independence, of literary culturc, of rcligious tolerance, of elegant custom and of material prosperity, superior to the general condition of the rest of Europe'. This is Provence's Medicean or Periclean age. Then comes the Albigensian crusade, the invasion from the north, and the Inquisition. Provence-and the Provençal tongue-sustain a mortal blow. Calcndau then tells of his meeting with Esterello, of his declaration, and its rejcction, and of his departure, determined to perform such deeds as will conquer this disdain. His first labour (Calendau is the Hercules of Provence) is the acquisition of riches, by means of a fabulous fishing expedition, a descriptive opportunity which the poet exploits to the full. But Esterello is not satisfied: her suitor must learn the vanity of mere gold, and she draws his attention to the example of the Troubadours, of Rudcl, Foulquct, Vidal, Guillaume de la Tour, whose prowess was of a purer and altogether more exalted nature. The sixth canto, something of an intermezzo, shows us Cassis en féle. There follows a description of certain Provençal dances, Li Courdello, Li Pastourello, Li Mouresco, Li Triho, Lis Ouliveto, and, of course, La Farandoulo. In a note on these dances and their like, Mistral has this to say: '... our fathers excelled in clothing life with poetry. This idealisation of daily labour ... contributed not a little to making each one love the condition and the country into which God had caused him to be born.' This is a concrete and obvious example of an attitude to life typical of Mistral, which continually bears poetic fruit in the harmony and universality of so many of the episodes, descriptions and scenes in his epics. He is giving stylised expression to a world of experience, of thought, and of imagination, which itself is composed of countless stylised gestures. The poet himself, as we have seen, grew up against a background of such almost ritualistic gestures, of unconscious expressions of love, reverence, comradeship, compassion, interdependence, and hospitality, refined and hallowed by custom; no mere empty forms, but living conventions because illuminated by mutual trust and understanding, and by a common faith. Nothing happens in isolation. The disintegration of the atom is paralleled by the disintegration of society and even of the human personality itself. Our society is collapsing for want of a common purpose and a common belief. Men can no longer speak 24 ·to each other, for want of common premises They talk different languages and inhabit a Babel of the spirit, while our men of genius no longer speak for, or to, the people Our society has become inarticulate because it has ceased to be a community A healthy communal life expresses itself, externalises its beliefs, such as embroidery, winch ulay, as in the Balkans, express the whole soul of a people in terms of highly abstract and elaborate design But a community which presumes to abandon its beliefs, and, > thus made a God of Humanity, has forgotten how to sing, to dance, to worship, to love, to tell stories, to think-in short, to live--and, for self-expression, is reduced to the bald raising of a clenched fist, and the raucous reiteration of stereotyped slogans Even at its most intelligent, it can only express itself, and then esoterically, in terms of a Waste Land or-climax of inverted buffoonery-a Ulysses Mistral, by contrast, has something different to offer the ardent expression to its latent aspirations He was, of course, Calendau Calendau, meanwhile, has gone on to describe the joust without which no such fête would be complete This exciting sport, the descendant of the old Roman water-games, the Naumachra, 13 practised enthusiastically to this day The protagonists face 25 ·famous cemetery at Arles, said (probably by a CTC: Mcrseillais) to have been blessed by Christ himself; it was celebrated in a thirteenth century French poem. In the seventh canto, the hero sets out once more, this time to cut down the larches on Mont Ventour, ard, not content with that. to travel on to the Nesque valler, rob the hives of the Rocher du Cire of their honey and return with a portion of it co Esterello. She is not impressed and quite righely, rates bites for undertaking tasks so destructive, even in the pursuit of glory. Repentant. Calendau goes on a pilgrimage to the Sainte- Baume where he meets with two parties of the Compaguo-s du Tour de France. about to engage in a fight. He recoaciles these representatives of ancient trades and at last succeeds in pleasing Esterello. who declares her love for him but. fearing that is may decline from a surfeit of happiness, sets before his eyes a still higher ideal: to rid the country of 2 norstrous bandit, Marcomzu. which exploit occupies the ninth czato. He leads Varco-mzu to dir, in chains. and is received country u trince, and fêted by the whole city, whose charccteristically elaborate and symbolic pageant is minutely described. He eads his recitation with 2 peroration on pure love which enrages Severan, who takes him to his castle. the Costale: c Eissaad. the eleventh canto, called The Orey, eatices hin with festa sardar.ctc!.. At last. outraged. Calendau overturns the table and challeriges Severan to mortal combat. but one or the bandits fells him with a blow on the head and he is fiucg into a dungeon. He is helped to escape by a woman from Sererza's band, ad as the twelfth and last canto opens, hasters back to Esterello to defend her against Sereran who has in the cezatire set out to capire ber. He returtis by sea and passes by- the islands of the coast. Les Iles de Lerius, and Les Iles d'Or, near Hyères with its oranges and pomegranates. Cour2 l. perdircis Escrida isles as remotely beautiful as a scene from Homer. heavywith legend. Iving in the brilliant blue sea, haryand nostalgic, with the pines leznice dowa over the waters of their gentle bays: isles heady with the scent of herbs, 2nd loud with the sawirs of the cicadas. Passing Toulon. beat last sights Lou Gibzu and that coast of olives and oaks ard terebintis where the wave fringes the golden beach with silver, the site of the parent town of Varseilles. the Greek city of Taurertum. He reaches Esterello.and.uttering a superbiavocation, which begies: Trees of Mount Gibau! Pires, and FOZ Myrtle-woods, juniper, and yew! And you. O sunset! you. O heath so calm! Greut ocean! In my agozy I take you. now.as testinozy Witness my love's ecernity!... Birds of the forest, sing my wedding psalm! 26 ·he prepares to meet Severan's assault, hurling rocks down the mountainside until the bandit us at last consumed in the flames of the burning pine forests to which he himself has set fire V du plastic, 141, Il seelis most langile we miss 100 mose reasons it can perhaps never have the universal appeal—as it has certainly never had the success of its predecessor When that is sard, however, it remains a tremendous achievement, a national hymn of great power, with passages of unsurpassed poetry, and with informative descriptions of scenes and customs of a luminous precision To read and understand Calendau adequately one must have a knowledge of its background, of the development of Mistral's mind at the time and the political aspirations which went to its making were to find clarification in action soon after its publication The liberal opposition had by now recovered its strength, and January, 1867, Mistral left Avignon for Paris with Victor in D sought 11 JO1 . was a distinct similarity between the French and Spanish Republicans, between Spanish provincial separatism and the Commune, and han ne Comte de reached a 27 ·They were dic-hand liberals. Out Vlistrai, tviter able to learn fron crents, furrcc gradually towards these ideas oiccer and zurdority. 12ditionally. Voditerancan, and associated with a cause Legitimacy and c: Carbocom. Bat this was to come laier. O. this first tip to Paris, Balaguer, headlie i 25 faith in 2 restoration of the legis mate monarchy. He depan7cd wh the hopes and erharztos of his revolutionary allies ringing in his cars. Soon after, bere rumned so Vaillanc, no: in triumph. c. io engage in received Dry politics. tui quiddy, ariicurcateze cisterial: the compilation a dictionary call the dialects of de Voa. The explanation or tis obvious disillusicament is to be found partis in ite poci's in.ctperience, and partly is the meaning which we give io ike were revolucion. The politicians. iba hcir o 02, mar baie welcomed the cisupaire assistance cia monalis: so long as they are ind in opposidos De De Republiconcproclaimed viinailies burezzczucand certising iendencies, they could have little sis: cae o hac to rove the pros and cncourage ide use of gio 125- guages. In faci, in pure logic, tecy coucould min 33 reaction was icons i purizio przctice. Hoc secaxariir undo maior menork which is:os decacier cria ruthless we ci vole murder, brede studied use of the bass! 2 sl sahe dizaica massacre finest insc mankind. To the itinayo Empire Westral indeed coposed ise coceed o Federalism: but : 125 in iar-sigasier to be decerrad into identining the cause : Liberty Beatamie lusteriz and-clericalism, and politici oppo. tunis: and. ween deod the things when the song: onis judicesquis' io reach for what's reaction 06: 2 pochchat cais202 2u10.22:02 Mistral vsako perc.:200227 Duscuders.co. to ture of Lor: media ac: cause it si trenca. To ridaluare curlandimpulse one coast of water Rerolcuioz sobe iacraefiderias atened facually is:o the wirinicoccasciowroosterportaa. i: was nisur tha issouls ar: azizsi sacerelo res: buti ismaily to his creativa: kechiredit, !0-50 car have been deceived sowocor caia. 35 te S. 22:2 revolutio. c: eren 3 counter-stricos, bus. site classic phrase o de Vaisse, becgpxeci a zip acca'. Peaasis local paticissarosimi perphisupbringing. Binttelas: analysis. politica sensaciososialcginosasunarels reduced:0 te cuessicaceinmortality e chesoul.and Vice 2 send this custica ensaially is te gata. fim every licecais por almos: every concedercihi beuren ca.erin:0pxonetisparigrate the activitialasmates S ·f Misli di Ulu no, nowever, abandon poulics, he mely avantdoned the politicians, and thereafter approached the problem in a different way On his return to Provence, in