A number of artificial lyrical forms, originating in the ingenuity of
the mediæval Provençal poets, were adopted by the Middle English
imitators of the Romance lyrists, and were revived with no little vigor
in the Victorian period. Chief among the influential models for these
forms, in early times, were the poems of Machault (1284-1377), Deschamps
(1328-1415), Froissart (1337-1410), and Villon (1431-1485). Again in the
seventeenth century such forms as the rondeau were revived in France by
Voiture (1598-1648), but with little effect in England. Finally, in the
nineteenth century, the forms were reintroduced by M. Théodore de
Banville, and later into England by Mr. Lang, Mr. Austin Dobson, Mr.
Gosse, and others. For the history of these fashions in outline, see the
admirable introduction to Mr. Gleeson White's _Ballades and Rondeaus_
(1893); also Mr. Andrew Lang's _Lays and Lyrics of Old France_ (1872);
Mr. Austin Dobson's "Note on some Foreign Forms of Verse," in the
collection of _Latter Day Lyrics_ (1878); and an article by Mr. Edmund
Gosse in the _Cornhill Magazine_, July, 1877.
Says Mr. Dobson: "It may be conceded that the majority of the forms now
in question are not at present suited for ... the treatment of grave or
elevated themes. What is modestly advanced for some of them ... is that
they may add a new charm of buoyancy,--a lyric freshness,--to amatory
and familiar verse, already too much condemned to faded measures and
out-worn cadences. Further, ... that they are admirable vehicles for the
expression of trifles or _jeux d'esprit_. They have also a humbler and
obscurer use. If, to quote the once-hackneyed, but now
too-much-forgotten maxim of Pope--
'Those move easiest that have learned to dance,'
what better discipline, among others, could possibly be devised for
'those about to versify' than a course of Rondeaux, Triolets, and
Ballades?" Mr. Dobson refers to the article by Mr. Gosse already cited,
and "to the _Odes Funambulesques_, the _Petit Traité de Poésie
Française_, and other works of M. Théodore de Banville. To M. de
Banville in particular and to the second French Romantic School in
general, the happy modernization in France of the old measures of Marot,
Villon, and Charles of Orleans is mainly to be ascribed." (_Latter Day
Lyrics_, ed. W. D. Adams, pp. 334 ff.)[47]
Says Mr. Gleeson White: "The taste for these _tours de force_ in the art
of verse-making is no doubt an acquired one; yet to quote the first
attempt to produce a lyric with a repeated burden would take one back to
the earliest civilization.... Whether the first refrains were used for
decorative effect only, or to give the singer time to recollect or
improvise the next verse, it matters little, since the once mere adjunct
was made in later French use an integral and vital part of the verse.
The charm of these strictly written verses is undoubtedly increased by
some knowledge of their technical rules.... To approach ideal
perfection, nothing less than implicit obedience to all the rules is the
first element of success; but the task is by no means finished there.
Every quality that poetry demands, whether clearness of thought,
elegance of expression, harmonious sound, or faultless rhythm, is needed
as much in these shapes as in unfettered verse.... It may be said,
without fear of exaggeration, that all the qualities required to form a
perfect lyric in poetry are equally needful here, _plus_ a great many
special ones the forms themselves demand. To the students of any art
there is always a peculiar charm when the highest difficulties are
surmounted with such ease that the consummate art is hidden to all who
know not the magic password to unveil it." (_Ballades and Rondeaus_,
Introduction, pp. xli, xlii.) "No one is compelled to use these complex
forms, but if chosen, their laws must be obeyed to the letter if success
is to be obtained. The chief pleasure they yield consists in the
apparent spontaneity, which is the result of genius, if genius be indeed
the art of taking infinite pains; or, if that definition is rejected,
they must yet exhibit the art which conceals art, whether by intense
care in every minute detail, or a happy faculty for naturally wearing
these fetters." (_Ib._, pp. l, li.)