Le chant du départ - Chénier/Méhul.
(English version)
 


This text consists of seven stanzas and a refrain. Each stanza consists of eight verses and the refrain of four lines. The rhymes are crossed and sufficient, for example, « orgueil »/ « cercueil ».

Alexandrine and octosyllabic are alternated in stanzas. The main themes of this song are the war and also the victory: it is a patriotic song. Each stanza has a different topic that relates to the war. For example, the second stanza evokes France becoming the soldier's family. Similarly each stanza represents a different person of the society, which includes the entire population in detail and touches so many people.
This text belongs to the epic registry with the admiration for the soldiers and meliorative vocabulary.

The constant use of the plural support the generalization of the patriotic spirit. The pronouns "nous" and "vous" / "ils" mark the opposition between the two countries in war. But the pronouns "nous" can also bring together people. The lexical field of the main text is the victory with the words "victoire," "vaincre," "triompher" ...

We can also notice a meliorative vocabulary to describe the soldiers' vaillants ',' modèles de guerriers , ""héros, "" beau de gloire et de liberté"... Through «And from north to south" and "Everywhere, in the deep night," this fight for freedom is conducted throughout France and continuously.

The use of the imperative "tremblez" warns the enemies against their force.

The imperative is also used in other verses as a combat support. The anaphora "Partez/Partez" is their wives support for husbands who leave to fight. These wives say that they wait the return of victorious soldiers.They will be proud to make a laurel crown as a sign of victory in the war with the verse «Nous cueillerons des fleurs pour en ceindre vos têtes:/Nos mains tresseront des lauriers ". The parallelism " Sachons vaincre ou sachons périr " and the chiasmus " un Français doit vivre pour elle/Pour elle un français doit mourir " mean the same idea: a soldier will live or die for France.
With the verse " De Bara, de Viala le sort nous fait envie/Ils sont morts, mais ils ont vaincu " the author encourages soldiers to fight even if they must die for freedom. Bara and Viala were young soldiers who fought and died for freedom.
The term "fer" is used several times; it is a synecdoche which means the sword.

We can identify several metaphors: the "champ de MArs" which means the land where the battle takes place, "les combats sont des fêtes," "le temple de la mémoire" which is the cemetery.

It is stated that if the soldier died, the wives expect the child to avenge the death thanks to the verse " Nos flancs portent vos vengeurs ."

Throughout the text we can see many allegories. From the first verse, " La victoire en chantant nous ouvre les barrières " the victory is an allegory that leads to freedom. In the second verse , " La Liberté guide nos pas” , which means that the aimof war is freedom.

The “polysyndète” "Et la paix et la liberté"demonstrates the two goals of the war.


Back to the french version : http://tpe-poetes-engages.wifeo.com/le-chant-du-depart-cheniermehul.php



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