True symphonies
DEREK PATMORE
Five Great Odes Paul Claudel translated from the French by Edward Lucie-Smith (Rapp and Carroll 25s) The poetry of Paul Claudel is something quite unique in contemporary French verse, and gradually, as other reputations wither and die, that of Claudel is increasing in stature. For he was a great poet, and it is an excellent thing that these Five Great Odes have been translated into English for the first time by one of the most talented of our younger poets, Edward Lucie-Smith.
Claudel called the Odes 'True symphonies, developing, not in continuous sequence in the literary manner, but orchestrally, with themes interlaced and varied,' and there is a kind of wild magnificence about these poems like a fine symphonic poem. I had the honour of being received by Paul Claudel in his old age, when he was living in the Boulevard des Lannes, in Paris. Already something of a legend, he was anxious to meet me as the great-grandson of Coventry Patmore, whom he had translated into French, and whom he told me he considered 'the greatest English poet of the nineteenth century.' Indeed, I quickly understood why he admired Coventry Patmore. They were both Catholic poets, and both were poles apart, who cared little for the crowd. Physically he was impres- sive; but heavily built and massive-looking, he betrayed his peasant background. But since he had been French Ambassador to the United States, Japan, and Belgium, he had acquired a tremendous poise, Sitting behind his desk, he gave out a sense of power and looked rather like a wise old idol. He knew English well, and showed me some unpublished poems, which he had written in English and which were rather like the work of Dame Edith Sitwell. But he was bitter about his neglect by the English literary public, and only jealous of his friend Andre Gide's success in Great Britain.
Although a devout and firmly believing Catholic and a conformist conservative by nature, Claude!, who achieved worldly success and wealth in life, was at the same time a wild and passionate poet. He had known the agonies of love, which are marvellously por- trayed in his great poetic play, Partage du Midi, especially in a great love scene* so won- derfully acted by Edwige Feulliere and Jean- Louis Barrault, on the boat, where the two lovers are almost torn in pieces by their passion. Friends of Claudel have told me that this scene was founded upon a youthful in- cident in his life when he was serving in China and fell in love with a beautiful woman like his play's heroine, Ysi.
The fascination of the Five Great Odes is that they are often autobiographical. As Edward Lucie-Smith points out in his intro- duction, in 1886 Claudel underwent his sudden conversion in Notre-Dame on 25 December, at the service of Vespers. Moreover, he always used to claim that his reading of Rimbaud (whom he called 'un mystique a retat sauvage) had prepared him for it.
These Five Great Odes have each a per- sonal introduction by the poet. The first is called The Muses,' the second 'The Spirit and the Water,' the third `Magnificat,' the fourth 'The Muse who is Grace,' and the fifth 'Within the House: Processional to greet the New Century.' Considering that these poems were begun in 1900 and finished in 1908, they
remain a remarkable achievement, and show that Claude!, although still young, was already a mature poet with great intellectual. powers. An interesting side of this poet's work was the fact that, like St-John Perse and Victor Segalen, he was attracted to the East, and the Ode, 'The Spirit and the Water,' is a subtle evocation of the Imperial Peking which he had known in his youth. Admittedly, Paul Claudel will never be everyone's popular poet, but his best work reveals a poetic gift that is powerful, beautiful and disturbing. His transla- tor quotes one of Claudel's aphorisms : 'A man who admires something is always right,' which, in a way, sums up the poet.
Previous page
