Did you know that the first Thursday in October is National Poetry Day in the UK?
Each year there’s a different theme and in 2019 the theme is ‘Truth’.
As I take my conversation lessons on a Thursday, I thought this would be an excellent opportunity to look at some poetry with my advanced class. While planning my lesson, my mind wandered off, remembering one of my favourite poems about Autumn.
As part of my degree we studied some French poets. This included Paul Verlaine who wrote the very haunting poem ‘Chanson d’automne’. This has remained one of my favourite French poems. I believe French children are often required to learn this poem off by heart.
Chanson d’Automne
Les sanglots longs
Des violons
De l’automne
Blessent mon cœur
D’une langueur
Monotone.
Tout suffocant
Et blême, quand
Sonne l’heure,
Je me souviens
Des jours anciens
Et je pleure;
Et je m’en vais
Au vent mauvais
Qui m’emporte
Deçà, delà,
Pareil à la
Feuille morte.
Here is a translation from mamalisa.com
Autumn Song
The long tears
Of Autumn’s
Violins
Wound my heart
With a monotonous
lethargy.
All suffocating
And pale when
The hour strikes,
I remember
The old days
And I cry…
And I am going away
On an ill wind
That carries me
Here, there,
Just like a
Dead leaf.
During World War II, the BBC and the French Resistance developed a code to signal the start of D-Day, using the first three lines of ‘Chanson d’Automne’ as an alert. When repeated twice, “Les sanglots longs/ des violons/ de l’automne”, meant that operations would start within two weeks. They were broadcast on June 1, 1944. When the poem’s next three lines were transmitted twice, “Blessent mon coeur/ d’une langueur/ monotone”, it meant that the action would take place within 48 hours and that the Resistance should begin sabotage operations. These lines were broadcast on June 5, 1944.
Fancying France 
I had no idea that the first Thursday in October was national Poetry Day. What a shame that we don’t make more of it. My poetry tastes are fairly traditional – Keates, de la mare and Yeats in particular though Rupert Brooke is my favourite. I am glad that you gave us the English translation. I started reading and thought, ‘oh dear, this is [way] beyond my schoolgirl French!’
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National Poetry Day is a relatively recent event, from the nineties, I believe. I think it was introduced originally to promote poetry in schools. I did A Level English Lit and we studied a lot of poetry! Yeats was one of my favourites. I meant to add a video clip of someone reading the poem, in French, but forgot!
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I did A Level English Lit too, but would have much preferred to do English Language. Unfortunately it wasn’t offered. When I finally studied it at uni many years later, I was truly in my element. I loved every moment. I did quite a bit of proof reading for some of those who were studying Eng Lit, and it left me cold. What a heathen, eh?
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Hardly a heathen – haha! I’m fascinated by language in the widest sense and I would have liked to study more of the world of linguistics. I think that one of the problems with studying literature is over analysis which can detract from all the pleasure of the text, Shakespeare for example.
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My exact point, June. The over analysis takes away the pleasure. I loved sociolinguistics, and we touched on psycholinguistics too which was fascinating. In my final year I chose Language acquisition which covered not only how children speak, but also how stroke patients re-learn speech. One of my fellow students went on to study speech therapy. I’d love to have carried on but Masters funding was only available for under 60s and I couldn’t afford to fund it myself.
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What a beautiful poem and interesting to hear the wartime history behind it. And I see another tree-lined canal walk there! Where was the pic taken?
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The pic was taken on the section of tow path outside our garden. If you come out of the back garden gate and turn left, that is what you see. We are very fortunate!
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I have never heard of poetry day and I only did my English Language and Literature degree 5 years ago! It’s a fascinating story of the poem being used in the war and adds an extra layer to its meaning.
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I think National Poetry Day was mainly aimed at schools, originally. I only recently discovered that the poem had the war connection. It definitely adds an extra layer to the poem’s meaning. Thanks for your thoughtful comment!
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