the spring of 1867, he was present at a banquet given by the Irishman, Bonaparte Wyse, for the Catalans and Provençaux, and was presented by the Catalans with the Coupo Santo, a silver cup offered by the Catalan patriots to the Provençal poets in memory of the hospitality shown to the Catalan poet Victor Balaguer' Mistral replied with a lyric, La Coupo, celebrating the event, which begins Men of Provence, behold the cup Given us by the Catalans From it, in turn, let us drink up The purest vintage of our vines! The following year the visit was returned, and Mistral, with Bonaparte Wyse, Louis Roumieux and Paul Meyer, attended Lr1 1 clear thinking did not permit of compromise or prevarication, honesty demanded that he choose between the Red and the White, between the revolutionaries and the absolutists, between Man god and God man in the autumn of 1872, he wrote to Quintana 'My soul is at peace He had chosen In 1871, he wrote a poem round the allegory of Sisyphus which C S р and repent 29 ·Raising his face, disfigured by derision, Silent, and disdainful of that white vision, As do the damned, he looks upon the sky, And to his labour turns back furiously. This illusion of liberty, the result of a false interpretation of the meaning of freedom, lies at the root of all our past mistakes and present discontents. For the divine paradox upon which Mistral seized is this: that there is no freedom without authority. He whose pride will not allow him to submit to authority becomes thereby not free, but the abject slave of his own presumption: he has become a Sisyphus, condemned, of his own will, to defiance and frustration. Truly, men are free to become slaves. It is not surprising therefore that the poet's disillusionment with the revolutionary forces in France was by now complete. In 1870, refusing an official position, he had written: 'Were I to participate in the work of a new Constitution, I would direct all my efforts to ensuring the triumph of the federal principle and I believe, unfortunately, that this idea is not yet understood in France. Our French republicans dream ceaselessly of the benefits of the American and Swiss Constitutions and all, or nearly all, ignore or reject the sole means of attaining them, which is federation.' To what, then did he turn? He saw clearly, as many have still to see, that, in the words of Marius André: 'There are only two principles in the world: liberty and authority, the republic and the legitimate monarchy', and he wrote: All the intermediary régimes, namely: revolutionary monarchies and democratic empires, are only the instruments of dissolution and of corruption. The republic being made fatally impossible in Europe by the frenzy and intolerance of the radicals, there remains only the divine right ... despite all the declamations and trumpetings of the nineteenth century, the great things of the Latin world have been made by faith and authority. If we do not come back to them by that way, we shall finish like Byzantium.'! These conclusions disturbed his Spanish liberal friends; but, as it happened, events in Spain were to bear him out. In 1870, the Spanish monarchy was restored in the person of a member of the house of Savoy, an unhappy choice and a compromise which, like most compromises, ended unhappily, for two years later Amedeo was forced to abdicate; the republic returned, and with it anarchy. On the surface, no faction appeared to embody the ideals of the poets; but there was one body, uncompromising, idealistic, and absolutist, which in fact did so. The Carlists of Navarre, who, with the peasants of La Vendée, alone in Europe preserve i Quoted from M. André, Alistral. 30

·1..
D
ܙܐ
it inust be remembered, for their fueros, that peculiarly Basque
institution which asserted the inalienable rights of regional and
L--
1
31

·and of such people, and their leaders, the poet's entourage was hcnccforth largely composed. His friend Scipion Doncieux took up and developed his idcas, as did in our own day another son of the Midi, a grcat but tragic figure, Charles Maurras. Marius André tells us that there were a number of these 'Mistralians', at Maillane, Avignon and Montpellier, each of whom possessed 'more French wisdom, logic and foresight than was to be found in the whole Parliament in Paris'; one of whom, the Baron dc Tourtoulon, foretells the rise of Germany and the decline of France, in a lctter to Mistral's old comrade, Quintana. This thought with, to Mistral, its clear threat of world war, was to preoccupy him henceforward and lend a special urgency to his advocacy of the federal idca. The association with the Catalans had been prompted by their mutual distaste for the centralization which their respective governments practised so unrepentantly. Now Mistral wished to expand this association until it included the whole Latin world, until he had organised a Latin confederation with which to confront the rising power of Germany. He had, of course, to work without official encouragement or support, for his vision was of that kind which we associate with statesmen and not with politicians: but his efforts were to reveal in him, also, remarkable diplomatic skill. His first opportunity came in 1874, the fifth centenary of the death of Petrarch, and he seized it eagerly. With Doncieux, Roger du Demaine, Aubanel and Roumanille he organised a festival to take place, appropriately enough, at Avignon. Despite opposition from the governments concerned, notably France and Italy, and the attempts of the republicans and democrats to steal the thunder for themselves (they hailed Petrarch as the precursor of Garibaldi) the ceremony was a complete success and a triumph for Mistral and his associates, that band of reactionary clericals, traditionalists and poets which its opponents sought so carnestly and so ineffectively to discredit. The whole affair was in fact a diplomatic coup that put to shame and exposed the policies of the governments concerned, which, as events were to prove, served only to prepare their countries, and Europe, for her ultimate dissolution. These governments, who practised imperialism in the name of national security and licence in the name of liberty were, however, in power; and though they might be shaken, could not be removed from the eminence in which they were secured by the mobocracy they had introduced and the skill in deception in which, to our detriment, they were continually to improve. Their success led the 'Mistralians' to a further effort. A second opportunity presented itself with the advent of the Floral Games, organised by the Société des langues romanes, which were to be held the following year at the old university city of Montpellier. In the nature of things this occasion could hardly carry the implica- 32 ·tions or have the repercussions of the earlier event at Avignon 11 JL France, as you know, has not always hung her head over her grieving heart, France, our mother, was once the war But, 3 ashamed his village 1 to affect French For, whether one were called the chevalier d'Assas or the drummer of Arcola, when one had to go, one went, when one had to die, one died - who cry when they have drunk, they are those who weep when they leave their homes Consequently, gentlemen, if we wish to restore our poor country, let us restore that which breeds patriots religion, traditions, national memories, the old language of the country, and; city by city, province by province, let us compete in study, work and honour, to exalt in different ways the name of France 1 Further impetus to the movement was given by Quintana's offer, which was accepted, of a prize for the best poem on the Latın race, to be awarded at the next concourse This third, and greater, occasion took place in May, 1878, at Montpellier, and was successful despite ever-increasing opposition In a speech at the Ste-Estelle banquet Mistral had likened the work of the Felibres to the apostolic mission of the apostles after they had received the gift of tongues at Pentecost His opponents sawitor pretended to see it—as disruptive, subversive and separatist it was a case of assault by misrepresentation, which, though it fo I Quoted from M Andrt, op cit. 33 ·was won by the Roumanian, Vasili Alecsandri, a judgement influenced, beyond doubt, by diplomatic as much as aesthetic considerations; for Mistral himself submitted a poem, one of the best known and by no means the least of his lyrics, which could hardly be bettered in its kind. Alecsandri's poem is, however, not without fervour, and ends: 'At the day of judgement, when in heaven, face to face with the Lord God, the Latin race is asked: 'What have you done on this earth?' she will reply, firmly 'O! Lord God, while I was in the world ... I represented you! Mistral's Cant a la таҫо latino is at once more subtle and more profound: in fact, it is a sublimation of his patriotic beliefs and aspirations: Arise, arise, O Latin race, Bencath the great cope of the Sun! The Lord's wine gushes from the press, The dark grape bubbles in the tun. Your hair unbound upon the wind That blows from Tabor's sacred height, Yours is the clarity of mind That lives on joy and on delight; You are the Apostolic race That rings the bells across the plain; The silver trumpeter of Grace; The hand that sows the golden grain. Your mother tongue, that mighty stream Which seven arteries supplies, Whose flood of love and Aame must seem An echo out of Paradise, Your golden tongue (Rome's daughter too!) Is that great song that will be heard On every human lip anew While there is meaning in the Word. * * Upon your sun-soaked slopes there grows The olive-tree, the staff of peace; And through your countryside there blows The swelling vine, in proud increase: So let your past, O Latin race, Your fate upon your heart emboss; Arise, salute the morning's face, One Brotherhood beneath the Cross! 34 - Et 14 pm 1

·VI
-ir
collantinne of lyrir
:
Reaper) It begins appropriately enough with a hymn to the
sun, Lou Cant dóu Souliu, that sun which brings life and joy to
Provence
Great sun that shines upon Provence,
And the mistral's gay companion,
You who can stagger the Durance,
Like a wave of the Crau wine,
Let your fair lamp blaze brilliantly!
