Analysis of Les Esclaves D’Amour

Andre Marie de Chenier 1762 (Constantinople) – 1794 (Paris)



'Les esclaves d'amour ont tant versé de pleurs!
S'il a quelques plaisirs, il a tant de douleurs!
Qu'il garde ses plaisirs. Dans un vallon tranquille,
Les muses contre lui nous offrent un asile;
Les muses, seul objet de mes jeunes désirs,
Mes uniques amours, mes uniques plaisirs.
L'amour n'ose troubler la paix de ce rivage.
Leurs modestes regards ont, loin de leur bocage,
Fait fuir ce dieu cruel, leur légitime effroi,
Chastes muses, veillez, veillez toujours sur moi.'

--'Non, non, le dieu d'amour n'est point l'effroi des muses.
Elles cherchent ses pas, elles aiment ses ruses.
Le coeur qui n'aime rien a beau les implorer,
Leur troupe qui s'enfuit ne veut pas l'inspirer.
Qu'un amant les invoque, et sa voix les attire.
C'est ainsi que toujours elles montent ma lyre.
Si je chante les dieux, ou les héros, soudain
Ma langue balbutie et se travaille en vain.
Si je chante l'amour, ma chanson d'elle-même
S'écoule de ma bouche et vole à ce que j'aime.'


Scheme AABBAACCDX AADDDDEEXX
Poetic Form
Metre 11111111 1101110111 111111111 1101101111 1101111111 111111 1011111111 110111111 1111101111 11011111 1101110111110 111111110 0111110111 11111111 111111111010 11111111 1111111111 11111111 11110111111 11111111111
Closest metre Iambic octameter
Characters 954
Words 168
Sentences 14
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 10, 10
Lines Amount 20
Letters per line (avg) 36
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 364
Words per stanza (avg) 82
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

55 sec read
61

Andre Marie de Chenier

André Marie Chénier was a French poet of Greek and Franco-Levantine origin, associated with the events of the French Revolution of which he was a victim. His sensual, emotive poetry marks him as one of the precursors of the Romantic movement. His career was brought to an abrupt end when he was guillotined for supposed "crimes against the state", just three days before the end of the Reign of Terror. Chénier's life has been the subject of Umberto Giordano's opera Andrea Chénier and other works of art. more…

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