Les Jardins qui sentent le sauvage: Ronsard et la poétique du paysage by Dani�le Duport (review)

Abstract

MLR, 96.4, 2001 I071 LesJardins quisententle sauvage:Ronsardet lapoetiquedupaysage. By DANIELEDUPORT. (Cahiers d'Humanisme et Renaissance, 57) Geneve: Droz. 2000. I44 pp. 51.20 SwF. Daniele Duport investigates the representations of gardens and landscape in Ronsard's poetry, considering them as metaphors for, on the one hand, poetry whose techniques are manifest, and, on the other, poetry which gives the illusion of being artless, masking the fact that it employs similar devices. She has drawn the title from an aside unconnected with poetry, in Ronsard's 'Response aux injureset calomnies', but this statement of the poet's preference for gardenswhich resemble uncultivatedcountrysideprovidesthe basisandjustificationof her study,as she tells us (p. 92), in that it unites the two apparently opposed forms. Gardens are not, however, the startingpoint of the book. The firstpart deals with 'La poetique de l'abondance et de la vari6te', an aspect of Ronsard's poetry which has already received much attention (for example, from Terence Cave). Despite detailed and perceptive analyses of a number of poems (particularlyfruitfulin the case of the hymns of the seasons),the direction of the argumenthere is not alwaysclear, since, although the myths discussed relate the fertility of the natural world to poetic creativity, they do not have a direct bearing on the stated subject. Duport's explanation that 'ce qui parait deviation ramene a la natura naturans les mythes de l'ecriture' (p. 52) does not really resolve this problem. It is the second part, 'Du paysage au jardin', that carries the main weight of her argument and is the more illuminating. Invoking the classical theory which equates different landscapes (naturalgrandeur,pastoralcountrysideand cultivatedland)with the three levels of style, she concludes that Ronsard wishes to embrace all three, blurringthe stylistic distinctionsin his questboth to emulate his classicalpredecessorsand to imitate the luxuriant perfection of nature. Formal gardens do not interest him, because they lack the movement, variation and fluidity of form found in natural vegetation, qualitieshe seeksto incorporateinto his poetry. However, he praisesthe gardener's workfortransformingchaos into harmony. In the courseof analysingthe landscape features he favours, Duport examines Ronsard's use of the topos of the grotto as a sacred source of inspiration, and goes on to argue that his poetic ideal could be describedas 'l'antre,jardin sauvage',representinginspiredpoetry which infusesthe vigour of nature into an ordered aesthetic setting. This section makes her book a usefuladjunctto existingstudiesof Ronsard'spoetics. LANCASTERUNIVERSITY ELIZABETHVINESTOCK Jean-Antoinede Baif and the Valois Court. By YVONNEROBERTS. Bern, Berlin, and Oxford: Peter Lang. 2000. 231 pp. f24. This is a welcome and well-written study of Baif's relations with Catherine de Medicis, whom he served devotedly for thirtyyears, and with her sons Charles IX and Henri III. Focusingon hisreactionsto the eventsof the age asperceivedthrough his politicalverse,Yvonne Roberts tracesthe development of the poet's attitudes,as he moves froma firmlyCatholic and monarchiststanceto 'Politique'views. The book firstrecounts Baif's life, and his role as court poet and contributorto royal entertainments. A short section refers intriguingly to his 'long involvement with the Royal intelligence services'(p. 26), though the evidence for this appearsto be circumstantial.Roberts entersthe controversyover the dating of'L'Hymne de la Paix', which she ingeniously suggests was written in I570 as part of Catherine's campaign to secure Jeanne d'Albret's agreement to the marriage of Henri de MLR, 96.4, 2001 I071 LesJardins quisententle sauvage:Ronsardet lapoetiquedupaysage. By DANIELEDUPORT. (Cahiers d'Humanisme et Renaissance, 57) Geneve: Droz. 2000. I44 pp. 51.20 SwF. Daniele Duport investigates the representations of gardens and landscape in Ronsard's poetry, considering them as metaphors for, on the one hand, poetry whose techniques are manifest, and, on the other, poetry which gives the illusion of being artless, masking the fact that it employs similar devices. She has drawn the title from an aside unconnected with poetry, in Ronsard's 'Response aux injureset calomnies', but this statement of the poet's preference for gardenswhich resemble uncultivatedcountrysideprovidesthe basisandjustificationof her study,as she tells us (p. 92), in that it unites the two apparently opposed forms. Gardens are not, however, the startingpoint of the book. The firstpart deals with 'La poetique de l'abondance et de la vari6te', an aspect...