Tuesday, September 04, 2012

Resting by the Tour Saint Jacques...


Around the Tour Saint Jacques that I showed several times here, there is a little garden called, quite logically, le square de la Tour Saint Jacques. I never really walked though it until yesterday. I discovered a pretty cool monument dedicated to Gérard de Nerval, a French poet you probably never heard of, even if, in France everybody knows him (I never read anything by him though :-)). Anyway, I just thought it would make a cool photo and I think it does - I had to use the flash to compensate the sun light and I'm pretty proud of the result LOL! 

20 comments:

  1. My boyfriend and I walked through this square a couple of years ago on our way to Notre Dame. It was a pretty little spot to stop and take some photos. I like this shot very much!

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  2. I love the peace of the photo, and the touch of gold at the back of the poet's neck.

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  3. Beautiful image. I've never heard of Gerard de Neval but I'm going to look him up. :)

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  4. As some might recall, I love Tour Saint Jacques. The garden around it certainly is a nice, relaxing place.

    I'll send you some photos of Chicago. I met a great guy named Stef. We did a historic building walk instead of a picnic. We did have a light dinner together, so I suppose I should have taken a photo of that, but the pix I'll send are more fun.

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  5. Good photo; excellent way to handle the lighting conditions. Looks dramatic, as it should be for a poet :-)

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  6. Difficult lighting conditions?? Its superhero Flash Tenin to the rescue!!

    Seriously - very nice handling and very nice result. Its also great to learn something, as we do almost each day.

    The colors in yesterday's photo reminded me of your photo from Feb 11, 2008, which was also taken at a parade.

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  7. Thanks for the tip about the flash! It seems I must have heard that before but I'd forgotten. I'll remember now.

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  8. I HAVE heard of Gerard de Nerval! One of my favorite stories about him, that I remember from my French Poetry class, is of him walking his pet lobster, Thibault, through les Jardins de Luxembourg!
    http://ilovewikipedia.tumblr.com/post/470346928/gerard-de-nerval-had-a-pet-lobster-named

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  9. You should be proud of this, Eric, it is lovely. And you gave us our new character of Paris for the day. A history lesson and a photo all in one! :)


    LOL Flash Tenin. Love it, Carrie. :)

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  10. I have a picture of Gerard de Nerval on my desk at work, with a quote from him: Ici l'on passe des jours enchantes! Not always true, but something to strive for. You have to love a guy with a pet lobster on a leash. I will look up this monument next trip. It is lovely.

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  11. I can't believe some of you know of Gérard de Nerval ! I really did not think so. Now don't tell me you even read something by him!

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  12. You probably never heard of me,
    I'm Gerard de Nerval you see.
    Who he? Who he? I hear you cheer,
    attending with my one good ear.

    The French have heard, but never read
    my rhyming couplets, left unsaid.
    Memorial plaque, just a token,
    a lifetime's work, now unspoken.

    One right eye and half a nose,
    poetic licence expired (I suppose).

    The End.

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  13. @Jeff "I'll send you some photos of Chicago. I met a great guy named Stef. We did a historic building walk instead of a picnic. We did have a light dinner together, so I suppose I should have taken a photo of that, but the pix I'll send are more fun." I hope you had a nice time even if you probably would have preferred having dinner with a Stefanie!!

    @Carrie "Seriously - very nice handling and very nice result. Its also great to learn something, as we do almost each day. " Awww that's nice of you to say ;-)

    - Flash Tenin!

    @Petrea " It seems I must have heard that before but I'd forgotten." I'm sure you did!

    @Lupinssupins " One of my favorite stories about him, that I remember from my French Poetry class, is of him walking his pet lobster, Thibault, through les Jardins de Luxembourg!" Really?!

    Merci Christie !

    @Mrs Vandertramp "I have a picture of Gerard de Nerval on my desk at work, with a quote from him: Ici l'on passe des jours enchantes!" No WAY!

    @Gerard (or is it Drummond? or Jeff?? or Michael ??) Bravo !

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  14. Pas moi. I was too busy walking my spider to write so much!

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  15. Way! I emailed you photographic proof. I also have Paul Verlaine "Dansons la gigue!" and Beckett's "Quand on est dans la merde jusqu'au cou, il ne reste plus qu'a chanter." And the classic Sartre "L'enfer c'est les autres." If I ever get a boss who speaks French, I'm going to have some 'splaining to do.

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  16. You are too cunning for me Inspector Tenin. OK I confess! It,s a fair cop.

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  17. Everyone of a certain age in Britain knows de Nerval's "je suis le ténébreux" - set to music, played and sung by Donald Swann.

    Or am I the only one that age left... ?

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  18. @Drummond LOOOOOOOOOOL! It was easy ;-)

    @V. Really?! Frankly I would have never thought Nerval was studied in Britain. I should at least read something by him.

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  19. Studied - yes, perhaps in some university courses. But the Swann version was a strange part of an entertainment by two very funny men. Swann was in fact a linguist before forming this partnership. They did a lot that was just funny, but also wrote political and social satire. Swann sang the de Nerval as a solo. All very British. Here's a clip of their take on being Englsh... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vh-wEXvdW8 And their song about de Gaulle (based on a folk-song)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uukBpYD9PU Enjoy!

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  20. Not just Flanders and Swann, whom I have on CD, but also in The Wasteland by T. S. Eliot, where Eliot steals the line Le Prince d'Aquitaine a la tour abolie from Nerval. He acknowledges it. Michael Flanders refers to Nerval as The Chap with the Lobster, as Nerval used to walk one on a lead to challenge people on what is acceptable behaviour. In one of his documentaries the popular philosopher Alan de Botain repeated the incident. Nerval lives on!

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