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Acolyte, v. 3, issue 1, whole no. 9, Winter 1945
Page 5
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To hear again the voice of that sonorous bow That, so far from the desert where its songs will be born Brings, into the infinite, the universal choir. So for him, as for Poe, poetry is in essence a pure drive toward a superior reality; before all, it is a music which must be enclosed in a flawless form. Banville seems at first to have considered this doctrine to be a heritage of Greece; in his poems it mixes with reminders of the music of the spheres and Platonic memories. This appears not only in the verses of 1845 we have just quoted but again in Erinna which dates back from 1865: Rhythm is all: it is that which lifts worlds, And, singing, carries them into the aethereal spaces... But when, in 1872, he resumes the same ideas in prose, attempting to give them a logical form in his Short Treatise on French Poetry, the influence of Edgar Poe erases the remembrances of antiquity. Banville undoubtedly did not read the American author in the text, knowing him only through translations and the prefaces of Baudelaire; but these were quite enough to give him a precise idea of Poe's aesthetics. Moreover it is quite possible that Baudelaire, in conversations with is friends, added oral explanations. However it may be, Banville's ideas are expressed, in his Short Treatise, in a form very closely related to that of Poe. The latter claimed that art must never teach a social or moral truth, and he protested against what he termed "the heresy of didactics". Banville writes, with the same clarity: "The didactic poem not only no longer exists, but never again will exist." Banville admits, like Poe, that prose may sometimes have truth as an object; for there is a radical difference between verses and prose. Banville declares that he cannot conceive of the existence of poems in prose; an idea so close to those of Poe that he might contrive the reciprocal proposition, "After Balzac and Poe, the tale in verse no longer exists." Having both reduced poetry to lyricism, Banville and and Poe both claim that the poetical inspiration may disdain all other forms of human activity because it goes beyond all. Poe declared that, through poetry, we have a "glimpse of divine and ecstatic joys". Banville repeats, "Poetry...is addressed to that which there is of the most noble within us; to the Soul, which may be in direct contact with God." Poetry has here only one rival, music. Our two poets have identical opinions on the alliance of the two divine arts. Poe: "There can be little doubt that, in the union of poetry and music in the popular sense, we shall find the widest field for poetical development." Banville, without the slightest allusion to the harmony of the spheres, uses the dry form of Poe, saying, "Properly speaking, there is no poetry or verse outside of song." No one can doubt the influence of Poe upon him, for a certain parallelism of expression is evident. Banville writes, for example: "In order that the poem may merit its name of poem..."--echoing the preface of New Extraordinary Stories: "A poem merits its title only insomuch as..." And that phrase is a faithful translation of Poe. Under Poe's influence, Banville imitated Poe's reconstruction of the manner in which he wrote The Raven. More modest than Poe, he chose as an example not one of his own poems but the two famous lines by Racine: Ariane, my sister, with what wounded love You died on the shores where you had been left... Banville followed Poe's method. The latter, if one is to believe him, -- 5 --
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To hear again the voice of that sonorous bow That, so far from the desert where its songs will be born Brings, into the infinite, the universal choir. So for him, as for Poe, poetry is in essence a pure drive toward a superior reality; before all, it is a music which must be enclosed in a flawless form. Banville seems at first to have considered this doctrine to be a heritage of Greece; in his poems it mixes with reminders of the music of the spheres and Platonic memories. This appears not only in the verses of 1845 we have just quoted but again in Erinna which dates back from 1865: Rhythm is all: it is that which lifts worlds, And, singing, carries them into the aethereal spaces... But when, in 1872, he resumes the same ideas in prose, attempting to give them a logical form in his Short Treatise on French Poetry, the influence of Edgar Poe erases the remembrances of antiquity. Banville undoubtedly did not read the American author in the text, knowing him only through translations and the prefaces of Baudelaire; but these were quite enough to give him a precise idea of Poe's aesthetics. Moreover it is quite possible that Baudelaire, in conversations with is friends, added oral explanations. However it may be, Banville's ideas are expressed, in his Short Treatise, in a form very closely related to that of Poe. The latter claimed that art must never teach a social or moral truth, and he protested against what he termed "the heresy of didactics". Banville writes, with the same clarity: "The didactic poem not only no longer exists, but never again will exist." Banville admits, like Poe, that prose may sometimes have truth as an object; for there is a radical difference between verses and prose. Banville declares that he cannot conceive of the existence of poems in prose; an idea so close to those of Poe that he might contrive the reciprocal proposition, "After Balzac and Poe, the tale in verse no longer exists." Having both reduced poetry to lyricism, Banville and and Poe both claim that the poetical inspiration may disdain all other forms of human activity because it goes beyond all. Poe declared that, through poetry, we have a "glimpse of divine and ecstatic joys". Banville repeats, "Poetry...is addressed to that which there is of the most noble within us; to the Soul, which may be in direct contact with God." Poetry has here only one rival, music. Our two poets have identical opinions on the alliance of the two divine arts. Poe: "There can be little doubt that, in the union of poetry and music in the popular sense, we shall find the widest field for poetical development." Banville, without the slightest allusion to the harmony of the spheres, uses the dry form of Poe, saying, "Properly speaking, there is no poetry or verse outside of song." No one can doubt the influence of Poe upon him, for a certain parallelism of expression is evident. Banville writes, for example: "In order that the poem may merit its name of poem..."--echoing the preface of New Extraordinary Stories: "A poem merits its title only insomuch as..." And that phrase is a faithful translation of Poe. Under Poe's influence, Banville imitated Poe's reconstruction of the manner in which he wrote The Raven. More modest than Poe, he chose as an example not one of his own poems but the two famous lines by Racine: Ariane, my sister, with what wounded love You died on the shores where you had been left... Banville followed Poe's method. The latter, if one is to believe him, -- 5 --
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