Hunt shadow and catastrophe!
Quickly! quickly! quickly!
Let us now your radiance see!
and the first section, La Cansoun, the songs, includes La Coupo, to
which we have already referred, and Lis Enfant d'Ourfilu (The
Children of Orpheus) a reference to their Greck ancestors, with
its lovely refrain:
Let us sing our father's glory
That in story
Is renowned,
They who ever, in our history
Have been free
As the ocean and the wind.
All these songe are clean muuter
JJ

·The Romances, on the other hand, refer to the more fanciful episodes of Provençal history and legend, and tell their stories musically, effortlessly, and with great variety. Many call to mind, in manner as in matter, the songs of the Troubadours. L'Amiradou begins: 'Au castèu de Tarascoun i'a 'no rèino, i'a 'no fado', ('In the castle of Tarascon lives a queen, a fairy'); Lou Renegat tells of one captured by corsairs, and Catelan lou Troubaire is set in the time of la bello Margarido, who lived for love. The second long poem, really an extended Romance, La Princesso Clemenço, tells of a Princess who was as 'beautiful as the sea is huge' and begins with the traditional directness of popular poetry: Once upon a time we had in our Provence A king called Charles the Second, who was lame. and the story unfolds with a matter-of-fact elegance. There follows the collection of Serventés, which includes an ode to the Catalan poets, an elegy for Jasmin, who 'sang of love better than a woman', the ode to the Latin race, the poem on the legend of Sisyphus, and, not least, the remarkable Penitential Psalm, inspired by the war of 1870, in which Mistral asks God's pardon for the sins and follies of his race that brought down this vengeance on their heads: Lord God, we have turned our backs On thy commandments And thy sacraments, Brutes, our faith all substance lacks, Who live for selfishness And trust in Progress! This poem, which is long, has a sombre colouring rare in Mistral. Li Serventés are divided from Li Pantai (Dreams) by La Fin dóu Meissounie, a superb fresco, with all the statuesque quality of the finest scenes in Mirèio. The scene has the immobility of a frieze, the gestures of its figures the timeless beauty of actions performed in the morning of the world. On the rough hurdle the old harvester Was lying, drenched with blood and very pale, And raising his bare arm bronzed by sun and gale, Spoke thus to the reapers there. As the poem opens, however, the old harvester is speaking: 'Gather the ears of corn', he says, and don't worry about me don't leave it to the mice and the birds, the corn that comes from God': and, standing round about him, their sickles in their 36

·1.1A ha.
L
effect of timelessness already made by the serene movement of
the verse.
The harvester pleads with them not to weep; it would be
better to sing with the young people, although
in the land. L-T--
Yet at 33 fate, or perhaps God on high who, seeing that the com
is ripe, has come to harvest it. Then, after an interval, being
thirsty, the old man drinks a httle cold water, replaces the pitcher
on the golden corn, and fixes his eyes upon the setting sun.
igh,
1
ed her
And he asks St John to remember his olive-grand and l.
whom he leaves behind
must sup without hur
plained of his lot, but
stone and the scene
it began.
And thn 13
But it
Sickle
For a nutral of Hame the corn devoured.
37

·There follow the 'dreams', the first of which, La Coumunioun di Sant, has a religious setting. The second Romanin is an evocation of the past. In Lou Prègo-Diéu (The Praying Mantis) the poet builds round the contemplation of an insect an unexpectedly melancholy meditation: 'Aesh is lovely, and decays, the wave is bitter and I would drink, full of languor, I want to die-and live'. Lou Blad de Luno (The Lunar Corn)-which is the title of a book of poems by a great Provençal poet and gardian of this century, the Marquis of Baroncelli-Javon-is an eerie and romantic poem with an hypnotic refrain. Lou Lioun d'Arle (The Lion of Arles) which follows, describes a climb to a peak in the Alpilles, shaped in the form of a lion, whither the poet has gone to seek, as from an oracle, the revelation of the destiny of Provence. Li Plang (The Complaints) are, as the name implies, of a more intimate nature: in these poems Mistral rivals Aubanel, a specialist, in the expression of amorous moods, veiled by a pure melancholy: they bear such titles as Meeting, Incandescence, Discouragement, Ennui, Languor, Rancour; and among them is a beautiful poem to the felibresso, Antonnieto de Beu-Caire, who died young; it ends with the verse: You pierce for us the holy mist That hides the light of loftiest Intellect supernal: And now great marvels are your common theme And none shall wake you from your golden dream For you possess in full the truth eternal. As if there were not already enough variety, richness and splendour in this book, Lis Isclo d'Or contains also the Sonnets; the Nuptial Songs, written mostly for members of the Felibrige, for Aubanel, for Félix Gras, for La felibresso Bremoundo; and the Salutations, to such as Lamartine and Gounod, which include La Brassado, the poem written for the Catalans, to which we have already referred. The diversity of subject matter, feeling, treatment and technical resource of this collection is indeed extraordinary, and the whole, the more if we consider it in relation to Mistral's other works and activities, exhibits that manysided richness which is one of the hallmarks of greatness. VII Among the Sonnets in Lis Isclo d'Or is one, Au Miejour (To the Midi), which was inscribed at the head of the Tresor dóu Felibrige, a vast dictionary of the dialects of the Midi upon which Mistral had been working ever since that first visit to Paris, and which began to appear, in yearly instalments, from 1878. In the sonnet, 38 n ·reconquer the empire of your language'. While following him in his political and patriotic activities we have seen something of the importance the poet attached to Tanpaor He repariert it indaan n ... A language is like the shaft of mine fa there have been deposited thoughts of tan thinni, 8.244 nullullient wwuler every family has carried its stone, where every city has bult its column, where a whole race has worked, body and soul, for hundende and word, is the human tho the speakin Tp. - Lu Ma 120; in the tracing of place. names, in the listing of synonyms and derivations, from the Greck, for example, as with bletoun, a nail, Shropow; broufound, the noise of a tempest, Bloupuriz: nr rodam of Lat I Tre but Gra and desc genius'? wa usiple mystery of love, of patriotism, and of .-X C-1 Tovence, 1 Quoted from C. M Girdlestone, Dreamer and Struer (London, Afethuen, 1937) p 165. 7 Quoted frora Paul Souchon, Mutral, P 156 39 $ ·Lou Tresor dóu Felibrige was completed in 1878, and in that same year Mistral published another long poem, Nerto, slighter in matter and in manner than the two preceding, and rather an historical narrative than an epic. In the place of the original stanza which he had previously employed, the poet turned for this fanciful piece to rhymed octosyllabic couplets. Full of delightful poetry, it is not, however, central to its author's thought; and, pointing no patriotic moral, is content to adorn an historical tale. In his memoirs, llistral tells how it is founded on a legend told to him by a peasant. The story is of a girl, Verto, whose soul has been vowed to the Devil by her father. Learning of this on her father's death, Nerto journeys to Avignon to implore the aid of the Pope, Benedict XIII. At this point there is woven into the story the thread of an historical counter-subject (to borrow a musical term) built round the events at Avignon brought about by the Schism of Western Christendom. Nerto arrives during the siege and, once inside the Palace, meets Roudrigo, the Pope's nephew, who falls in love with her. The episode is preceded by a description of the City of Avignon in the great days of its splendour, when its streets were thronged with cardinals, soldiers, sailors, ambassadors and scholars. Nerto at last obtains an audience and is received by the Pope as one sent by God; meanwhile the siege has intensified and the towers of the grcat palace are burning. In a scene of great magnificence Benedict XIII appears to the people and bestows upon them the papal blessing, urbi ct orbi. Then this last Pope to reign in Avignon disappears