Leo Tolstoy - What is Art?

Si tu veux que ce soir, ltre je taccueille,

Jette dabord la fleur, qui de ta main seffeuille,

Son cher parfum ferait ma tristesse trop sombre;

Et ne regarde pas derrire toi vers lombre,

Car je te veux, ayant oubli la fort

Et le vent, et lcho et ce qui parlerait

Voix ta solitude ou pleurs ton silence!

Et debout, avec ton ombre qui te devance,

Et hautaine sur mon seuil, et ple, et venue

Comme si jtais mort ou que tu fusses nue!

Henri de Rgnier

Les jeux rustiques et divins

Oiseau bleu couleur du temps

Sais-tu loubli

Dun vain doux rve,

Oiseau moqueur

De la fort?

Le jour plit,

La nuit se lve,

Et dans mon cur

Lombre a pleur;

O chante-moi

Ta folle gamme,

Car jai dormi

Ce jour durant;

Le lche moi

O fut mon me

Sanglote ennui

Le jour mourant

Sais-tu le chant

De sa parole

Et de sa voix,

Toi qui redis

Dans le couchant

Ton air frivole

Comme autrefois

Sous les midis?

O chante alors

La mlodie

De son amour,

Mon fol espoir,

Parmi les ors

Et lincendie

Du vain doux jour

Qui meurt ce soir.

Francis Viel-Griffin

Pomes et posies

none au clair visage

none, javais cru quen aimant ta beaut

O lme avec le corps trouvent leur unit,

Jallais, maffermissant et le ceur et lesprit,

Monter jusqu cela qui jamais ne prit,

Nayant t cre, qui nest froideur ou feu,

Qui nest beau quelque part et laid en autre lieu;

Et me flattais encor dune belle harmonie

Que jeusse compos du meilleur et du pire,

Ainsi que le chanteur qui chrit Polymnie,

En accordant le grave avec laigu, retire

Un son bien lev sur les nerfs de sa lyre.

Mais mon courage, hlas! se pmant comme mort,

Menseigna que le trait qui mavait fait amant

Ne fut pas de cet arc que courbe sans effort

La Vnus qui naquit du mle seulement,

Mais que javais souffert cette Vnus dernire,

Qui a le cur couard, n dune faible mre,

Et pourtant, ce mauvais garon, chasseur habile,

Qui charge son carquois de sagette subtile,

Qui secoue en riant sa torche, pour un jour,

Qui ne pose jamais que sur de tendres fleurs,

Cest sur un teint charmant quil essuie les pleurs,

Et cest encore un Dieu, none, cet Amour.

Mais, laisse, les oiseaux du printemps sont partis,

Et je vois les rayons du soleil amortis.

none, ma douleur, harmonieux visage,

Superbe humilit, doux honnte langage,

Hier me remirant dans cet tang glac

Qui au bout du jardin se couvre de feuillage,

Sur ma face je vis que les jours ont pass.

Jean Moras

Le Plerin passionn

Berceuse dombre

Des formes, des formes, des formes

Blanche, bleue, et rose, et dor

Descendront du haut des ormes

Sur lenfant qui se rendort.

Des formes!

Des plumes, des plumes, des plumes

Pour composer un doux nid.

Midi sonne: les enclumes

Cessent; la rumeur finit

Des plumes!

Des roses, des roses, des roses

Pour embaumer son sommeil,

Vos ptales sont moroses

Prs du sourire vermeil.

O roses!

Des ailes, des ailes, des ailes

Pour bourdonner son front,

Abeilles et demoiselles,

Des rhythmes qui berceront.

Des ailes!

Des branches, des branches, des branches

Pour tresser un pavillon,

Par o des clarts moins franches

Descendront sur loisillon.

Des branches!

Des songes, des songes, des songes

Dans ses pensers entrouverts

Glissez un peu de mensonges

A voir la vie au travers.

Des songes!

Des fes, des fes, des fes

Pour filer leurs cheveaux

De mirages, de bouffes

Dans tous ces petits cerveaux.

Des fes!

Des anges, des anges, des anges

Pour emporter dans lther

Les petits enfants tranges

Qui ne veulent pas rester

Nos anges!

Comte Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac

Les Hortensias bleues

Here is the content of the Ring of the Nibelungen.

In the first part it is told that the nymphs, daughters of the Rhine, have for some reason been made the guardians of some sort of gold on the Rhine, and they sing: Weia, Waga, Woge du Welle, Walle zur Wiege, Wage zur Wiege, Wage la Weia, Wala la Welle, Weia, and so on. While thus singing, the nymphs are pursued by the dwarf Nibelung, who wishes to possess them. The dwarf cannot catch any of them. Then the nymphs who guard the gold tell the dwarf something they ought rather to have concealed namely, that whoever renounces love can steal the gold they are guarding. The dwarf renounces love and carries off the gold. That is the first scene.

In the second scene, a god and goddess lie in a field, within sight of a city; then they wake up and rejoice over the city that the giants have built for them, saying that they will have to give the giants the goddess Freya in return for their work. The giants come to get their pay. But the god Wotan does not want to give them Freya. The giants are angry. The gods learn that the dwarf has stolen the gold and promise to take it back and pay the giants for their work. But the giants do not believe it and seize the goddess Freya as a pledge.

The third scene takes place underground. The dwarf Alberich, who stole the gold, gives the dwarf Mime a beating for some reason and snatches from him a helmet that has the property of making its wearer invisible or turning him into other creatures. The gods come, Wotan and others; they quarrel with each other and with the dwarfs, wishing to take the gold, but Alberich will not let them and, like everyone else, does all he can to ruin himself: puts the helmet on, turns into a dragon, then into a toad. The gods catch the toad, take the helmet off him, and lead Alberich away.

In the fourth scene, the gods bring Alberich home with them and tell him to order his dwarfs to bring all the gold. The dwarfs bring it. Alberich gives them all the gold, saving a magic ring for himself. The gods take the ring from him as well. For that, Alberich puts a curse on the ring and says that it will bring misfortune to anyone who possesses it. The giants come, bringing Freya, and demand the ransom. They set up poles to measure Freyas height and heap up the gold this is the ransom. There is not enough gold. They throw in the helmet and ask for the ring. Wotan will not give it to them, but the goddess Erda comes and tells him to give the ring away because it brings misfortune. Wotan does so. Freya is released, but the giants, having got hold of the ring, start fighting, and one kills the other. This is the end of the Prelude; then the First Day begins.

A tree is placed in the middle of the stage. Siegmund runs in, weary, and lies down. Enter Sieglinda, the mistress of the house, Hundings wife; she gives him a magic drink, and they fall in love with each other. Sieglindas husband comes, learns that Siegmund belongs to an enemy race, and wants to fight with him the next day, but Sieglinda gives her husband a potion and comes to Siegmund. Siegmund learns that Sieglinda is his sister, and that his father stuck a sword into a tree so that no one can pull it out. Siegmund snatches out the sword and commits incest with his sister.

In the second act, Siegmund has a fight with Hunding. The gods discuss to whom they should give the victory. Wotan wants to spare Siegmund, approving of his incest with his sister, but, influenced by his wife Fricka, he tells the Valkyrie Brunhilda to kill Siegmund. Siegmund goes to the fight. Sieglinda swoons. Brunhilda comes and wants to slay Siegmund; Siegmund wants to kill Sieglinda as well, but Brunhilda tells him not to, and so he fights with Hunding. Brunhilda defends Siegmund, but Wotan defends Hunding; Siegmunds sword breaks and he is killed. Sieglinda flees.