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L'épinaissant mûrit de la faux respecté;
Sans crainte du pressoir, le pampre tout l'été
Boit les doux présents de l'aurore;
Et moi, comme lui, belle, et jeune comme lui,
Quoique l'heure présente ait de trouble et d'ennui?
Je ne veux pas mourir encore.
L'illusion féconde habite dans mon sein,
D'une prison sur moi les murs pèsent en vain,
J'ai les ailes de l'espérance;
Echappée aux réseaux de l'oiseleur cruel,
Plus vive, plus heureuse, aux campagnes du ciel;
Philomèle chante et s'élance
...
Ô mort! tu peux attendre; éloigne, éloigne-toi;
Va consoler les coeurs que la honte, l'effroi,
Le pâle désespoir, dévore.
Pour moi Palès encore a des asiles verts,
Les Amours des baisers, les Muses des concerts;
Je ne veux pas mourire encore.
Note: the text above is taken from stanzas 1-2,4 of the original text.
Composition:
- Set to music by Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle (1760 - 1836), "La jeune captive", stanzas 1-2,4
Text Authorship:
- by André Chénier (1762 - 1794), "La Jeune Captive", subtitle: "Décade philosophique, 30 nivôse an III", appears in Poésies, in Dernières Poésies, in Saint-Lazare, no. 3, Paris, Éd. G. Charpentier
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Laura Stanfield Prichard) (Qi Feng Wu) , "The Young Captive", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 25
Word count: 169
Briars ripen, spared from the scythe;
Without fear of the wine press, the vine all summer long
Drinks the sweet gifts of dawn;
And I, like them, beautiful, and young like them,
Although the present hour may have trouble and boredom?
I don't want to die yet.
The fruitful illusion dwells in my breast,
Prison walls weigh upon me in vain,
I have wings of hope,
Escaped from the nets of the cruel birdcatcher,
More lively, more happy, through the fields of heaven;
Philomela sings and soars!
...
O death! you can wait; go away, leave me;
Go comfort hearts that are ashamed, frightened,
Devoured by pale despair.
For me Palès still has green refuges,
Love, has her kisses, the Muses, concerts;
I don't want to die yet.
Note: the text above is taken from stanzas 1-2,4 of the original text.
Translators' Notes
This poem was published posthumously, on January 9, 1795; its subject is the historical Aimée de Coigny. André Chenier’s poem is written from her perspective as a twenty-four-year-old female divorcée protesting her unjust imprisonment and impending execution. De Coigny was a fascinating figure who outlived the French Revolution: a writer, salonnière, conspirator (during the final days of Napoleon’s rule), and liberal dissident (under the Restoration).
The poet met de Coigny and her future husband (the Comte Casimir de Montrond) during his final months at the St. Lazare prison, before he was guillotined in July 1794 (three days before the end of the Reign of Terror). Chenier wrote his poems on tiny pieces of paper and smuggled them out to his family in bundles of laundry sent home for washing. Both Chenier and de Coigny survive as (slightly transformed) characters in Umberto Giordano’s opera Andrea Chenier. Montrond and de Coigny did survive the Reign of Terror, since they bribed their jailer; Aimée lived to write an 1817 tell-all memoir full of political intrigue (published in 1902) and an 1818 novel, Alvar which was believed to be lost until 1912.
Textual notes:
Stanza 1, Line 1, word 3, "spared" - also, “respected by”
Stanza 2, Line 6, word 1, "Philomela" - this is a classical reference to an Athenian princess; Φιλομήλα comes from the words φιλο- (filo, lover of) and μέλος (melos, song). She was transformed into a nightingale or swallow. Since Ovid’s and Homer’s well-known versions of the Greek myth emphasize violence (she is attacked by her brother-in-law, the King of Thrace), the song of the nightingale usually represents melancholy in poetry.
Stanza 3, Line 4 - meaning “my whole life”
Stanza 4, Line 4, word 3, "Pales" - Pales was an ancient Roman deity of shepherds and livestock, responsible for safeguarding flocks and purifying sacred groves and fountains. Rome celebrated Pales with a spring purification festival (Palilia, in April) featuring bonfires to leap through.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2023 by Laura Stanfield Prichard and Qi Feng Wu, (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 André Chénier (1762 - 1794), "La Jeune Captive", subtitle: "Décade philosophique, 30 nivôse an III", appears in Poésies, in Dernières Poésies, in Saint-Lazare, no. 3, Paris, Éd. G. Charpentier
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This text was added to the website: 2023-07-08
Line count: 25
Word count: 173