into the shade 'like the sun at the close of day'. Nlistral superbly evokes this tragic figure against a tumultuous background, in 'verse that is not uncoloured by patriotic as well as religious fervour, and indeed, according to Baroncelli- Javon, he was of the view that the balance of Christendom would have been better preserved had the Papacy remained at Avignon. These events occupy the second canto. The third is dominated by the figure of Louis, King of Anjou and Count of Provence, who comes with his court to Château-Renard to seek the papal blessing upon his marriage, shortly to be celebrated at Arles. The marriage, at St Trophime, is described in the canto that follows, as are the fights in the arena and the celebrations which accompany it. Nerto, meanwhile, has entered a convent, on the Pope's advice: in the fifth canto, she takes the veil in the presence of Pope, King, and Queen. A pathetic passage describes the inevitable sacrifice of her beautiful hair. Nerto is an unwilling aspirant: but Roudrigo breaks into the convent and carries her off. Attacked in the process, he is forced to abandon her, at night, in the open country. The scene changes to the rocky Alpilles, whither she has 40 ·hormit whose food is brought !! Down below, the world is white; And overhead, the world is light. And on the summit of the hill, In his hood, so rapt and still, The hermit is in ecstasy. It is as of life passed him by ...dalana ܝ ܢܫ ܝ ܙ 1) T V in 1910. VIII In the year that Nerto appeared, Mistral went to Paris to attend the Ste Estelle banquet in honour of the union between Provence and Frenna Tha-- hostility he was influenti emy, bu banquet 41 ·For four hundred years the States General of Provence has been saying to France: "The country of Provence, with its azure sea, its Alps and its plains, of its own free will is united with thee, O France! not as an accessory to a principal, but as one principal to another, which is to say that we will keep our liberties, our customs, and our language... It is in the Provençale tongue that the conscript from the banks of the Rhône, that the drummer of Arcola cried his last cry on the field of battle; and if our deputies and senators are silent and forgetful, we poets, representatives of the people by the grace of God, with our poems which will resound in the very heart of Paris, will protest for ever ... France is great: from the vast Ocean to the Latin sea, from the Sahara to Tonkin, a hundred peoples live free beneath the folds of her flag. Some have the sun, with the olive and the pomegranate that hang in the sky; others the freshness, the verdant meadows where the cattle graze; here they sing the sea and there the mountains; and sacred nature has given to all the aptitudes and the language which they need for their growth... O France, mother France, leave then to thy Provence, to thy delightful lidi, the melodious language in which she says to you: Ny mother!... On his return from Paris, Mistral turned to the drama. The dramatic literature of Provence was of the slightest: almost the only great play it possessed was Aubanel's Lou Pan dóu Pecat (The Bread of Sin), savage, violent and sombre. Undoubtedly, Mistral planned to write a national drama, as he had written a national epic. La Reino Jano, which appeared in 1890, is a tragedy in five acts: the time is the fourteenth century, when Queen Joan of Naples and Countess of Provence and of Anjou married, at the age of fifteen, Andrew of Hungary. The first three acts arc laid in Naples, and culminate in the assassination of Andrew, a crime of which the Queen is accused. She journeys to Avignon to plead her innocence before the Pope. Her voyage to Marscilles occupies the fourth act; while the fifth brings before us her trial and eventual acquittal. We have never seen this play performed and a majority of critics judges it a failure as a stage-drama. It is not undramatic, and there is action and suspense; the plot is cohcrcnt, and the poet has not fallen into the usual error of poets who sacrifice the drama to the verse; but it is architecturally weak. Mistral himself confirmed, or anticipated, the general serdict in a letter written two years after the play's appearance in which he remarked that he doubted if it would take kindly to the boards, that the drama was not his métier, but that the tragedy might make an effective libretto for an opera. i Quoted from V. Andre, op. cit., p. 108-9. 42 ·ww1.C-1 3 Mireio's, na en Leon- AI A A he Ja u vu un tue wurth act, Marseilles, she is seated on deck under a goldwatches the white sail shining against the dar) 43 ·admires the beautiful motion of the half-naked oarsmen; and she is flooded by that sense of incompleteness which comes to passionate natures when, in moments of repose and contemplation, they feel, chafing at their souls, the chains of a finite existence: O that in light I were dissolved away! În veiled sense of God's infinity I faint ... In love, and lovely, is the sea, A happy queen, pellucid in her glory! 'La mar es uno encantarello', 'the sea is an enchantress', she exclaims, and she is enchanted. Finally, this royal incarnation of the passionate but elusive soul of Provence is also the symbol of the poet's patriarchal conception of government. She loves her subjects and would be loved by them; her rule would be a personal rule for she is as impatient of the machinery of government as she is of the mechanism of social convention. Standing forth as the projection of her country and the image of its nature and its aspirations, as only the product of a monarchical institution can do, she would enter into that personal relationship with her people, collectively and individually, which only the divine right can regularly afford; would confine within the comprehensible limits of a human personality all the character and all the history of her race; bearing the past in her soul, the present in her heart, and the future in her head. If, therefore, La Reino Jano is to be counted a failure as a stage play, this must not blind us to its qualities; to its historical magnificence; to its inspiring example; to the profound insight which it provides into Mistral's deepest longings, thus holding up as it were a mirror to his country's soul; and last but not least, to the great poetry which lends it wings, celebrating the sea with the same fervour as went to celebrate the countryside in Mirdio. IX The author of La Reino Jano had long felt the need to maintain a closer, more immediate and more regular contact with his people than had hitherto been possible through the medium of his poems, his convocations, his speeches, or the Armana, a Provençal anthology which appeared at yearly intervals; and in 1891 there appeared the first number of L'Aioli, a paper designed to renew the heart of Provence', which was to appear three times a month for nine years, and which aimed to appeal to a wider circle of readers than had been solicited before. L'Aioli (its title is taken from the name of a popular Provençal sauce, 44 ·..and marlic) was directed by Folco, very young man and one of ) was later to become a fine o would in his turn be suc- Jaud. mething of an event, and, familiar. Llama A which he gave tion, for there were among their number republicans anu anuclericals like Felix Gras, as well as the wholehearted 'Mistral. ians'. L'Aioli for its part was rather the organ of what Mistral tendawa 1 in rez hir tained such statements as. Before everything, we reclaim the freedom of our communes; We wish them to become mistresses of their essential functions and of their functionaries. We wish that they might put in their place these fine gentlemen called sub-prefects. We 45 ·the first in this hope. The masterpieces of Mistral are full of this idea ... This 'Carlist declaration stunned the company; and the Jacobins rallied to the assault. Unable, or unwilling, to attack Mistral himself, whose position was by now virtually unassailable to the extent that any attack upon the poet personally would rebound upon his assailant, they directed their fire against the 'federal youth'. Mistral in fact knew nothing of this declaration and it came as a surprise to him: it was, however, a welcome surprise, and he reprinted the text on the front page of L'Aioli with a note of endorsement, thus frustrating at one stroke his opponents' counter-attack. Though Maurras and Amouretti were