a comparative analysis of louis durey and francis poulenc's settings ...

18
a. Le chèvre du Thibet
For all this goat’s fine wool,
Or even Jason’s hardwon fleece,
I wouldn’t trade a single hair
From the head of my beloved.
The Tibetan goat is the fourth creature in Orpheus’ procession. In this poem of
happy love, the poet expresses his adoration for his beloved by claiming that her locks are
far more precious to him than the fine wool of the Tibetan goat “or even Jason’s hardwon
fleece.” 41 As Wilfrid Mellers remarks, the poem “counters Jason’s epic aspiration with
the modest assertion that the locks of the poet’s girl far outshine those of both goat and
legendary hero.” 42 This simplistic, innocent portrayal of love is later contrasted with
more distorted images of love in other Bestiaire poems—“Le serpent,” “La méduse” and
“La puce”.
The Jason that Apollinaire refers to in this poem is one of Greek mythological
origin. In order to become king of Iolcus, Jason had to retrieve golden fleece from King
Aeetes of Colchis. The King was extremely possessive of the fleece—in fact, it was
guarded by a serpent that never slept. After enduring many setbacks and encountering
many dangers, Jason returned to Iolcus with the fleece and was crowned King. Through
alluding to mythology, Apollinaire draws a comparison between his beloved and Jason’s
beloved possession—the golden fleece.
In the woodcut appearing above the poem, a goat is in the foreground with an
oriental-style building on top of a bridge in the background. As is common in many of
41 Guillaume Apollinaire, Bestiary: The Parade of Orpheus, 8.
42 Wilfrid Mellers, Francis Poulenc (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 3-4.