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Monday, February 22, 2010

Théophile de Viau: Je Songeais Cette Nuit que Philis Revenue

It was quoted by Baudelaire in his Mon coeur mis à nu (published posthumously in 1887). The sonnet was written by Théophile de Viau, some time in the first quarter of the XVIIth century. One of the last baroque poets in French literature, never accepting the classicist constraints of Malherbe, stubborn in remaining in the universe of the late Renaissance, this was Théophile de Viau.

Maybe some explanations are needed for the modern reader. Philis and Damon (Phyllis and Demophoön) belong to the Greek mythology. Athenian king Demophoön was the son of Theseus and on his way back from the Trojan war he met Phyllis, daughter of Thracian king Lycurgus, and married her. The husband left however his wife behind and went further to Athens as he was bound to his royal duties. Phyllis waited for his return in vain and eventually committed suicide. Goddess Athena, taking pity of the unfortunate woman, turned her into an almond tree. The legend is told in Ovid's Heroides (Epistula II).

As for Ixion, this is another story: the guy was lustful for Hera, the wife of Zeus, no more no less! Thus the Supreme God sent to Ixion a cloud in the shape of Hera, to catch him red handed.

Let's come back to our sheep (the sonnet by de Viau).The illustration created by Arnaud d'Hauterives plays on the équivoque; as Neal Philip notes, its atmosphere of suppressed sexuality calls in mind Balthus.

Arnaud d'Hauterives, Le Plus Beau des Amants, 1991
http://www.idburyprints.com/


Je songeais cette nuit que Philis revenue,
Belle comme elle était à la clarté du jour,
Voulait que son fantôme encore fît l'amour,
Et que, comme Ixion, j'embrassasse une nue.

Son ombre dans mon lit se glisse toute nue,
Et me dit : Cher Damon, me voici de retour ;
Je n'ai fait qu'embellir en ce triste séjour
Où depuis mon départ le sort m'a retenue.

Je viens pour rebaiser le plus beau des amants ;
Je viens pour remourir dans tes embrassements !
Alors, quand cette idole eut abusé ma flamme,

Elle me dit : Adieu ! Je m'en vais chez les morts.
Comme tu t'es vanté d'avoir foutu mon corps,
Tu pourras te vanter d'avoir foutu mon âme


Front matter of Boswell's copy of the 1732 edition of the Heroides, edited by Peter Burmann

Here is a German rendering of the legend of Phyllis and Damon. It belongs to Kleist:

Ja, liebster Damon! Ich bin überwunden,
Mein Geist empfindet, was er nie empfunden;
Ich fühl die von mir sonst verlachten Schmerzen
Jezt in dem Herzen.

Als ich die Hand jüngst, die dein Auge deckte,
Vorwitzig fortriß; Himmel! was erweckte
Dein schönes Auge, voller treuen Thränen,
Mir nicht für Sehnen!

Ich floh und weinte. Wie ward mir zu Muthe!
Ein heftig Feuer wallte mir im Blute.
Die Flammen werden unaufhörlich währen,
Die mich verzehren.

Komm treuster Damon! den ich mir erwähle,
Auf meinen Lippen schwebt mir schon die Seele,
Um durch die deinen, unter Scherz und küssen,
In dich zu fliessen.


John William Waterhouse - Phyllis and Demophoön, 1907

(Baudelaire)

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