?Commentary on Ode à Cassandre and Sonnet XVI Ode

« Claire SUN demonstrative adverb of place, it is used here to invite and call the persona, Cassandre to see the rose, hence reinforce the poem’s dynamics.

The reason why the poem is written in such a dynamic way is that the poet wants to emphasize the different phases that the rose is experiencing.

The rose in this poem experiences both ‘la naissance’ and ‘la mort’, ‘jeunesse’ (l.16) and ‘vieillesse’ (l.17), indicating that death is the inevitable destiny of the flower.

The poet uses allegories in the last stanza, attaching a moral to the poem.

Opposed to the personification used in the first stanza, ‘sa robe de pourpre au Soleil’ (l.3), the poet calls ‘la mignonne’ Cassandre to enjoy her youth through the use of physicalification, ‘cueillez, cueillez votre jeunesse’ (l.16).

The repeated verb ‘cueillir’ is a verb destined to flowers, here the poet physicalizes Cassandre’s ‘jeunesse’ to a rose’s blooming stage.

The use of physicalification makes the description more vivid, and lets the readers associate humans’ youth to the ephemerality of flowers.

Through this poem, the poet has given the readers a more in-depth meaning of birth and death by using the symbolism of ‘la rose’.

He suggests that humans are just like flowers, ‘la jeunesse’ is inevitably followed by ‘la viellese’ and ‘la mort’.

However, we should enjoy our youth. Similarly, Sonnet XVI is also dynamic, but different from Ode à Cassandre , it is dynamic in the sense that violent actions are involved.

The dominant figure of the sonnet is anaphora, with the first three stanzas beginning with ‘je veulx’, and then followed by verbs that indicate actions, for example ‘darder’ in line1, ‘muer’ in line6 and ‘changer’ in line9.

Instead of using ‘jeter’ (to throw), the poet use ‘darder’ (l.1).

The verb does not only imply a strong, fast movement, but also the poet’s desires to be relieved as he says ‘je veulx darder par l’univers ma peine’ (l.1).

The use of ‘je’ at the beginning of the three stanzas emphasize again that he is the one who is suffering from the pain.

The poet also compares the action of throwing away his pain to an arrow that flies from the bow, ‘plus tost qu’un trait ne volle au descocher’ (l.2).

In this way, the readers are able to understand his suffering and at the same time, enhance the poem’s dynamics.

The use of natural elements in Sonnet XVI is also dominant.

While in Ode à Cassandre , the poet uses only one natural elemet, that is ‘la rose’ to symbolize the woman, he uses multiple elements in this sonnet.

In line6, the poet says he wants to ‘muer mes deux yeulx en fontain’ (l.6), in terms of literature, the eyes that transform into a fountain are ‘des yeux qui pleurent abondamment’ 1 .

The use of the natural element ‘fontaine’ implies his irrepressible plain as ‘la fontaine’ consists of water that runs endlessly hence the tears that run down continually.

Furthermore, the word ‘feu’ in ‘mon coeur en feu’ (l.6) suggests his passion and love for his beloved one as the poet says ‘de sa beaulté si fierement humaine’ (l.8).

Nevertheless, ‘ma 1 "« fontaine », le dictionnaire Littré, n.d.

Web.

18 November 2017.

.. »