Les Grand Seigneurs Flashcards
Subject of Les Grand Seigneurs by Dorothy Molloy
Les Grands Seigneurs is about the relationship between men and women and romantic love.
Initially the poem seems to be a celebration of courtly love, but a twist suggests marriage changes everything.
The title tells us that the subject of the poem is men because it translates as “the great lords”.
The first eight lines of the poem describe men in elevated and hyperbolic language.
However, there is a change in tone of the final stanza.
Form and structure of Les Grand Seigneurs by Dorothy Molloy
The form of the poem seems quite conventional, laid out in four stanzas, and the poem begins by reflecting on conventionality.
It is structured in two parts, however, the first three stanzas describe romantic love before a dramatic ‘volta’ (turn around) in the final stanza, which uses black humour to undermine the meaning of earlier stanzas.
The twist is emphasised because the third stanza has only three lines, unlike the others which have four.
This means that the poem has 15 lines, only one line short of a sonnet, a form usually associated with romantic love.
Perhaps the poet intends to reveal a wry humour here.
Imagery of Les Grand Seigneurs by Dorothy Molloy
The title Les Grands Seigneurs sounds grandiose, partly because it is French, a language associated with chivalry and courtly love in the medieval era.
The term originally referred to aristocratic or noble men, but it has become a phrase that’s used ironically.
Men are described in a series of hyperbolic and extraordinary metaphors, some of which reference the era of knights and damsels - “castellated towers” and “buttresses” are architectural features of medieval castles.
Some of the metaphors have a subtle air of the ridiculous, subverting (going against) the romantic ideal: they are “performing seals” or “rocking-horses/prancing down the promenade”. Neither verb suggests dignity!
The first person possessive pronoun “my” is used quite frequently in relation to men, except in the final stanza, when the narrator becomes a possession herself.
The metaphors do suggest that the narrator depends on men and the way in which they respond to her for security: “buttresses” and “ballast” are both images of support and balance.
The third and fourth stanzas depict the narrator as she is viewed by men.
In the third stanza the images confirm the motif of courtly love - she is a “queen” - and therefore remote and untouchable.
In the final stanza, when the narrator has been won by a man, her status is reduced to that of a “toy”.
Most of the terms used for her in the final stanza suggest smallness, as if she has been diminished by marriage.
The power she had as a queen has gone; her husband can click his fingers and she has to react.
Sound created in Les Grand Seigneurs by Dorothy Molloy
Alliteration in the second stanza - “prancing” and “promenade”, followed by the combination of rhyme and alliteration in the phrase “hurdy-gurdy monkey-men” underlines a sense of ridiculousness.
There is no regular rhyme scheme in Les Grands Seigneurs.
There is the occasional instance of internal rhyme e.g. “after I was wedded, bedded”.
Rhyme serves to draw attention to the crucial change of tone in the poem, and belittles it.
The final word, “bluff” rhymes with “fluff” from the middle of the previous line and this also draws attention to key concepts.
The sounds create a lighter tone here, which complements the blackly humorous message.
Attitudes, themes and ideas of Les Grand Seigneurs by Dorothy Molloy
Courtly love is a central idea, evoking knights, castles, damsels and troubadours.
However, courtly love is ultimately acknowledged as only “play”, which has to give way to the serious reality of marriage.
There is an ironic tone to the poem as a whole, built by the imagery and hyperbole deflated in the final stanza by black humour.
Molloy seems to be treating the idea of romantic love as absurd, particularly in her use of the extravagant metaphors versus a final, very different reality.
Perhaps she’s satirising herself as a “bit of fluff” rather than the powerful “queen” described earlier in the poem?
Overall, however, this is a light-hearted portrayal of the gap between expectations and reality, playful in its images and language.
Example comparisons to Les Grand Seigneurs by Dorothy Molloy
Medusa:
-Both poems have an unexpected take on relationships - and in both, the husbands are less than perfect.
- There is black humour in both poems, but in Medusa it is even blacker than in Les Grands Seigneurs.
- Both poems use an extended metaphor to drive the poem - in Les Grands Seigneurs there is metaphor of courtly love, and in Medusa the myth itself is a metaphor for a jealous woman.
Singh Song!:
- Both poems are about a relationship between husband and wife but Singh Song! describes deep love.
- The women in both poems are strong individuals, who have a hold over men.
- There is elevated description in both poems, which is then subverted.
In Les Grands Seigneurs the metaphors used to describe the men are ridiculous, whereas in Singh Song! the setting of the shop is transformed into a romantic backdrop.
How does the poet create a voice in Les Grands Seigneurs?
- Molloy uses hyperbolic imagery to create a dramatic voice.
- There is repeated use of the personal pronoun ‘my’ to create a strong sense of a person behind the verse.
- Alliteration and rhyme contribute to a playful tone in the poem.
- The use of irony in describing men as “performing seals” creates a knowing, teasing voice.
- The blackly humorous reversal of everything that has gone before creates a feeling of personality, with the mocking voice now being turned on the narrator.
Context of Les Grand Seigneurs by Dorothy Molloy
Dorothy Molloy’s first collection of poetry, Hare Soup, was published just ten days after she died from cancer of the liver in 2004.
Molloy was born in 1942 in Ireland.
She grew up in County Dublin, but she moved to Barcelona after studying languages at university and spent some of her adult life in Spain, working as a journalist and arts administrator.
She also gained some success as a painter. She returned to Ireland in 1979.
Her poems have a strong female voice and use black humour to make a point.
Her experience as a journalist is sometimes noticeable because of her clear, concrete images, but she is also accomplished in using poetic techniques.
