“L’Heure des enfants” est une adaptation française par Jean Aicard du poème “The Children’s Hour” de Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Il fait partie du recueil La Chanson de l’Enfant. Trois petites filles assaillent leur père, lui grimpent dessus pour le couvrir de baisers et de caresses. Il ne peut que capituler sans conditions. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
The popular song “Little Girl Blue,” with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart, was published in 1935 for the musical Jumbo, starring Gloria Grafton. In 1962 the musical was made into a musical film, Billy Rose’s Jumbo, starring Doris Day, who sang the song. I found two different versions of the lyrics, on the Lorenz Hart site, and on Genius. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Love of men for young girls remains so universal that it finds its way in popular music, despite the immense stigma attached to it by current morality. In the freer atmosphere of the 1960’s, it could be more easily expressed, as in the song “Younger Girl” by John Sebastian. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Voici mon cinquième choix dans livre Poèmes d’enfants publié par l’École Freinet chez Casterman en 1975. Dans ce poème écrit par une fille de 10 ans, on voit germer dans l’enfance la rébellion de la jeunesse face à la misère et à l’injustice. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (born February 27, 1807; died March 24, 1882) was one of the most widely known and best-loved American poets of the 19th century. In July 1843 he married his second wife Frances Appleton, and the couple had six children: Charles Appleton (1844–1893), Ernest Wadsworth (1845–1921), Fanny (1847–1848), Alice Mary (1850–1928), Edith (1853–1915), and Anne Allegra (1855–1934).
One of his most famous poems is The Children’s Hour, first published in the September 1860 edition of The Atlantic Monthly. The poet’s three small daughters, “grave Alice,” “laughing Allegra,” and “Edith with golden hair,” assault him by surprise; then “They almost devour me with kisses, / Their arms about me entwine,” and like a besieged citadel, he must surrender. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Gigi is a 1958 musical comedy film directed by Vincente Minnelli, based on the 1944 novella of the same name by the French writer Colette. The screenplay and the song lyrics were written by Alan Jay Lerner, while the music was composed by Frederick Loewe. It starts with Maurice Chevalier singing the song “Thank Heaven for Little Girls” and ends with a reprise of the same song by Maurice Chevalier with a studio chorus. Part of the charm of this performance comes from his typical French accent. Rather than the movie version, I prefer the following video of the song illustrated with pictures of little girls. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Jean François Victor Aicard, né le 4 février 1848 à Toulon (Var) et mort le 13 mai 1921 à Paris, est un poète, romancier et auteur dramatique français. Son recueil de poèmes consacrés à l’enfance, La Chanson de l’Enfant, parut en 1875 et fut couronné par l’Académie française ; il connut plusieurs éditions. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
This poem is attributed to Poe, however it does not appear in the list given by The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore, so a doubt remains about its authorship. According to the Classic Literature Library, it was written or published around October 26, 1831. This site includes it in the category “Edgar Allan Poe Doubtful Poems.” CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Voici ma quatrième sélection du livre Poèmes d’enfants publié par l’École Freinet. Comme le premier poème que j’y ai choisi, celui-ci a été écrit par une jeune fille de 11 ans. Tous deux témoignent par leur style d’une maturité proche de l’écriture d’un adulte, mais avec plus de vie. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
My third selection from Crowley’s collection Rodin in Rime (1907) belongs to the second section “Sonnets and Quatorzains,” whose poems have all 14 lines. Its French title “Femmes damnées” (translating as ‘doomed women’) comes from two poems in Les Fleurs du Mal by Charles Baudelaire, one of which (subtitled “Delphine et Hippolyte”) was banned by the French censorship between 1857 and 1949. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
