Variations on a Theme by Ronsard

Pierre de Ronsard - Quand Vous Serez Bien Vieille
(http://moissan-premieres.eklablog.com/ronsard-sonnets-pour-helene-quand-vous-serez-bien-vieille-a745879)

Lucienne Boyer singing the sonnet of Ronsard
(video by holdabaum)

G.R. Tejada-Flores translated it in country style (Candlelight Blues, 1961):

When yore gitten old at candlelight
Sittin’ at the fire gonna spin all night,
You’ll say sorta marvelin’ as y’sing my song,
“Good old Ronsard sang when Ah was young.”

Then y’won’t have a maid what hears that soun’,
Jist about t’fall asleep an’ all tired down,
Who ain’t gonna wake when she hears ma name
An’ start praisin’ yore name of immortal fame.

Ah’ll be six foot under, no skeleton,
‘Neath the myrtle groves is where my soul will run;
You’ll be dreamin’ at the hearth in a messy ole way,

Sorry you was proud, now Ah’ve gone away.
Better saddle up yore horse, don’t wait all night,
Pick yore roses today, then you’ll be all right.

And here is another variation: in 1891 William Butler Yeats was twenty-six years old and he wrote this pastiche for Maud Gonne (who was a bit younger by that time):

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And, nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep.

How many loved your moments of glad grace
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face.

And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountain overhead
And his his face amid a crowd of stars.

(video by horizonstaraus)

You will find other English renderings in:

http://www.textetc.com/workshop/wt-ronsard-1.html

A brief analysis of the trap set by Ronsard in the second stanza at:

http://www.bewilderingstories.com/issue177/Ronsard_Helene.html

There is also a comparison made there between the sonnet of Ronsard and the replica done by Yeats (Yeats’ poem is not in the same spirit as Ronsard’s; that’s not bad, it’s just different; Yeats takes a more spiritual, even ethereal tone, while Ronsard is downright earthy: the candle and spinning are commonplace symbols of sexuality).

I will give you here also a Romanian rendering. I found it in:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/39046738/sonetulinromania

Cand vei fi-mbatranit si cu tristete
Vei toarce serile la lumanare;
Rostind vreun vers de-al meu cu-nduiosare
Ronsard, vei zice, ma canta-n junete.

Si vei vedea ca slujnica-ti tresare
Ca smulsa din a toropelii cete,
Ca la auzul gloriei marete
Te-o binecuvanta cu minunare.

Voi fi-n pamant, fantoma fara oase.
M-oi odihni prin umbrele mirtoase.
Tu, garbova, subt greul batranetii.

Vei regreta dispretul si trufia :
Traieste! Maine n-astepta sa vie.
Culege de-astazi trandafirul vietii.

Sonnet form: (Fr) abba abba ccd eed (En-1) aabb bbcc dde eff (En-2) abba cddc deed (Ro) abba baab ccd eed



(Ronsard)

(William Butler Yeats)