William-Adolphe Bouguereau – The mischievous one (1895) – from Art Renewal Center
Un petit intermède coquin… un joli petit poème extrait de l’Anthologie satyrique : répertoire des meilleures poésies et chansons joyeuses parues en français depuis Clément Marot jusqu’à nos jours, publié par et pour la Société des bibliophiles cosmopolites, Tome Huitième, 1878. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Cover by Charles Churchward, Illustration by Dorothy P. Lathrop – Hilda Conkling, Poems By A Little Girl, Vinyl LP Album, Caedmon Records, Inc., TC 1387 (1972)
The child poet composed this charming little poem at age five or six, and her mother wrote it down. It was published in 1920 in her first collection Poems by a Little Girl. Hilda shows her empathy for nature, wondering if an isolated flower feels lonely, but fortunatly it does not. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Blanchard – Isidore Ducasse (1867) – trouvé en 1977 by Jean-Jacques Lefrère à Bagnères-de-Bigorre
Isidore Ducasse, plus connu sous son nom de plume Comte de Lautréamont, est considéré comme un précurseur du dadaïsme et du surréalisme. En effet, son œuvre principale, Les Chants de Maldoror, une sorte de long poème en prose découpé en 6 ‘chants,’ alterne monologues poétiques, petites scènes de théâtre ou encore histoires courtes. Centrée sur le personnage de Maldoror, un homme rejeté de tous et voué au mal, elle met en scène les fantasmes les plus débridés de l’auteur, sans la moindre concession à la morale et la bienséance, ni même à la cohérence ou la logique. Elle témoigne aussi de son imagination fertile, usant d’images et de métaphores entrechoquant des objets a priori fort éloignés, notamment dans ses célèbres comparaisons « beau comme… » : CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
In 1925, Nathalia Crane published her second volume of poetry, Lava Lane, and Other Poems, just one year after her first one, The Janitor’s boy, and Other Poems. In it she airs her sophistication, mastering poetical language, as well as scientific and technical vocabulary from several disciplines, such as botany, geology and even embryology (using the word “blastoderm” about a boy she seems to despise); she also refers to various religions and to characters from Greek mythology. Furthermore, she shows her understanding of human relations, including in some of their intimate aspects. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
William-Adolphe Bouguereau – En pénitence (1895) – from Art Renewal Center
The debauched poet reminds us that some sins are not only pleasurable, but beautiful. The heavenly bliss promised by religion, and its winged angels, pale in comparison to the rapture of love and the delights of the flesh. Hence the Church calls them deadly sins. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Sir Joshua Reynolds – Miss Jane Bowles (c.1775) – The Wallace Collection, image sur Art UK
Enfant extrêmement sensible, Minou Drouet eut à souffrir de la cruauté aveugle des adultes, non seulement à travers les attaques contre elle dans les médias, comme je l’ai expliqué dans mes précédents articles, mais aussi dans la sévérité de son éducation. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Charles-Amable Lenoir – Portrait of a young girl with cherries – from Wikimedia Commons
June is coming, with sun and red fruits… it is thus the proper time for this joyous little piece by Hilda Conkling (1910–1986), written when she was aged between 7 and 9, and published in 1920 in Poems by a Little Girl. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Keystone/Getty Images – Chinese schoolchildren give a demonstration of their military skills in Hanking, where lessons include pre-military exercises using wooden weapons (April 1, 1974)
In this humorous little piece, Nathalia imagines organising a brigade of little girls in charge of watching their fathers and preventing their seduction by beautiful young women. Here Flatbush is a neighbourhood of Brooklyn in New York City. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Alfredo Rodriguez – At the rose garden – from alfredoartist.com
In Hilda Conkling’s Poems by a Little Girl, two poems are devoted to rose petals, hinting at love. Both were written between the ages of seven and nine. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Amy Sol – Night Garden, 14″ x 14″ oil painting (2018) – from amysol.com
Mon bonheur s’appelle jeune fleur,
Amie de mes jours, rêve de mes nuits.
Mourra le vieux monde, vivra notre amour.
Demain je poserai sur ses lèvres tendres
Dix baisers, pour la servir mille jours, mois,
Ans, siècles, pour l’éternité. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…