The thickest foliage of a solitary tree | The thickest foliage of a solitary tree

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by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585)

Translation © by David Wyatt

Le plus toffu d'un solitaire bois

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Le plus toffu d'un solitaire bois,
Le plus aigu d'une roche sauvage,
Le plus desert d'un separé rivage,
Et la frayeur des antres les plus cois,

Soulagent tant mes soupirs et ma vois
Qu'au seul escart d’un plus secret ombrage
Je sens guarir ceste amoureuse rage,
Qui me r'afole au plus verd de mes mois.

Là renversé dessus la terre dure,
Hors de mon sein je tire une peinture,
De tous mes maux le seul allegement :

Dont les beautez par Denisot encloses,
Me font sentir mille metamorfoses
Tout en un coup d'un regard seulement.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• G. Boni

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Text Authorship:

by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585), no title [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Guillaume Boni (c1530 - c1594), "Le plus touffu d'un solitaire bois", published 1608 [ vocal quartet ], from Sonnets de Pierre de Ronsard mis en musique à 4 parties, I, no. 19, Paris, Pierre Ballard [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

ENG English (David Wyatt) , "The thickest foliage of a solitary tree", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: David Wyatt

This text was added to the website: 2015-02-26
Line count: 14
Word count: 95

The thickest foliage of a solitary tree

Language: English after the French (Français)

The thickest foliage of a solitary tree,
The sharpest point of a savage rock,
The most deserted part of a far-off riverbank,
And the terror of the most silent caves,

These soothe my sighing and my cries so far
That only far off in the most hidden shadows
Do I feel this lover's madness healed
Which throws me again into the madness of my greenest youth.

There, lying upon the hard earth,
I draw from my breast a painting
The sole relief from all my ills :

The beauty of which, captured by Denisot,
Makes me feel a hundred changing emotions
All at once, from a single look.

View text with all available footnotes

Translator's note: Denisot was a French painter of the time.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2015 by David Wyatt, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Based on:

a text in French (Français) by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585), no title
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2015-02-26
Line count: 14
Word count: 108