The ballad of the ladies of old times

One of the most famous works of Villon, together with the Ballad of the Seniors of Old Times and the Ballad in Old French, is a central part of the Great Testament , written by the poet in 1461-1462, after his release from amnesty from Orleans Prison and before new arrest in Paris. The name, as for other parts of the "Testament," was given by Clement Marot in the 1533 edition.

The form is a short ballad of three eighty and parcels written by Octosillabs, in which “the beauty of the passage is rooted in the rustling lightness of the aine and is rhymes” ^[1] and “the mysteries of the names of names suggesting undefined images” ^[1] are used to repeat tautological epithets emphasizing the fragility and fragility of female beauty, and the effect of sad and light irony is achieved through the refrain “But where is last year’s snow?” ( Mais ou sont les neiges d'antan? ), using traditional biblical ubi sunt themes (Where are those who on with lived in the world?) and the inexorable flow of time ^[2] .

The premise of the ballad is addressed to the poet and patron of poets, Duke Charles of Orleans .

Ancient and medieval heroines are mentioned in the poem: Flora , Alcibiades ( Archipiades ; Boethius revered his beauty as exemplary, therefore medieval authors believed that he wrote about a woman) Year of birth Villon, and two men: Pierre Abelard and Jean Buridan . The queen who ordered to throw Buryud into the Seine was probably Margaret of Burgundy , the heroine of the legend of the Nel Tower , and who is the “Queen of the White as Lily” ( La royne Blanche comme lis ), “that sang in a siren voice” is unclear, perhaps, this is Blanca of Castile . Who are Beatrice and Alice - difficult to establish from the text; Presumably, these are ladies from chivalry romans ^[3] .

The ballad (more precisely, its refrain) caused a lot of imitations in later literature, right up to the 20th century, when Georges Brassens in 1953 put it to music. An allusion to the text of Villon is the title of his 1962 poem "Les amours d'antan: Mon prince, on a les dames du temps jadis qu'on peut".

Dante Gabriel Rossetti translated into English.

• V. Ya. Bryusov - The Ballad of Women of Bygone Era (1913)
• N. S. Gumilyov - The Ballad of the Ladies of the Past (1913)
• S. A. Pinus - The Ballad of the Ladies of Bygone Times (1913)
• V.Ye. Zhabotinsky - The Ballad of the Ladies of Bygone Era (1914; free translation, instead of the original ones, cited the names of Helena, Phryne, Messalina, Judith, Aspasia, Isolda, Beatrice, Esthery, and Semiramis, and Jeanne was called the “Rhen maiden”)
• IG Ehrenburg - Ballad of the ladies of bygone days (1916)
• PP Lyzhin - Ballad of the ladies of bygone days (1940s)
• F.L. Mendelssohn - The Ballad of the Ladies of Bygone Times (1963; the most accurate translation)
• V. Pereleshin - The Ballad of the Ladies of Bygone Times (1973)
• VG Dmitriev - The Ballad of Women of Bygone Era (1983)
• Yu. B. Korneev - The Ballad of the Ladies of Former Ages (1983)
• Yu. A. Kozhevnikov - The Ballad of the Ladies of Past Times (1995)

• Kosikov G. K. Comments // Villon F. Verses. - M .: Rainbow, 1984.
• Champion P. François Villon: sa vie et son temps. Second partie - P .: H. Champion, 1985. - ISBN 2-85203-137-X .

• Kosikov G. K. On the literary fate of Villon // Villon F. Verses: Collection. - M .: JSC "Rainbow", 2002. - p. 374-383
• Verhuyc P. François Villon et les neiges d'antan // Villon hier et aujourd'hui. Actes du Colloque pouring le cinq-centième anniversaire de l'impression du Testament de Villon, Bibliothèque historique de la Ville de Paris, 15-17 décembre 1989. - P .: Bibliothèque historique de la Ville de Paris, 1993, pp. 177–189