expelled from the Parisian Felibrige, the group which formed round them rapidly established itself and, with Mistral's warm approbation and encouragement, went from strength to strength. L'Aioli came to an end in 1898; but its work was done. It had led and trained a generation who were now able to carry on the cause in the wider fields of the established press, in Paris and in the provinces. It was Mistral's last polemical work; thereafter he could relinquish his hold on events, could hand over to the young poets and leaders who having looked to him for inspiration had grown to intellectual maturity under his patriarchal care, At this point it is appropriate to consider the results of Mistral's intense labours as a Felibrige, a patriot, and a federalist. Among the most attractive and most gifted of Mistral's admirers was a follower of Maurras, Léon Daudet. He knew the poet and, in his memoirs, gives an excellent picture of the man and summary of his work: Those who met the principal members of this group had the privilege of knowing collaborators in a great work, the preservation of contact between a race and its traditions. Opposing the Jacobins and the levelling processes of democracy, hostile to the ugliness of false frealism', these inspired poets, while labouring on behalf of one small district, helped to strengthen the nation as a whole. Fifty years passed before their noble work was entirely understood, before its conservative tendencies became apparent ... . . What one notices particularly in Mistral's remarks are their depth, the symmetry of his point of view, the broadness of his vision, as befits a descendant of men who have looked long on wide fields and star-filled skies. So I remember him down the vista of thirty years or more, judging equitably men and events, singing the praises of his province, and elaborating methodically, unremittingly his idea for her reconstruction, on a scale more grand than even his friends have realized ... In 46 ·Core then it has been proved ere 10- nd Lorraine, those who upheld the heroic soul of Alsace, her ...Metralhad This was written in 1913 a year before the poet's death Since then, events have not sustained the hopes which the future held out to his followers But the disasters which we have survived and the greater disasters which threaten us do not invalidate either Mistral's work, or his ideas On the contrary, they serve merely to throw a poignant light upon their profundity and set the truth of their begetter s conclusions upon a more dazzling eminence Mistral s rich nature was able to function at several levels simultaneously and, in the midst of these various activities he had been composing another epic His first, Aferèio, is the poem of the countryside, of the farms and the plains, the second, Calendau, sings the mountains and the sea, while the last, Lou Pouěmo dóu Rose, is the poem of a great river, the Rhône In contrast to its predecessors it is composed in unrhymed decasyllables, divided into laisses like the Chanson de Roland, and recalling the ar? NAAM T .L. They are leaving Lyons at first light, The watermen who rule over the Rhône These Condrillots are mighty muscled men, Light hearted, lusty, and a race who stand Ever bolt upright on their rafts of fir, 47 ·Their faces gilded to the hue of bronze By the sun's heat and by the river's glare. But then, I tell you, more than ever now, Was seen that kind of heavy-bearded giant, Huge, bulky, powerful, like a forest oak, Could lift a beam as though it were a straw- From poop to prow they bellowed and they swore Both loud and long, to warm each other's hearts, From their great vats deep-swilling the red wine down And from the pot drawing juicy hunks of meat. There was a fine din all the river's length, From north to south, without a break or pause, 'Turn her downstream now, ho! Royaume! Empire! Prow upstream! On, now! Pull on the tow-ropes!' The lives and homes of the boatmen are described in this straightforward way, until suddenly the poet falls into a vein of reverie, lamenting the passing of this open and vigorous life: O the old times, so simple and so gay, When all life seemed to bubble on the Rhône When we came down as children to see pass The proud Condrillots, on the broad water, Hands to the tiller! Then the Rhône, thanks to them, Was a huge beehive, full of noise and work. Today, all that is silence, huge and dead, Alas! and of that movement all that's left Is but a trace, and the corroded furrow That some old cable rubbed into the stone. There follows a description of the various barges, including the Caburle, which is to play a leading part in the poem: its master is Apian, a typical Mistralian patriarch: Patron Apian himself upon the poop Directs the operations from the rail. He has long hair that hangs in grey locks braided And round about his temples curls and falls, And two big, golden rings that are suspended Down from his ears. And he is tall of stature And his bright eyes dwell now upon each boat To see that all goes well and is in order As one after another, linked in file By the long cable that holds them all together, Clearing the shore amid the gurgling water, All now in line, the barges sail away. 1 The old names for the banks of the river. 48 ·1 Lokvannil T-. n The rest of the canto is concerned with the arrival at and dcparture from Condrieu, where the boatmen meet their families, and with those easy and natural conversations of which Mistral wanai: they were no doubt in Mistral s ininu koo, lortc nou visited Venice, with his wife, in the year that L'Aioli first appeared and while there had heard, to his great grief, of the death of Roumanille. TL1 lui tue poets immaterial reverie. Much courtcu Dy luc wallimen, she will have none of them and seems to prefer her lonely indargandonne TL-.-.-. - hnatchat between 49 ·disinies, Ir Dio, a kind of protran dracon, a green :: allur: 1. woon down byrneath thc waves to his biri 1::11r, 1lul ir prie lingerllrn him, and felt him, onc ***!!?!r! i storslin vrne *siinmins, in the river? 11.- Arrir a mn.:!rrpiere o cmcription and sugges. 1****, 21:111:: inuires all abruptly is thirruenth canto begins and Set 1:13:7 frollir irsin o biram. It hvor rriched Malatra where 1.'11111! : 09:30 with far father, and the moment shc .::- 1:10 ir rreth with thrleir swiftness of thc romantic 11.74.7"rr min utral with long prealestinrd lover. Palc and 'li': lin! It's tim!' for crime like one gonc mad .::! Giliran orplina: I rrinize thre, I'Inxr; of thir khin that blooms upon the wave! I lor o crlicht all-klimrod as in a drcam... A! reisiinly thin 27 him: Irremi: ther, O Dra! whom I have seen With that ar flowering sushi berncath thc water... Cuihi: siir: I;r: tlir tlo:sra, and thrir falc is scaled: 1o: lour frums fast, Once thiry are in the boat that bears them on, Forriturit. uxon the wur. Vrrwiil tir convoy moves on its way down-strcam: Thracades Oriya Pone Si Isprit, with splcndid scop, I'lsind by in wring triumph overlicad Prorrer appeared; for she is licralded By them l'ont Si Isprit with its vast piles, les llchiy royal arches that are sct Lil.c: soral coronce upon thic Rhonc. This is the holy and triumphant gate Or the land of lovc! And the olivc trces, And the promoçranatr, proudly flowcring, .Inci tlıc millct with its abundant hair Already deri: the marges and the banks. The plain spreads out, the verge grows ever greener, vind in the limpid, paradisal air, Are seen the northern slopes of Mont Ventour ... 50 ·7.1--2------- This alarms the boatmen for they have heard rumours of fireboats and steamships that can sail up-stream without horses, Thus does the legendary symbolism take on a deeper meaning in this poem which is a hymn to the great river that dominates the They pass Orange, and arrive at Avignon where there is a diversion in the form of a treasure-hunt, organised by the Venetians. The last part of the eighth and the first part of the ninth canto consist in snatches of conversation, descriptions, and technical matters, until at last the convoy arrives af Beaucaire Here *. ------ the love cent of dem Dor words are brave; there is no use lamenting a lost cause, let us rather drink to the Rhône and the harvest sun, let us drink the wine of Genestet despite the vanquishers, And let the Bull-Rhône bellow in Rouanesso! Evening is falling as he finishes speaking: And over Nimes the sun was going down ---- ) L1.-.

