In Popular Culture
- The poem was alluded to in Joseph Heller's novel, Catch-22, when Yossarian asks "Where are the Snowdens of yesteryear?" in both French and English
- The text "Ou sont les neiges" is used as a screen projection in the first scene of Tennessee Williams's play "The Glass Menagerie."
- "And like the snows of yesteryear, gone from this earth" is used by Lt. Archie Hicox in Quentin Tarantino's film Inglourious Basterds to describe the intended effects of a plot to assassinate the Nazi leadership.
- The poem appears in season two, episode three of Mad Men - the character Don sits in an almost empty cinema, watching a French film (identity unknown) in which a female narrator reads the poem over a series of stills.
- In chapter five of D.H. Lawrence's book 'Lady Chatterly's Lover' Clifford Chatterly asks "Where are the snows of yesteryear?...It's what endures through one's life that matters". Here he is referring to the short-lived sexual affairs that his wife, Lady Chatterly, has had with other men. He is suggesting that these affairs, like the snows of yesteryear, are ephemeral and once gone leave nothing tangible behind.
- In Act Two, scene II of the play "Blithe Spirit" by Noël Coward, Madame Arcati quotes the line, "Où sont les neiges d'antan?" as she waxes nostalgic about the good old days of "genuine religious belief" when "a drop of holy water could send even a poltergeist scampering for cover."
- In the graphical novel The Crow by James O'Barr the quote "ou' sont les neiges d'antan" appears in the second chapter.
- The phrase "Where are the snows of yesteryear?" is included in Act II of the Broadway musical, "I Do! I Do!," in a song entitled "Where Are the Snows?" It is a duet sung by the leading characters, Michael and Agnes. (Book and Lyrics by Tom Jones. Music by Harvey Schmidt. Copyright 1966, 1968)
- In chapter 13 of Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums, the quote "où sont les neiges d'antan?" is referenced by Alvah.
- During the Season 2 Christmas special of Downton Abbey, the Dowager Countess (Maggie Smith) quotes "Où sont les neiges d'antan" while reminiscing with her son about old acquaintances
Read more about this topic: Ballade Des Dames Du Temps Jadis
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