La nuit. La pluie. Un ciel blafard que déchiquette De flèches et de tours à jour la silhouette D'une ville gothique éteinte au lointain gris. La plaine. Un gibet plein de pendus rabougris Secoués par le bec avide des corneilles Et dansant dans l'air noir des gigues nonpareilles, Tandis que leurs pieds sont la pâture des loups. Quelques buissons d'épine épars, et quelques houx Dressant l'horreur de leur feuillage à droite, à gauche, Sur le fuligineux fouillis d'un fond d'ébauche. Et puis, autour de trois livides prisonniers Qui vont pieds nus, [deux cent vingt-cinq]1 pertuisaniers En marche, et leurs fers droits, comme des fers de herse, Luisent à contre-sens des lances de l'averse.
Confirmed with Paul Verlaine, Poëmes saturniens, Paris: Alphonse Lemerre, 1866, pages 38-39.
1 some editions: "un gros de hauts"Text Authorship:
- by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), "Effet de nuit", appears in Poèmes saturniens, in 2. Eaux-fortes, no. 4, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1866 [author's text checked 2 times 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 Yuri Kasparov (b. 1955), "Effet de nuit", 1996 [ bass-baritone, clarinet, horn, piano, vibraphone and violoncello ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Sylvio Lazzari (1857 - 1944), "Effet de nuit", published 1904 [ voice and piano ], from Poème symphonique d'après un poème de Paul Verlaine, Leduc [sung text not yet checked]
- by Fausto Magnani (b. 1899), "Effet de nuit", <<1931 [ high voice and piano ], from Quatre pièces impressionnistes, no. 4, Paris, Éd. Maurice Sénart [sung text not yet checked]
- by Théodore Terestchenko (1888 - 1950), "Effet de nuit", op. 24, published [1913] [ voice and piano ], Paris, J. Hamelle [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Bergen Weeks Applegate) , "Effects of Night", appears in Poems Saturnine, in 2. Etchings, no. 4
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2009-01-05
Line count: 14
Word count: 114
The night. The rain. A pale sky cut with ragged jet Black towers and spires that are today the silhouette Of an old Gothic town, dim in the distant gray. The plain. A gibbet full of hanging rogues that sway Shaken and torn by cutting beaks of famished crows, And dancing in the dark strange life-like jigs in rows, The while their dangling feet the wolves make pasture of. Some bushes with their scattered thorns, and then above Some hollies turning as with horror their wet leaves Now to the right, now left, as when the eye perceives Them on the sooty background of an artist's sketch. And then, around three livid barefoot prisoners stretch A host of halberdiers, like giants marching by; Whose straight set, harrow pointed pikes seem to the eye The rain's keen lances thrown from a black sky.
Confirmed with Bergen Applegate, Paul Verlaine: His Absinthe-Tinted Song, Chicago, Ralph Fletcher Seymour, The Alderbrink Press, 1916, pages 50-51.
Text Authorship:
- by Bergen Weeks Applegate (b. 1865), "Effects of Night", appears in Poems Saturnine, in 2. Etchings, no. 4 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), "Effet de nuit", appears in Poèmes saturniens, in 2. Eaux-fortes, no. 4, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1866
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- [ None yet in the database ]
Researcher for this page: Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2022-03-10
Line count: 15
Word count: 142