À Célimène - Alphonse Daudet
Je ne vous aime pas, c’est dit, je vous déteste,
Je vous crains comme on craint l’enfer, de peur du feu ;
Comme on craint le typhus, le choléra, la peste,
Je vous hais à la mort, madame ; mais, mon Dieu !
Expliquez-moi pourquoi je pleure, quand je reste
Deux jours sans vous parler et sans vous voir un peu.
Ok, I’m going to explain those poems like the girl I am – a sucker for anything a bit teasing and romantic.
And oh my my, Alphonse is a master of that.
Yeah, we’re on a first-name basis him and I.
Let me translate this poem for you. (This is a literal translation so you can appreciate the details of the French version)
I don’t love you, it is said, I hate you,
I am scared of you like I am scared of hell, out of fear for fire ;
Like you are scared of typhus, the cholera, the plague,
I have you to death Madame, but oh my god!
Explain to me why I cry, when I stay
Two days without talking to you, and without seeing you so much.
Célimène is a lucky girl if you ask me! 
Reminds me of a certain Shakespeare’s story.
I hate you because I love you.
Classic!
À Cupidon - Ronsard
Le jour pousse la nuit,
Et la nuit sombre
Pousse le jour qui luit
D’une obscure ombre.Mais la fièvre d’amours
Qui me tourmente,
Demeure en moy tousjours,
Et ne s’alente.Ce n’estoit pas moy, Dieu,
Qu’il falloit poindre,
Ta fleche en autre lieu
Se devoit joindre.
I really love Ronsard. He’s cute, and then usually boom, he throws a little cutting remark! Witty boy…This one is an exception though, he only said the cute stuff. (oh nooo)
If you have trouble with some words, don’t worry. Ronsard is from the 16th century. Safe to say there were a few vocabulary changes since.
Notably, the use of the letter ‘y’, and of the ‘oi’.
Let’s translate it.
The day pushed the night,
And the dark night
Pushes the day that shines
Of a dark shadow
But the fever of loves,
That torments me,
Still stays in me,
And doesn’t feed itself.
It wasn’t me God,
That needed to be hurt,
Your arrow, in another place,
Should have fallen.
I think he wasn’t a fan of Valentine’s and Cupid… Who can blame him? 
Poor poor Ronsard, doomed to be in love.
But not loved…
Stupid Cupid!
You know what's basically poems? Music and musicals!
Famous French singers – the classics!
MUSIC! Fancy listening to a bit of French music? Do you know the classic famous French singers? We are going to talk about: The classic French
French musicals to sing along to 🎶
Do you like music? Do you like movies? Do you want to learn French? I’ve just recorded this especially for you! We’re talking about: The
Si je mourais là-bas - Apollinaire (my favourite French poem about love I think)
Lou si je meurs là-bas souvenir qu’on oublie
— Souviens-t’en quelquefois aux instants de folie
De jeunesse et d’amour et d’éclatante ardeur —
Mon sang c’est la fontaine ardente du bonheur
Et sois la plus heureuse étant la plus jolie
Grab a tissue, this one is a sad one.
Picture the scene, a thirty-something poet is in the trenches – during the first world war.
It’s cold. It stinks of death. Everyone he knows is dying around him. One by one.Maybe tomorrow, it will be his turn…
This makes him sad, but not because he is going to die. Because his love might forget him.
It terrifies him in fact.
Look at this.
Lou, if I die there like a memory that we forget
– Remember me sometimes during instants of folly
Of youth and love and dazzling heat –
My blood is the arduous fountain of happiness
And be the happiest being the prettiest
Awwwww. Told you you should have grabbed the tissues!
PS: Apollinaire in fact died of the Spanish flu. So yay?
Do you enjoy French poems about love?
Me too. Poems have a way of making us feel better about the world. Even when they are sad.
Would you like to be able to enjoy reading in French?
Would it be poems, novels, newspapers, magazines, blogs,…?
Join us in the Club, to learn how you can learn to speak French in 6 months.
And, if reading really is something you enjoy doing, check this workshop:
