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

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b. Le dromadaire
With his four dromedaries
Don Pedro d’Alfaroubeira
Traveled the world and marveled.
He did what I would do,
If I had four dromedaries.
The dromedary, the tenth creature in the procession, is an animal similar to a
camel, but smaller and faster. The Greek word ‘dromos’ refers to swiftness. Richard
Barber notes that a dromedary can cover “a hundred miles or more in one day”. 44 “Le
Dromadaire” differs from most of the other animal poems in that it is a cinquain; “Le
Chat” is the only other animal poem that also has five lines.
The real focal point of this poem, however, is not the dromedary but its owner,
Don Pedro, “with his dreams, his adventurousness, even his vulgar curiosity: qualities
deflated by the fact that most people don’t possess one dromedary, let alone four.” 45
According to Apollinaire’s notes, Don Pedro d’Alfaroubeira, Infante of Portugal, traveled
all over the world. Don Pedro and his twelve companions “rode four dromedaries and,
after passing through Spain, went to Norway and, from there, to Babylon and the Holy
Land.” 46 The caravan journeyed all over Europe and into portions of Africa and Asia.
The voyage was lengthy—Don Pedro finally returned to Portugal after three years and
four months of traveling. The poet admires Don Pedro for possessing four dromedaries
and for his sense of adventure. He remarks that he, too, would travel if he had four
44 Richard Barber, Bestiary (Rochester, Ny: Boydell and Brewer Inc., 1993), 101.
45 Mellers, Francis Poulenc, 3.
46 Guillaume Apollinaire, Bestiary: The Parade of Orpheus, 64.