Full Description
Yves Bonnefoy's book of poems, Beginning and End of the Snow followed by Where the Arrow Falls, combines two meditations in which the poet's thoughts and a landscape reflect each other. In the first, the wintry New England landscape he encountered while teaching at Williams College evokes the dance of atoms in the philosophical poem of Lucretius as well as the Christian doctrine of death and resurrection. In the second, Bonnefoy uses the luminous woods of Haute Provence as the setting for a parable of losing one's way.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface
"Snow in French and English"
Yves Bonnefoy
Translated by Emily Grosholz
Début et fin de la neige/ Beginning and End of the Snow
La grande neige / The Great Snowfall
Première neige tôt ce matin / First snowfall, early this morning
Le miroir / The Mirror
La charrue / The Plough
Le peu d'eau / Spot of Water
Neige / Snow
La Vierge de miséricorde /Our Lady of Mercy
Le jardin / The Garden
Les pommes / The Apples
L'été encore / Still Summer
On dirait beaucoup d'e muets /One might say, a flurry of silent e's
Flocons / Snowflakes
De natura rerum / De Natura Rerum
La parure / The Gown
Noli me tangere / Noli Me Tangere
Juste avant l'aube / Just Before Dawn
Les Flambeaux / The Torches
Hopkins Forest / Hopkins Forest
Le Tout, Le Rien / Everything, Nothing
La Seule Rose / The Only Rose
Là où retombe la flèche / Where the Arrow Falls
Afterword
"Song, Rain, Snow: Translating the
Poetry of Yves Bonnefoy,"
Emily Grosholz
