 |
|
The
Little Prince, chapter VIII |
|
"She perfumed my
planet and lit lit up my life. I should never have
run away! I ought to have realized the tenderness
underlying her silly pretensions."
|
|
|
With his
rose, The Little Prince lives a heartbreaking
love story. Indeed, his rose is often "capricious",
sometimes "vain" and in all cases "not very
modest". She demands breakfast when she's hungry, her
folding screen against the wind, and her shield as soon
as cold comes in! Always positive, the Little Prince entertains
himself until the day this situation makes him too unhappy.
He then decides to travel to discover of the universe. This
journey will teach him one of the most important things:
his love for the rose. The fox, his friend,
wise from experience, reveals a precious secret. This secret
is one of the most known to the world today. ("Even
if men have forgotten this truth").
Thanks to the Little Prince everyone remembers this maxim:
"Anything essential is invisible to the eyes."
But, do you remember what follows?
It's the time you spent on your rose that makes
your rose so important.
You become responsible forever for what you have tamed.
You are responsible for your rose…
Therefore, it is the Fox that makes him understand that
his rose is unique in the world and the Little Prince realizes,
with a little distance, that he was too young to have known
how to love her" |
|
Ancient times gave the rose its origins.
When Aphrodite’s lover, Adonis, died,
his blood gave birth to the first red rose. The rose then
became the symbol of love that sometimes wins over death,
and also a symbol of rebirth. |
 |
| |
Adonis' birth |
 |
|
The Romance of the Rose,
by Guillaume de Lorris around 1230, tells the initial
steps of a love path in a "garden of love".
This text tells the tale, through fiction, of an autobiographical
musing, themes of lyrical courtship, a sort of poetical
synthesis of the fin'amor, a complex and subtle art
of loving, in which the allegory is used with much lightness. |
Illustration of the Romance of the Rose - drawing on parchment
- 1405 |
 |
The red rose, according to Christian symbolism,
portrays the wounds of Christ, therefore, celestial love.
This rose is called Rosa Candida
in Dante's Divine Comedy. The white rose portrays
the perfection of the virgin.
On the contrary, courtly poetry in the Middle Ages, regarded
the rose as the symbol of earthly love, although it was pure,
sublime, and of an almost mystical essence. That is how it
can be found in the first part of the Romance of the Rose,
taking part in a wonderful garden, and hortus conclusus,
engendered by the power of dream. The image of the "lady"
tends to assimilate to the one of the Virgin Mary; the rose,
since then, has remained a love symbol.
|
Ce est
le roman de la Rose
Où l'art d'aimer
est toute enclose |
 |
 |
| Therefore, the rose is one of
the love symbols. Its perfume, its beauty and grace are some
of the many inspiring themes for poets. They have sung it
with passion and mystery. Here is a selection of the most
enticing poems. |
Take this rose...
Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585)
Amours de Cassandre, XCVI
Prends cette rose aimable comme toi,
Qui sers de rose aux roses les plus belles,
Qui sers de fleur aux fleurs les plus nouvelles,
Dont la senteur me ravit tout de moi.*
Prends cette rose, et ensemble reçoi
Dedans ton sein mon coeur qui n'a point d'ailes :
Il est constant, et cent plaies cruelles
N'ont empêché qu'il ne gardât sa foi.
La rose et moi différons d'une chose :
Un soleil voit naître et mourir la rose,
Mille Soleils ont vu naître m'amour,**
Dont l'action jamais ne se repose.
Que plût à Dieu que telle amour enclose,
Comme une fleur, ne m'eût duré qu'un jour. |
|
* me transporte hors de moi
** mon amour (mot féminin) |
rosa paradisus - 1629 |
| |
|
 |
|
Une rose seule, c'est toutes les roses...
Rainer Maria RILKE (1875-1926)
Les Roses
Une rose seule, c'est toutes les roses
et celle-ci : l'irremplaçable,
le parfait, le souple vocable
encadré par le texte des choses.
Comment jamais dire sans elle
ce que furent nos espérances,
et les tendres intermittences
dans la partance continuelle.
Sans titre - 14 août 1918
Marina Tsvétaïéva
Les vers naissent comme les étoiles et les roses,
Comme la beauté dont la famille ne veut pas,
Et aux couronnes et aux apothéoses -
Une seule réponse : mais d'où me vient cela
?
Nous dormons -
et à travers les dalles de pierre,
De l'hôte céleste percent les quatre pétales.
Saches-le, ô monde ! Le poète
découvre -
en rêve
La formule de la fleur et la loi de l'étoile.
|
Caligramme en forme de rose - 1674 |
|
|
Back
|
|
