The "Odes Funambulesques" contain many examples of M. De Banville's
skill in reviving old forms of verse--triolets, rondeaux, chants
royaux, and ballades. Most of these were composed for the special
annoyance of M. Buloz, M. Limayrac, and a M. Jacquot who called
himself De Mirecourt. The rondeaux are full of puns in the refrain:
"Houssaye ou c'est; lyre, l'ire, lire," and so on, not very
exhilarating. The pantoum, where lines recur alternately, was
borrowed from the distant Malay; but primitive pantoum, in which the
last two lines of each stanza are the first two of the next, occur
in old French folk-song. The popular trick of repetition, affording
a rest to the memory of the singer, is perhaps the origin of all
refrains. De Banville's later satires are directed against
permanent objects of human indignation--the little French debauchee,
the hypocritical friend of reaction, the bloodthirsty chauviniste.
Tired of the flashy luxury of the Empire, his memory goes back to
his youth -
"Lorsque la levre de l'aurore
Baisait nos yeux souleves,
Et que nous n'etions pas encore
La France des petits creves."
The poem "Et Tartufe" prolongs the note of a satire always popular
in France--the satire of Scarron, Moliere, La Bruyere, against the
clerical curse of the nation. The Roman Question was Tartufe's
stronghold at the moment. "French interests" demanded that Italy
should be headless.
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