The
poet proposed to himself
"A cote de Venus et du fils de Latone
Peindre la fee et la peri."
The longest poem in the book, and the most serious, "La Voie
Lactee," reminds one of the "Palace of Art," written before the
after-thought, before the "white-eyed corpses" were found lurking in
corners. Beginning with Homer, "the Ionian father of the rest," -
"Ce dieu, pere des dieux qu'adore Ionie," -
the poet glorifies all the chief names of song. There is a long
procession of illustrious shadows before Shakespeare comes--
Shakespeare, whose genius includes them all.
"Toute creation e laquelle on aspire,
Tout reve, toute chose, emanent de Shakespeare."
His mind has lent colour to the flowers and the sky, to
"La fleur qui brode un point sur les manteau des plaines,
Les nenuphars penches, et les pales roseaux
Qui disent leur chant sombre au murmure des eaux."
One recognises more sincerity in this hymn to all poets, from
Orpheus to Heine, than in "Les Baisers de Pierre"--a clever
imitation of De Musset's stories in verse. Love of art and of the
masters of art, a passion for the figures of old mythology, which
had returned again after their exile in 1830, gaiety, and a revival
of the dexterity of Villon and Marot,--these things are the
characteristics of M. De Banville's genius, and all these were
displayed in "Les Cariatides." Already, too, his preoccupation with
the lighter and more fantastic sort of theatrical amusements shows
itself in lines like these:
"De son lit e baldaquin
Le soleil de son beau globe
Avait l'air d'un arlequin
Etalant sa garde-robe;
"Et sa soeur au front changeant
Mademoiselle la Lune
Avec ses grands yeux d'argent
Regardait la terre brune.
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