·.I: the rf-scatti con ojyrs, it i: dawn, and the ascent begins. 11.- 112!113, 11 nr:!iram is dr-csilyd in detail, and over »!!!!:- ! fi..!!r ripi.in prsiilrs. Ifi invoke the blessing 1:11:::!r: 11; 18.871.- Os llir wiiilm fxoplars, 1:1 ! rire ! 11.- diren thr Rhinc, .:,:!rollir rising sun, 16.1: I thirrutilul trainins horses 13. Surr***81. u .2 our froin their nostrils, 11-111: Lurir: fri Dyrr... op...,.. tii: 0.1!'), 1: er is toly a calm, it is only or changin, ni il:rir prayrın arc in vain. The :: W;" : 6.281.1:- 1.::: canin opmris. 1.1..1: ,1!.! (:::i.rii, nr.11, arc talking of the mar- 7.-11-1.11 ttlir foo! the Withraic monument ***". I tigrinantly married as others are: S..! Marc (strs 0 ::!.." o birth tir irry lizards, .. !!: ht:- (iro: from thr carth, i. v . 'li!, turl.:. i:ns vrins 15:71 . #ss1:elin resi lilivri of my forrbcars, *!, Sin! 18:28 thn :a in his roosolutions 1..!!" aus, at 1.8ons and at Arles! 11:1!! non trociar, in ihr arcais, '*. :11 rrifint of the black: bull 1. frare!, Giswho rails scatters the shadows, ( aliar l an unknown shore "113 online darrere, with its rite .1baroordians of161-1, 22 vaga, I, prolaps the last of your lylievers, fibi noiing on your rear the first-fruits Oi my laminer, my nupcial night! Thir tyneie lielorur continues, while, as the climax draws 25T:, the writing calms, the sun appears, and the heat be- Correnportive. The orion of elic poem has now become as slur ish as that of the mighty river, somnolent and menacing. Tlry lave just pacord the arches of the Pont St-Esprit when the fins'siribo.lt a beren upon the Rhinc appears suddenly round: frnd, and irars into the line of barges, upsetting them anci their crest, and dragging the horses into ihe water by which ilir hole convoy is swept against the arches of the bridge. When llic Condrillots assemble upon the bank, they have lost their ID:hising.m1. 52 ·whole fleet and the Prince and L'Angloro are missing 'Saint Nicholas has saved our lives', exclaims Apian, 'we will say a mass to him at Condrieu' but Lou Dra has carried off L'Angloro to his depths resignation, as > salvage about 1 On the whole the mixture of elements in this poem is extraordinarily successful Despite the weight of symbolism which they have to bear, the characters are very real and hold our interest Some have drawn attention to the 'northern' quality of this work, but in truth, this quality is not so much northern as gnostic The love of the principals, and the mithraic sym bolismn in which the development of the drama is clothed, have a strong gnostic colouring This flavour, indeed 13 strong in Provence, where despite every vicissitude, racial memory is comparatively pure This flavour is well caught in the lyrical epilogue to Henry de Montherlant's fine novel, Les Bestiaires, part in the public life of the people Nowhere has Catholicísın been more powerfully touched by local tradition and Mistral's own faith is inseparable from his patriotism, as can be seen from his attitude to the Albigensians-a gnostic sect-and the Avignonese papacy At the same time, as in Mirèo the poet restores and rejuvenates the old machinery of the primitive epic by the use of Christian powers, so here, in this poem, he uses to the same end this religious tradition, often associated with the Troubadours, which is still part of the racial consciousness of his people for this a poetic tour de force C1- oft 12+ anec n and sculpture of Afurer, or the fervent invocations of Calendau, we have instead something softer, more mysterious, more melodious, something as reflective as the deep and ever moving water, something, perhaps, more profound For, in Lou Pouėmo dóu Rose, the Rhone speaks, and in pages a mighty river sings forever 53 ·XI The poet's work was nearly over, but he was to publish one more book of lyrics, Lis Oulivado (The Olive-Gathering), and a translation of the book of Genesis; and match Lou Tresor dóu Felibrige with its physical counterpart, the Museon Arlaten, a museum of things Provençal, a 'dictionary of things' as it has been happily called, with the organising and arranging of which he occupied his last years. It was to be the precursor of many regional museums, when other provinces followed his example; and contained furniture, model rooms, clothes, utensils, insects, animals (the Marquis of Baroncelli-Javon gave one of his famous white Camarguais horses), paintings and costumes, and was, truly, a 'synthesis of local forces'. Lis Oulivado appeared in 1912, when Mistral was eighty-two years of age, and as its name implies--for the olive-gathering is the last harvest of the Provençal year--was to be his final word. As he says at the beginning: 'As the weather grows cold and the sea rough, I feel that winter has come for me and that I must without delay gather my olives and offer my virgin oil on God's altar.' On the whole less impressive than Lis Isclo d'Or, it nonetheless contains some great poems, including the sonnet for his own tomb: "That is the tomb of a poet who fashioned songs for a beautiful Provençale called Mirèio'; and Evo (Eve) which is a delightful hymn to physical beauty: What is the pearl That is born of the swirl In the kingdom of Amphitrite, If it do not shine On the ear divine Of the pearl-born Aphrodite! What are the grains The gold-washer gains Where the pregnant water swirls, If in pretty tresses The ore never graces Your nape with golden curls! What is the rose Whose buds unclose In the dews of a morning in May, If it wake not from sleep, If it wake not to weep On thy breast that is still more lovely! 54 ·What is the cape That can undrape Its rainbow's hues in the sky, If on your whiteness Its falling brightness In long folds does not lie! What is the bait That makes us elate With longing to feel thy fire, If the King of the sky In his majesty Has not made thee for desire! All homage be To your royalty, And may all that brings delight, Smile upon thee And be offered thee But never art thou so bright As in glory's hour When you burst into flower, Without dress or finery, As fateful and bare As once you were When God's hand fashioned thee! In this poem all Mistral's joy and delight in, and his thoroughly Latın love for, the human face and form, the body radiant with the soul that inhabits it, shine forth in all their sweetness 1 He reviews the forces that play upon this dream which he has raised up to protect his faith against the ambitions, negations and illusions that threaten to devour at But in the azure, my pellucid pall, In the sky's depth and blazing in my eyes, 55 ·The type of my Provence, the beautiful, With her breast trembling where the sun's rays fall And Gyptis' cup in hand, I see arise. The history of Provence then passes before his eyes: And now the fair Phoceans she distills, Crowned with wild olive and with myrtle dark: Under the cliffs, beneath the wooded hills, While her sweet song my spellbound hearing fills As it accompanies the pilot's barque. Her fortunes rise with Rome, with the Troubadours and the Courts of Love: at last the Papacy comes to Avignon. And then begins thc sad decline, and all seems lost and buried in dust: But Santo Estello in the empyrean height Performed a miracle one fair May morning: The endless Crau saw bloom in new delight Mireille-Provence, with Paradise alight, You've flowered again, fresh fragrance your adorning! Though all be vanity, and Time pass onward, relentlessly wielding his scythe, faith, at last, is not illusion, but shall have its reward. XII In 1876, Mistral had built a house in Maillane, where he now lived, an uncrowned king, receiving the homage of visitors from all over the world. He had become one of the patriarchs he had so often described in his poems. In March, 1914, he visited the church to examine a new bell, and, while there, caught cold. He took to his bed and seemed to be recovering when, about midday on Lady Day, he became suddenly worse. His wife sent for the priest. Perhaps he saw the boat that crossed the sea without a sail, as did his Mirèio, come to fetch him away, for he spoke the words: 'Li Santo! Li Santo!' and then he died. He had had a good life. It had passed as splendidly as the seasons and had been as full and rounded as Like that which Mirèio saw break over the Rhône, it had had its rosy dawn, which had lightened to a blue morning of spring, such a spring as many a time he had known, when the pastoral figures of his father and mother moved about among the mulberry-trees: for this is the time of the descoucounavon. He had had a perfect childhood and a fortunate youth: his character had been formed in the classic mould so that, when summer came, 56 the year.

