“The Ballad of the Dead Ladies”

Ballade des dames du temps jadisBy: Francis Villon

PREPARED BY:BUSIA, SHIELA MAE C.ROSARIO, NICOLAI JAMES B. M.T. 31401418

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR

French Poet, Thief, and Vagabond Born on 1431 in Paris François de Montcorbier and François Des

LogesIn 1449 – Bachelor’s Degree In 1452 – Master’s Degree Best known for his Testaments and his

Ballade des Pendus (written while in prison)

BACKGROUND

Francis Villon named his poem “BALLADE”In 1533, Clement Marot  lengthened the

title to "Ballade des dames du temps jadis“ (The Ballad of Yesterday’s Belles)

In 9th Century, D.G Rossetti translated the title as “The Ballad of the Dead Ladies”

Ballad Poem Time: Middle French

1340 and the first decade of the 7TH Century

Language: Preceded by Old French and succeeded by Modern French

BACKGROUND

Vocabulary

1. Hidden way Byway, archway, back alley, secret trysting place 2. Flora Reference to a prostitute named Flora or a Roman goddess named Flora. 3. Hipparchia Villon used the name Archipiada in his Middle French poem. Rossetti

changed the word to Hipparchia, the name of a Thracian woman who became the companion of the Greek cynic philosopher Crates. However, it is possible that Villon, in using Archipiada, was referring to Alcibiades (450-404 BC), a Greek general and statesman who was said to be extremely

4. Thais Courtesan who accompanied Alexander the Great (356-323 BC). 5. Echo See the study guide for Narcissus and Echo. 6. Héloise, Abeillard Héloïse (1098-1164) and Peter Abelard (1079-1142). Abelard, a theologian

and philosopher, began tutoring Héloïse, the niece of the canon of Notre Dame in 1117 or 1118 and they fell in love.

7. mere Small lake, pond.

8. ween Suppose, imagine, think. 9. dule In Gaelic (the Celtic language of Scotland), dule means pain, agony,

distress. Dool is an alternate spelling. 10. teen Archaic word for suffering, misery. 11. Queen, Buridan Queen (royne, in Villon's Middle French) is a reference to the queen

dowager of Burgundy, according to a note in the 1920 Oxford Book of French Verse.

12. Queen Blanche Probably a reference to the Spanish wife of King Louis VIII of

France, Blanche of Castille (1188-1252). 13. Bertha Broadfoot Bertrada of Laon, mother of Charlemagne (742-814) king of the

Franks. Laon is a city in northern France. 14. Beatrice . . . Ermengarde Characters in old French stories.

15. Joan Joan of Arc (1412-1431), the saintly peasant girl who was burned at

the stake by the English. She is now a French national heroine. 16. Fair lord It was customary for a poet to address an envoi (the final stanza)

to his patron or to a courtier or member of the royal family. Villon uses Prince.

17. overword Another word for refrain (repeated line or passage).

THE BALLAD OF THE DEAD LADIES TELL me now in what hidden way is

Lady Flora the lovely Roman?Where's Hipparchia, and where is Thais,

Neither of them the fairer woman?Where is Echo, beheld of no man,Only heard on river and mere,--

She whose beauty was more than human? . . .

But where are the snows of yester-year?

Where's Héloise, the learned nun,For whose sake Abeillard, I ween,

Lost manhood and put priesthood on?(From Love he won such dule and

teen!)And where, I pray you, is the Queen

Who willed that Buridan should steerSewed in a sack's mouth down the

Seine? . . .But where are the snows of yester-

year?

White Queen Blanche, like a queen of lilies,

With a voice like any mermaiden,--Bertha Broadfoot, Beatrice, Alice,

And Ermengarde the lady of Maine,--And that good Joan whom Englishmen

At Rouen doomed and burned her there,--

Mother of God, where are they then? . . .

But where are the snows of yester-year?

Nay, never ask this week, fair lord,Where they are gone, nor yet this

year,Save with this much for an

overword,--But where are the snows of yester-

year?

ANALYSISRhyme Scheme

ABABBCBCForm

Octaves and Quatrain Figure of Speech

Rhetoric Question But where are the snows of yester-year? (Mais où sont les neiges d’antan!).

At the end of each stanza, the poet presents this refrain: But where are the snows of yester-year? (Mais où sont les neiges d’antan!). The refrain is a metaphor that compares the past—as well as the people of the past—to snow that has melted.

.......The poem also makes effective use of other figures of speech. Following are examples:

Alliteration (English Version) .......H sound: beheld of no man, / Only heard on river and mere— / She

whose beauty was more than human (lines 5-7) .......Y consonant sound: yester-year (lines 8, 16, 24, 28) .......P sound: put priesthood (line 11) .......S sound: Sewed in a sack's mouth down the River Seine (line 15) .......B sound: Bertha Broadfoot, Beatrice (line 19) .......N sound: Nay, never (line 25)

Simile, English Version Use of like, as, or than to compare unlike things .......White Queen Blanche, like a queen of lilies, / With a voice like any

mermaiden (lines 17-18)

THEMEDeath Nostalgic Forgetfulness Time Contemplation

Unified Theme

The inexorable march of time and the inevitability of death in wistful reflection of the past