[Cassandra (Fyfieldbooks)] by Pierre de Ronsard, translated by Clive Lawrence.
Pierre de Ronsard (1524-85) French renaissance man was the leader of a group of poets labelled The Brigade (Pléaide), whose aim was to revolutionise the poetry of his recent past. Rejecting the French literary tastes of the time he turned instead to classical and Italian poetic models, using powerful imagery, some from from ancient mythology, to make them his own. His output was prolific but today he is remembered mainly for his love poetry and Les Amours de Cassandra was his first collection. There are 228 sonnets, three songs, three elegies and a couple of other poems all about a love affair that was never consummated.

For a poet who set out to change the face of French poetry it would seem curious he would choose to base this sequence of poems on the traditions of Petrarch the leading Italian Renaissance poet who lived over 200 years earlier. Petrarch’s most famous collection is the Canzoniere a collection of 366 poems many of which are in sonnet form concerning his unrequited love affair with Laura; and so for Laura we could substitute Cassandra in Ronsard’s collection. Therefore there are some striking similarities enhanced by the fact that Ronsard used the Petrarchan rhyming scheme and sonnet form and so we must ask ourselves what if anything did Ronsard add to the mixture or how did he make his sequence different from Petrarch’s earlier masterpiece.

The first thing that is evident is that Ronsard uses an overlay of classical mythology to many of the sonnets. He has chosen the name Cassandra who was a figure in the mythology of the Trojan Wars and in some of the sonnets her story in those wars are referenced to the speaker (Ronsard’s) own battles with his love for Cassandra. Other hero’s from Greek mythology also make an appearance and serve to link many of the poems to the classical tradition. In later editions of the poetry; notes to help readers through some of the classical references were added. Secondly although Ronsard’s affair with Cassandra was never consummated he gets much closer to her than Petrarch ever got to Laura. Petrarch’s poems were very much in the tradition of fine d’amours; a courtiers expression of love for an idyllic presence. While Petrarch is content to worship the ground on which Laura walks Ronsard gets more up close and personal with Cassandra: he has conversations with her, erotic dreams and on one occasion even a kiss. Thirdly Ronsard’s poems are much more securely placed in the natural world. He uses the countryside around Vendome to provide an added dimension to the sonnets. The river Loire is a powerful source and metaphor to much that is going on in the mind and heart of the poet, flowing water, the changing seasons are reflected in the poets changing moods. While Petrarch certainly has his moments of doubt and pain in his futile chase after Laura, Ronsard is not above feeling bitter, even hostile in the face of Cassandra’s continued rejection of his suite.

Both Laura and Cassandra have been identified as real people. Petrarch courted his Laura from the first moment that he saw her (as did Ronsard his Cassandra) and continued to be in love with her even after she died; at least a third of the collection focuses on his longing to join her in some sort of afterlife. Ronsard’s courting of Cassandra seems to have lasted for about seven years and he was apparently a bit sniffy about Petrarch love affair saying that he should have moved on. Ronsard certainly moved on writing two more amours collections to Marie and Helen respectively.

Comparing the two collections which I was bound to do, I find that each have their own qualities. Overall Petrarchs Canzioniere have a more gentle dream like quality although as a reader we are left in no doubt of the passion that the poet is feeling. He seems to be continually begging for our sympathy - woe is me to be suffering the pangs of love and suffering them so deeply that his very life seems to be in danger. Ronsard on the other hand never seems to be so overcome that he is in danger of destroying himself, even in his darkest moments he is optimistic of success and enjoys to some extent the pains that he is suffering. In both collections the poets lurch from optimism to extreme pessimism almost from sonnet to sonnet, but Ronsard is more inclined to see some cruelty in the way he is treated and he is in some respects more down to earth.

The fourteen line sonnet with its twists and turns and sometimes pithy final lines or couplets is one of my favourite poetic forms. However reading so many (in both collections) without any story development can be a strain on concentration. It is inevitable that some individual poems will stand out while many of them will sound similar with only minor variations on a theme. Both collections do fall into the trap of seeming to be repetitious and yet there is usually something to hold the attention, this is probably more true of the Cassandra collection.

I read Les Amours de Cassandra in a translation by Clive Lawrence who admits to sacrificing a little accuracy in his attempts to follow the rhyming scheme of the original French. I also had the Gallimard modern French translation when I thought it necessary to get nearer to the original. I think that Clive Lawrence does an excellent job with his translation and his introduction is informative and lively and so 4.5 stars.

Here is a sonnet from the collection by Ronsard translated by Clive Lawrence

Against my will, your eyes’ spellbinding light
Overpowers my soul, and when I speak
Of how I’m dying, all you do is shake
With Laughter - my disease is your delight.

At least, since nothing better will requite
My love, let me sigh as my life’s strings break.
Your fine eyes’ gross pride ties me to a stake,
Without your laughing at my careworn state.

To mock my lost health, laugh at all my pain,
Double my wretchedness with blithe disdain,
Hate one who loves you and live on the sounds

Of pain he utters; to break faith, breach duty -
Ah, can’t you see how that, my cruel beauty,
Is to smear blood and murder on your hands? ( )