André Chénier's Elegy: The Young Tarentine

Extract

[...] Had to lead her back to the threshold of her lover Imparfait Like in a story, the plot twists are stated and described using the imperfect tense. They push her to the shore, and in this monument They, at the tip of the Zephyr, have gently deposited Description The poet makes a precise description of the place where his body is washed up, which represents the conclusion of his crossing. The gold around your arms has not tied knots, And the veil of marriage has not adorned your hair. [...]

[...] Furthermore, the apostrophe 'ô' is specific to the elegy and shows a complaint. Beloved birds of Thetis Ancient reference to Thetis The elegy being born in antiquity, taking up mythological characters therefore refers to antiquity. She is amidst the waves, the young Tarentine Repetition + exclamatory phrase The repetition of her death shows the tragic aspect which is indeed reinforced by the use of the exclamation mark. To the devouring monsters had the care to hide him Metaphor This is an ancient reference to reinforce the tragedy of this loss. [...]

[...] This allows the reader to be captured through this specific construction. The lyrical tone of the poem emphasizes the tragic drama of Myrto's death, which is specific to the elegy. Chénier draws well from Antiquity to convey this melancholic story that reveals a very unfortunate reality. Despite the tragic impression given by this poem, the elegy actually magnifies death. The Romantic Painting Ophélie by John Everett Millais painted in 1851 represents the eponymous character present in Shakespeare's play Hamlet. Like Chénier's text, the painting magnifies the death of the female character by taking up the codes of Romanticism. [...]

[...] He is nonetheless considered one of the precursors of Romanticism, putting forward Antiquity and he renews the form of the elegy, as is the case in the presented poem. In this text, a young Tarentine named Myrto sets sail for the sea to get married. Unfortunately, she will never reach her destination and will drown on the way before she can join her future husband. The pathetic aspect of this poem makes it well think of an elegy. We will see how the poem exploits a narrative to favor the elegiac tone. [...]

[...] Amazed, and far from the sailors, She cries, she falls, she is in the midst of the waves. Accumulation + metaphor The accumulation shows that she is struggling, which makes the scene tragic. The metaphor 'in the midst of the waves' clearly explains that she finds death there. Her beautiful body rolled under the marine wave. Synecdoche The ameliorative aspect of her body, which represents Myrto in its entirety, is therefore a synecdoche and reinforces the tragic aspect of this painful loss. [...]