French Poetry - French Prosody and Poetics

French Prosody and Poetics

The modern French language does not have a significant stress accent (like English) or long and short syllables (like Latin). This means that the French metric line is generally not determined by the number of beats, but by the number of syllables (see syllabic verse; in the Renaissance, there was a brief attempt to develop a French poetics based on long and short syllables ). The most common metric lengths are the ten-syllable line (decasyllable), the eight-syllable line (octosyllable) and the twelve-syllable line (the so-called "alexandrin").

In traditional French poetry, all permissible liaisons are made between words. Furthermore, unlike modern spoken French (at least in the north of France), a silent or mute 'e' counts as a syllable before a consonant and is pronounced, but is elided before a vowel (where "h aspiré" counts as a consonant). When it falls at the end of a line, the mute "e" is hypermetrical (outside the count of syllables). (For more on pronunciation of French, see French phonology).

The ten-syllable and 12-syllable lines are generally marked by a regular syntactical pause, called a "césure" (cesura):

• The ten-syllable line is often broken into syntactical groups as 5-5, 4-6, or 6-4.
• The alexandrine is broken into two six-syllable groups; each six-syllable group is called a "hémistiche".

In traditional poetry, the césure cannot occur between two words that are syntactically linked (such as a subject and its verb), nor can it occur after an unelided mute e. (For more on poetic meter, see Poetic meter.)

For example:

Je fais souvent ce rêve étrange et pénétrant
d'une femme inconnue et que j'aime et qui m'aime...

(Paul Verlaine, "Mon rêve familier", from Poèmes saturniens)

The verses are alexandrines (12 syllables). The mute e in "d'une" is pronounced and is counted in the syllables (whereas the mute e's at the end of "rêve", "étrange", "femme" and "j'aime" -- which are followed by vowels—are elided and hypermetrical); the mute e at the end of "qui m'aime" is hypermetrical (this is a so-called "feminine rhyme"). No word occurs across the sixth to seventh syllable in both lines, thus creating the cesura.

The rules of classical French poetry (from the late 16th to the 18th century) also put forward the following:

• the encounter of two unelided and awkward vowel sounds ("hiatus") -- such as "il a à" -- was to be avoided;
• the alternance of masculine and feminine rhymes (a feminine rhyme ends in a mute e) was mandated;
• rhymes based on words that rhymed, but that—in their spellings—had dissimilar endings (such as a plural in s or x and a singular word) were prohibited (this was the "rhyme for the eye" rule);
• a word could not be made to rhyme with itself;
• in general, "enjambement" (in which the syntax of a sentence does not finish at the end of a line, but continues on into the next verse) was to be avoided.

For more on rhymes in French poetry, see Rhyme in French.

Poetic forms developed by medieval French poets include:

• Ballade
• Rondeau (poetry) (or Rondel)
• Ditié
• Dits moraux
• Blason
• Lai
• Virelai
• Pastourelle
• Complainte
• Chanson
  • Chanson de toile ("weaving song")
  • Chanson de croisade
  • Chanson courtoise
  • Rotrouenge
• Chant royal
• Aube ("dawn poem")
• Jeu parti

Other poetic forms found in French poetry:

• Villanelle
• Virelai nouveau
• Sonnet
• Ode