Complete Poems. A Bilingual Edition

In 1545, the first edition of the Rymes presented the young Pernette du Guillet as a model of feminine virtue and learning for other ladies to emulate. Pernette du Guillet has long been identified as muse and pupil of Maurice Scève in Lyon’s lively literary circle. Such views have profoundly shaped the reading of her work, yet the poems themselves reveal complex responses to lyric traditions and theories of love that influenced many Renaissance writers. Du Guillet transforms those conventions in a unique voice, moving beyond the silence imposed on sixteenth-century women. Expressing admiration and jealousy, awe and dismay, solemnity and playfulness, confusion and confidence, her poems bring to life a young woman’s experience with love and her development as a writer. This first complete English edition provides a fully-annotated bilingual text and a fresh perspective from which to appreciate the originality and beauty of this poetry.  

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments xi Editor’s Introduction The Other Voice 1 Ce Climat Lyonnois 3 How to Read the Rymes: The Power of the Paratext 9 The Trail of Immortal Concern: Birth, Love, and Learning in the Rymes 18 Dialogue, Imitation, and the Lyric Voice 30 Pernette du Guillet’s Neoplatonism 49 Reception of the Rymes 66 The French Text 67 Introducing the Rymes in English 69 Translator’s Note 74 Translation 81 Antoine du Moulin, To the Ladies of Lyon 83 To the Reader from the Printer 89 Poems 1–2 (Epigrams 1–2) 91 Poems 3–4 (Epigrams 3–4) 93 Poems 5–6 (Epigrams 5–6) 95 Poems 7–8 (Epigrams 7–8) 97 Poems 9–10 (Epigrams 9–10) 99 Poems 11–12 (Epigrams 11–12) 101 Poems 13–14 (Epigrams 13–14) 103 Poems 15–16 (Epigrams 15–16) 105 Poems 17–18 (Epigrams 17–18) 107 Poems 19–20 (Epigrams 19–20) 109 Poems 21–23 (Epigrams 21–23) 111 Poems 24–25 (Epigrams 24–25) 113 Poem 26 (Song 1) 115 Poems 27–28 (Epigrams 26–27) 117 Poem 29 (Song 2) 119 Poems 30–31 (Epigrams 28–29) 121 Poem 32 (Song 3) 123 Poem 33 (Song 4) 125 Poems 34–35 (Epigrams 30–31) 129 Poems 36–37 (Epigrams 32–33) 131 Poem 38 (Song 5) 133 Poem 39 (Elegy 1): Perfect Love 137 Poem 40 (Song 6) 141 Poem 41 (Epigram 34) 143 Poem 42 (Song 7) 145 Poem 43 (Elegy 2) 147 Poems 44–45 (Epigrams 35–36) 151 Poems 46–47 (Epigrams 37–38) 153 Poems 48–49 (Epigrams 39–40) 155 Poems 50–51 (Epigrams 41–42) 157 Poems 52–53 (Epigrams 43–44) 159 Poems 54–55 (Epigrams 45–46) 161 Poem 56 (Song 8) 163 Poems 57–58 (Epigrams 47–48) 169 Poems 59–60 (Epigrams 49–50) 171 Poems 61–62 (Epigrams 51–52) 173 Poem 63 (Song 9) 175 Poem 64 (Song 10): Ballad for Adonis 179 Poems 65–66 (Epigrams 53–54) 193 Poem 67 (Epistle 1): Cock-and-Bull Story 195 Poem 68 (Elegy 3): The Night 199 Poem 69 (Elegy 4): Despair 209 Poem 70 (Elegy 5): Solace 215 Poem 71 (Epigrams 55–59): Mummery: The Five Posts of Love 223 Poem 72 (Epigram 60): Anatomy Lesson 227 Poem 73 (Epistle 2): To a Foolish Rhymer 229 Epitaphs 231 Translation Notes 236 Glossary 309 Concordance 321 Index of First Lines and Titles 323 Editor’s Bibliography 329 Index 345

About the Author :
Karen Simroth James teaches and is Language Program Director in the Department of French at the University of Virginia, where she also directs the digital archive, The Renaissance in Print: Sixteenth-Century French Books in the Douglas H. Gordon Collection. Marta Rijn Finch is a Vermont poet who wrote her first verse at age five. An early fascination with languages led to the study of French, Latin, Greek, Russian, and Chinese. She lived in France for six years, attended the Sorbonne, and translated the poetry of philosopher Simone Weil during her stay in Lyon.  

Review :
"Those who wish to read this exquisite writer but do not trust their French now have an edition with extraordinarily helpful notes, subtle translations, and an erudite but accessible introduction. I will certainly assign it the next time I teach my course on Renaissance women writers. How can one not love a poet who explains why boars have cloven feet, who imagines Cupid shooting arrows tipped with Greek fire while giving a cheery 'Good day!' in his native Greek, and who mixes discourses from Petrarch, Plato, and the early French Renaissance into a witty dialogue that always charms and often moves?"  "This new bilingual edition of Du Guillet's poems includes a richly detailed and up-to-date introduction and a translation that follows the original rhymes—a daunting undertaking often performed with dazzling accuracy, humor and verve. This will be the English edition of the Rymes for a long time to come."   "Here Marta Finch brings the musical rhymes and meters of the French originals to her deft translations of Pernette du Guillet's complete poetic work. The gracious verse, sometimes amusing, sometimes wrenching, will make evident to an English-speaking audience the intelligence, sensitivity, and technical skills of the sadly short-lived sixteenth-century poet. In her fourth epigram, praising the knowledge and goodness of another poet, Du Guillet writes, 'Your sweet pen gently pouring forth the while / Deserves all of the praise and glory gained / From riches seen to stream in noble style.' Riches stream in noble style in this book's English versions of a remarkable young woman's poetry."