·.
i
darkness,
And at last, as with his own Afetssound, the harvest was ripe,
and ha un actor nma tamthor it in
heirs.
Au noum dou Felibrige tout entil, Mestre, verci nosta lagremo e tamben
nostis espèr: In the name of the whole Felibrige, Master, behold
our tears, and also our hopes.
57

·APPENDIX p. 11. Cantc uno chato dc Prouvènço. Dins lis amour de sa jouvenco, A través dc la Crau, vers la mar, dins li bla, Umblc escoulan dóu grand Oumero, Idu la volc scgui. Coume éro Rèn qu'uno chato de la terro, En foro de la Crau sc n'es gaire parla. p. 12. Dins si quinge an éro Mirdio ... Cousticro bluio de Font-Vidio, E vous, colo Bausscnco, e vous plano de Crau, N'aves plus vist de tant poulidol Lou gai soulèu l'avié 'spelido; E nouvelcto, afrescoulido, Sa caro, & flour de gauto, avié dous pichot trau. E soun regard éro uno cigagno Qu'esvalissić touto magagno. Dis cstcllo mcos dous es lou rai, e mens pur; It ncgrcjavo de trcncllo Quc tout-dc-long lasien d'anello; E sa pcitrino redounello Ero un pességuc double e panca ben madur. P. 12. Vincèn avić segc an pancaro; Mai tant dóu cors que de la caro, Certo, acd' 'ro un bèu drole, c di miéus estampa; Emé li gauto proun moureto, Sc voules... Mai terro negreto Adus toujour bono scisseto, E sort di rasin ncgrc un vin que fai trepa. p. 13. Cantas, cantas, magnanarello, Que la culido es cantarello! Galant soun li magnan e s'endormon di tres: Lis amourié soun plen de fiho Que lou bèu tėms escarrabiho, Coume un vòu de blóundis abiho Que raubon sa melico i roumanin dóu gres. p. 15 Emé si testo fiero e libro Se revessant dins l'èr que vibro, Tóuti, d'un meme saut picant la terro ensen, Fasien deja la farandoulo. La grand flamado, que gingoulo Au revoulun que la ventoulo, Empuravo à si front de rebat trelusènt. Li belugo, à remoulinado, Mounton i nivo, aferounado. Au crussimen di trounc toumbant dins lou brasas 58 ·Se mesclo e ns la mousquetto Dou flakutet, ftvertigueto Coume un sausın dins la brangueto Sant Jan, la terro aprens trefouls, quand passa! La regalido petejavo, Lou tambourin voudvounejavo, Greu e countinuos, coume lou chafaret De la mar fourso, quand afloco Panblamea contro la roco Llamo foro di badoco E brandusado en I'er, li dansaire mouret, Tres fes, à grandes abrivado, Fan dins la flamo la Bravado, E tout en trepassant lou rouge cremadou, D'un rést d'asct trasien la veno Au recaléu, e, li man pleno De trescalan e de verbeno, Que fasten benes dins lou fib purgadou, Sant Jan! Sant Jan! Sant Janl cridavon. Touti li colo esbrihaudavon, Coume s'avé plougu d'estello dins l'ourabrun Enteria la rounflado folo Empourtavo l'encios de colo Emé de fid la rougcirolo Vers lou sant, emplana dins lou blu calabrun P 17 Coume parlavo, dins lou Rose Tout resplendent de trelus rose Que deja lou matın i'espandissié, plan plaa Mountavo de lahut di velo L'auro de mar gounffant la telo, L campejavo davans elo Coume uno pastourello un troupeu d'agndu blanc, p. 17 O Santa Mario, Que poudés en flour Chanja nosti plour, CLiD24 lèu l'auriko De ven ma doulour1 Quand verés, pecairel Moun reboul.men E moun pensamen, Vendrés de moun caire Pictadousamen Siêu ung thatoung Qu'ame un jouveinet, Lou ben Vincepeti Ieu l'ame, Santouro, De tout moun senet! 59 ·{ Ilu l'amci iću l'amc, Coumc lou valat Amo dc coula, Coumc l'aucéu flame Amo dc voula, I volon qu'amossc Aquću fiò nourri Quc vou pas mouril E volon quc trossc L'amclić flouril O Sånti Marlo, Que poudes en flour Chanja nosti plour, Clinas Idu l'auriho Dc-vers ma doulour! D'alin siću vengudo Qucrrc cici la pas. Ni Crau, ni campas, Ni mairc csmougudo Qu'arrésic mi pas! I la soulciado, Imc si clavdu E sis arnaveu, La sènic, å raiado, Quc pouo moun cervdu. Mai, poudés mc crèirc! Dounas-mc Vincen; E gai e risent, Vendron vous revèire Touti dous cnsen. L'estras de mi tcmpc Alor calara; E dóu grand ploura Moun regard qu'ċi trempe, Dc gau luoira. Moun pairc s'oupauso A-D-aquel acord: De touca soup cor, Vous èi pau di causo, Belli Santo d'or! Emai fugue duro L'oulivo, lou vent Que boufo is Avent, Pamens l'amaduro Au poun que counvèn. 60 ·La nespo, l'esperbo, Tant aspro au culi Que fan tressa! l'a proun d un pau d'erbo Per Il remouli! O Santa Mario, Que poudés en flour Chanja nosti plour, Clinas lèu l'aunho De-yers ma doulour! p21 amo de moun pais Tu que dardaics, manifesto, E dins sa lengo e dins sa gesto, Quand l baroun picard, alemand, bourguignoun, Sarravon Toulouso e Beu Caire, Tu qu'empurères de tout caire Contro li négri cavaucaire Lus ome de Marsibo c I fiéu d'Avignous, Per la grandour da remembranco Tu que nous sauves l'esperanço, Tu que dins la jouincsso, e plus caud e plus beu Mau grat la mort e l'aclapaire, Fas regreia lou sang di parre, Tu qu'ispirant la dous troubaire, Fas puèi mistraleza la voues de Marabeu Car lus oundado secuları E s tempesto e sus esgları Ao béu mescla lı pople escafa li counfin, La terro maire, la Naturo, Nourris toujour sa pourtaduro Dou meme la sa pousso duro Toujour à 1 oulivié dounara 1'ola fin, Amo de longo renadivo, Ano joulouso e fiero e vivo, Qu'endthes dins fou brut dóu Rose e dóu Rousau Amo di séuvo armouniouso E di calanco soulelouso, De la patro ano ploutso, Tapellel encarno-tc dins pe vers prouvençau! P 23 Obi se lou tastavias! L'abiho N'a pas de meu plus dous, e briho Coume un linde diamant, e sent lou roumanicu Emai lou brusc, ena la aerto, Qu'à nost: colo fan cuberto, E danso dins lou vésre Certo, N'escoularıéu un flasco, aro, se lou teniéu 61 ·p. 23 La niuchado cs lindo, estivenco: D'astrc & mesuro quc s'avenco Un rcvoulun, d'estclio un rcvoulun plus bèu Mounto au levant; douço à la remo, Courouso c boulcguivo c scmo, Semblo eilalin quc la mar cremo... Es un chale, c toujour ić sias que mai nouvèu. P. 26, Aubrc dóu mount Gibaul Pincdo, Eusicro, nerto c mourvcnedol E tu, soulču trcmountic tu, campestre siaul E tu, mar superbol i l'aogoni, Vous prenc, itu, per testimoni De moun ctcmc matrimonil... Aucdu dc la ſourist, cantas lou cant nouviaul p. 29. Prourençau, vcici la coupo Quc nous von di Catalan: A-de-réng