Or again: J'étais à la campagn(e).-Oui, depuis deux journées. (Ibid. iii. 181, 255.) IV. The elision of mute e before a following vowel or h mute sometimes takes place, contrary to spelling and pronunciation, in the case of the enclitic pronoun le: C'est de Léon qu'il parle, escoutons-(e) un peu dire. (Garnier, Bradamente, 1. 1023.) Laissez-le) au moins ignorer que c'est vous. (Voltaire, Enfant Prodigue, Act iv. Sc. 3.) Coupe-(e) en quatre, et mets les morceaux dans la nappe. (A. de Musset, Prem. Poésies, p. 53.) This elision of the e of the pronoun le often produces a most jarring sound to the ear: Condamnez-1(e) à l'amende, et s'il le casse, au fouet. (Racine, Plaideurs, Act ii. Sc. 13.) For this reason theorists recommend that this le after an imperative and before a vowel or h mute should be avoided as much as possible. V. The elision of the so-called e mute is obligatory in Modern French whenever such elision is possible, but in O. F. the elision of that letter was optional in the case of the monosyllabic words ne (Lat. nec), que, se (Lat. si), si (Lat. sic), ce, and je: Sans espargnier or ne argent. (Rutebeuf, p. 21.) N'en vont entrer en pled n'en respuns n'en retret. Jo and ço are treated in the same way as je and ce: Et jo irai al Sarrazin Espan. Sire, dist Guenes, ço ad tut fait Rollanz. (Roland, 1. 269.) (Ibid., 1. 283.) The elision of the article li (nom. masc. sg.) is also optional: Qar quant li om est en la biene. L'anemi qui me veut avoir. (Renart, i. p. 86.) (Rutebeuf, p. 17.) but the same form is never elided in the nom. masc. plural: VI. E mute supported by a consonant, and occurring either in the middle of a word, as serai, ornement, &c.; or in the last syllable of a word, as -e, -es, or -ent followed by an initial consonant or h aspirate, counts as a syllable in the body of the verse. VII. From what has been said it follows that the e mute can have three positions: (a) at the end of the line after a vowel or consonant (vie, donne); (b) in the body of the line after a consonant or group of consonants before a consonant or ʼn aspirate; (c) in the body of a word between two consonants. 1. The feminine e at the end of the line if preceded by a vowel (vi) is absolutely silent now, so that there is no perceptible difference in sound between aimée and aimé. 2. This is not so if the feminine e at the end of the line is preceded by a consonant (donne1). In that case it receives no syllabic value, which is as it should be, seeing that it does not count in the measure, yet those feminine 1 The e mute at the end of a line, as in its two other positions, is invariably pronounced fully as eŭ in singing: A-la-pâ-leu-clar-té-de-l'as-treu-de-la-nuit, ... Où-se-de-vi-neu-la-pré-sen-ceu . . endings preceded by a consonant at the end of the line differ in pronunciation from analogous masculine ones (e.g. cruelle from cruel, mère from mer, enferre from enfer) by a light stress by means of which the voice, rising and then descending till it gradually fades away, is made to dwell slightly longer on the syllable preceding the feminine termination. The difference is very slight, but sensible to the ear of any Frenchman, or for that of any person with a musical ear. Writing to the Italian Deodati (Jan. 24, 1761) Voltaire says: Empire,' 'couronne,' 'diadème,' 'flamme,' 'tendresse,' 'victoire'; toutes ces désinences heureuses laissent dans l'oreille un son qui subsiste encore après le mot prononcé, comme un clavecin qui résonne quand les doigts ne frappent plus les touches. Accordingly the attempts of a few modern poets who have taken the liberty of riming together feminine and masculine rimes is indefensible in so far at all events as those feminine endings preceded by a consonant are concerned. Théodore de Banville seems to have been the first to set this bad example in the Stalactites1 (1844): Tombez dans mon cœur, souvenirs confus, Oh! parlez-moi d'elle, antres et rochers, Parlez, parlez d'elle, ô sentiers fleuris! O charmes amers! dans ce frais décor Elle m'apparaît encore. C'est elle, ô mon coeur! sur ces gazons verts, Je vois s'envoler ses fins cheveux d'or Au zéphyr qui les adore, Et notre amandier couvre son beau cou Des blanches fleurs qu'il secoue! &c. Examples of such rimes are also found in Catulle Mendès (b. 1840), and later in several of the Symbolists: Et voici venir La Ramée Sacrant en bon soldat du Roi, Son cœur ne se tient pas de joie. (Paul Verlaine, Choix de Poésies, p. 120.) 3. With regard to the feminine e supported by a consonant 1 p. 71. in the body of the line and occurring at the end of a word before a consonant or h aspirate, the matter is one of considerable difficulty, and one on which all authorities are not agreed. As a general rule in reading verse, the tendency is not to give them, as for the e mute at the end of the line, any syllabic value, but to indicate their existence to the ear by a slight pause on the preceding syllable. If, however, two or more consonants precede the e, it is usual to give the e a distinct though rapid pronunciation, like that of short ež, more especially if the two preceding consonants consist of a mute and a liquid, in such words, for example, as prendre, votre, horrible, vaincre, oncle, ombre, temple, &c. The reason for this is evident: if the feminine e did not receive syllabic value in such cases, heavy groups of consonants, very awkward to utter, would result. The feminine e invariably counts as a syllable in pronunciation when it separates two identical consonants in two different words in such successions as il recommenc-'e' ses cris, une violent-'e' tempête, respect-'e' ta mère, &c. : (Lafontaine.) Maî-tre renard, par l'odeur alléché. Entraîne le plus fort, trou-bleu le plus hardi. (Lamartine.) (Sully-Prudhomme.) It is also clearly audible in cases of liaison: Tu sembles une femme enfermée en un lys (V. Hugo.) should be read: Tu-sem-bleu-zun'-fem'-en-fer-mé'-en-un-lys; and invariably receives the syllabic pronunciation in monosyllabic atonic words such as que, ne, je, te, &c. Excepting the last three cases, to which few exceptions will be found, no rigid rule can be laid down, where so much depends on subjective conception. All that can be said is that, in a general way, the more familiar the piece, the fewer feminine e's will be heard. In the following poem' of Leconte de Lisle, according to his own rendering, all the feminine e's in the body of the line 1 Cf. p. 149 of Koschwitz's Les Parlers_Parisiens—phonetic transcripts of readings by famous contemporary Frenchmen. after a consonant and before another consonant or h aspirate have syllabic value. This treatment is in keeping with the slow, rich, and voluptuous tone of the whole : Au tintement deu l'eau dans les porphyreu(s) roux Derrièreu son col brun croisant ses belleu(s) mains, In the following strophes of Le Lever du Soleil1, as read by Sully-Prudhomme, although in compensation the preceding vowel was invariably dwelt upon and thereby lengthened, a fair proportion of the feminine e's did not receive syllabic value : Flamboyant, invisible à forceu deu splendeur, 11 est per(e) des blés, qui sont pèr(es) des races, Et les champs et les mers y vienneu(nt) tour à tour If a passage of Molière's Sganarelle, as read by M. Got of the Théâtre Français, is examined, it will be at once noticed, according to the character of the piece and passage, that the feminine e not only nearly always disappears, but does so even without lengthening the vowel coming before it: Pesteu soit qui premier trouva l'invention Et d'attacher l'honneur deu l'homm(e) leu plus sage 1 Koschwitz, Les Parlers Parisiens, p. 143. Ibid., p. 103. |