Tag: love

Don’t Stand So Close To Me, by The Police

Romances between teachers and their adolescent pupils must be frequent, and indeed they are the topic of many popular songs.

The British rock band The Police released in September 1980 the song “Don’t Stand So Close To Me,” written by their lead singer Sting, as the lead single from their third album Zenyatta Mondatta. It won the 1982 Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. It is about the temptation of a love affair between a schoolgirl and her teacher, “This girl is half his age” and the song alludes to “That book by Nabakov” (I keep the bad spelling). Before joining The Police, Sting had previously worked as an English teacher, and he had noticed 15-year-old girls fancying him. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…

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L’Heure des enfants, par Jean Aicard

Timoléon Marie Lobrichon - illustration pour L'Heure des Enfants
Timoléon Marie Lobrichon – illustration pour L’Heure des Enfants de Jean Aicard

“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…

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The Children’s Hour, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's daughters Alice Mary (top), Edith (left) and Anne Allegra (right)
Print after a portrait by Thomas Buchanan Read – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s daughters Alice Mary (top), Edith (left) and Anne Allegra (right) (c.1860) – from the New York Public Library’s digital collections

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…

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Thank Heaven for Little Girls

Yuri Krotov - Before debut performance
Yuri Krotov – Before debut performance – from iamachild.wordpress.com

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…

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The Village Street, attributed to Edgar Allan Poe

Michael G. Laster - Birthright
Michael G. Laster – Birthright

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…

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Femmes damnées, by Aleister Crowley

Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley, New York (1906)

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…

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Hey Schoolgirl (1957), by Tom and Jerry (Simon and Garfunkel)

Tom and Jerry (Simon and Garfunkel)
Tom and Jerry (Simon and Garfunkel) – 1957

Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) and Arthur Ira Garfunkel (born November 5, 1941) are known for their folk rock duo, with best-selling hits such as “The Sound of Silence” (1964), “Mrs. Robinson” (1968), “The Boxer” (1969), and “Bridge over Troubled Water” (1970). Their musical collaboration dates from high school, at age 15, but at that time they were practising rather traditional rock and roll. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…

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To Ianthe, by George Gordon Byron

Lady Charlotte Harley as Ianthe
Drawn by R. Westall and engraved by W. Finden – Lady Charlotte Harley as Ianthe (1833) – from Wikimedia Commons

Lord Byron’s long poem Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage was published between 1812 and 1818, the first two Cantos in 1812, the third in 1816 and the fourth in 1818, and each edition added some new material. The seventh edition appeared on February 1, 1814, with nine poems added to the twenty already published, and a poem titled “To Ianthe” was prefixed to the First Canto. Written in the autumn of 1812, it was dedicated to Lady Charlotte Harley. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…

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