Excerpt from Mirelle: A Pastoral Epic of Provence

The following is the stanza with which the poem opens:

"Cante uno chato de Prouvno.
Dins lis amour de sa jouvenco,
A traves de la Crau, vers la mar, dins li bla,
Umble escoiilan d5u grand Oumero
len la vole segui. Coume ero
Ren qu'uno chato de la terro,
En foro de la Crau se n'es gaire parla."

This Stanza is thus rendered into French: - Je chante une jeune fille de Provence. - Dans les amours de sa jeunesse, - travers la Crau, vers lamer, dans les bles, - humble ecolier - du grand Homere, - je veux la suivre. Comme c'etait - seulement une fille de la glebe, - en dehors de la Crau il'sen est peu parle.

In determining the form in which I should attempt a translation I soon came to the conclusion that in English the metre of the original stanza would produce weariness in so long a work, and be less capable, at least in my hands, of adequately rendering the original, than that which I have adopted, which seemed to me calculated, without much addition or suppression, to convey the substance of each individual stanza. It is one also which is justified by old and modern use.

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