bcguen ca troupo Lou vin pur de nostc plant! P. 30. aubourant sa caro estrafaciado, Amudi, dcsdcgnous de la blanco esluciado, Arrcgardo lou Céu coumc fan li dana, E pici . soun trebau retourdo cntahina. p. 34. Aubouro-tc, raço latino, Souto la capo dóu soulèu! Lou rasin brun boui dins la tino Lou vin dc Diću gisclara lèu. Emé toun peu que se desnouso A l'auro santo dou Tabor, Tu siés la raço lumenouso Quc vitu de joio c d'estrambord; Tu siés la raço apoustoulico Quc sono li campano å brand: Tu siés la troumpo quc publico E siés la man quc trais lou gran. Ta lengo mairc, aquéu grand flume Que per sèt branco s'espandis, Largant l'amour, largant lou lume Coumc un resson de Paradis, Ta lengo d'or, fiho roumano Dou Poplc-Réi, es la cansoun Que rediran li bouco umano, Tant quc lou Verbe aura resoun. Sus ti coustiero souleiouso Créis l'óulivié, l'aubre de pas, E de la vigno vertuiouso 62 ·S'engurgulisson ti campai Raço latino, en rettembranco De tous destin sempre courous, Aubouro-te ven l'esperança, Afratro-te souto la Crous! P US Grand soulèu de la Prourenço, Gai coumpaire dóu mastrau, Tu qu'escoules la Durença Courne un flot de vin de Crau, Fallus, toun blound calèul Coucho Youmbro erga fleu! Léut léut leur Fai te veire, béu soulèu! D 35 De nósti paire canten la glori Que dins l'ztott An fa soun trau, E que de longo, nous dien Le libre, Soun resta libre Coume la mar e lou mustrau P. 36 A pada tems qu'avian dins la Prouvènço Va réi nouma Caric Segound lou Go, P-36 Segnour, avèn, lesssant réire Ti sacramco E mandamen, Aven, brutau, plus vougu créire Qu'a l'interès E qu'au Prougres! P 36 E lou vadı meisgount sus la rufa gavello Ero coucha, tout pale e tout ensaunousi, Elevant soun bras que que la caud A brounzi, Parlayo ang lugarello. P 37 au pals ounte sarai tout-aro, Me va estre de-mau, quand lou sera vendra, De noun plus, coume antan sus la tepo amourta, Aus dou bèu jouvent la cansoun forto e claro Entre los aubre s'enaura P-97 Dins l'aire tout d'un cop u dous bras s'auboureron, D'un estrange belu su iu beluguejeron - O mounxegac sant Jan, cride, sant Jan d'estidu, Patroun di messounie, paire de la paurho, Dins vogte Paradis souvepeoyous de réut P 37 Lou vier s'éro teisa sis que toujour fissavon, Malgoria cors coume un mabre éro devengu blanc, E mut, li macissourut, lou voulame à la main, 63 ·201602", misol: : -nr.:01:21:26, C: 02:31:11, :ic " masin tiesis: Endre, se poudiéu! 1:72 clima d. Die !!... Leb, curouso, C = ^^3 g sắc, st=3 :ico uocso! - **.**rd: Lisä Laio 2:50 hiyo.GetInRose. E-::21 Calda, Gc017, !: Cecadentis. Sempre FL racelisco, Lvlc.ce kure de l'aigo 1:!: me er brounze. con car pai, rous disc, 1-rasmi ba:bo peso, GR., ciagu tju quo dc chaine, BE? Se puno bousco, Du Ford, jurant de-loago Elle ne se baie courage, 1 ridina: Ls rrujo teacho, beau la cer de l'oulo. Dalia doceno uro bramadisso Qiscarea coreadias discountuni: Fivers la baixo. tou! seisunel empèri!" La poo! dau! La tira la maio! A Orems dividi, tomos gai, temas de simplesso, 0cle Kese un reroulun de vido Omie enlar:, sus l'aigo loggo ciemasa. ir, li min å l'empento, Cendriculoa! Leu Rre, grici i-a-eli, 64 ·Ero un grand bruse please re&edra Tout add ruct a morte et TS E, las' d squea au tout co czeret? Es lou traçan e la rousse Que la mano a can contro con P 48 Patroun Apuan tuomes La parro Es au gouret que domo festecca A de long peu en cadeneto grao Que fa li tempe entrena k robo Emě dou grand tourts d'or que peze A su junho. Es zat de karat E, de tus lue luscot gis taxco harto Dou tem que ya x tout mar de beslerde, De l'uno a l'autro, estacado a b Eo Per la calumn udenco e loexgarada, En escatant dins lou gouryoc de la Toutal barco i-de-roog s'entrec > 49 en la flour de Ross, moon be see, L espartancu que souto Pounds on E qu amo tant, 1 Angloro, dorm" 50 - Es tules tul- quid cone w 50 Te recounérse, O four de Rose esperados Pazo! Flour de bonur qu'au entre... 50 Te recouncisse, o Dra. Soato la loco Tai vist en man l'espargania que to... 50 Car Los Amour rus me Uno les dms la nau que los emports, Predestina pus lou flot. 50 Lis arcado D&u Pont Sant Espent, espetados, It passon en troufle su la testo .. La Prouvenço apartsson Lou Pont Sant Espent emée par En vint are superbe que x curs En guise de courono suslu Pus Acè a la porto santo e conosco De la terro d amour L'arb do Lou tajóugrané tout fier de pe El grandı mahkero capelada Oundron deya li cremen e LCEA Lou plan x relargos, Gibro perry, Dios lou cları lou cea departe Las Uba dóu Ventours les ·p. 51. E brame lou Rouan, eo Rouanessoll p. 51. Or lou soulèu sus Nimes trecoulavo, Espargissent an long dóu vaste fluvi Li ple de sa flassado ensaunousido E de si rai la reflamour darriero Sus lou castéu de la Tarasco, mounte Lou rèi Reinié semblavo, à sa fenestro, Benesi la supremo rouanado. p. 52. E souto lou brancun di grandis aubo, Dins lou silenci de la vau de Rose, A l'esplendour dóu soulèu que se lèvo, Au pas di bèu chivau que s'escourpouiron E de si narro embandisson la tubo, Lou proumiè carretié dis la preguiero... p. 52. Soulèu de la Prouvènço O diéu que ié coungreies lis angloro, Que fas sourti d'en terro li cigalo, Que dins mi veno marfo e palinouso Reviéndes lou sang rouge de mi réire, Diéu roudanen que lou Dra dios si vouto Agouloupo, à Lioun, au Bourg, en Arle, E Degre tau dins lis Areno Encaro vuei t'es fa lou sacrifice Incounsciènt, diéu qu'escavartes l'oumbro Galoi, qu'en uno ribo incouneigudo Vuei es desert toun autar - e toun ritc Abandouna dins l'oublid, ieu barbare, Ieu lou darrié bessai de ti cresèire, Vole sus toun autar óufri, premico De ma felicita, ma niue de noçol - que dou p. 54 Qu'es la perlo Qu'en bousserlo Se coungreio au founs di nàis, Se noun briho A l'auriho L'Afroudito que ié nais! Qu'es l'or lèime Qu'à bèl čime L'arpaiaire vai culi, S'en trenello Roussinello A toun cou noun vén palil Qu'es la roso Que s'arroso Eme l'cigagnau de Mai, 1 Rouan is the bull, a symbolic name for the Rhône, and Rouanesse a part of Res' cairc, from Rhodanusia, an old Greek colony.