"I come from the blue ... "

February 21, 2009 4:18 PM

Looking for a particular French poem about Aphrodite.

I studied this poem about fifteen years ago in a translation class. We looked at the French version and then at two different English translations. I'm fairly sure it was a twentieth-century poem. All I remember is a line from one of the English versions where Aphrobite said "I come from the blue ... ", and that the exclamation "O azure" was in there somewhere.

It's not Valéry's "Au Platane" or Hocquard's "Elegy VI".

posted by paduasoy to writing & language (4 comments total)

"La Nue" by Théophile Gautier?
posted by holgate at 4:39 PM on February 21

(fixed link)
posted by holgate at 4:40 PM on February 21

Thanks, but I don't think so. Aphrodite definitely spoke herself in the poem I'm thinking of.
posted by paduasoy at 5:01 PM on February 21

Without having a definite line in French it's impossible to look this up...hopefully someone who specialises in 19th century French poetry can come along and give better advice, but various google searching has led me to a lot of poems about Venus but none in the first person. :( Good luck!
posted by nonmerci at 8:29 PM on February 21