Boileau and his Friendly Enemy: A Poetics of Satiric Criticism

Author(s): Susan W. Tiefenbrun

Source: MLN, Vol. 91, No. 4, French Issue (May, 1976), pp. 672-697
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press
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OILEAU

AND HIS

FRIENDLY

ENEMY: A POETICS OF SATIRIC

CISM q SUSAN W. TIEFENBRUN

'

CRITI-

The time
has come to resurrectBoileau. Deposed fromhis long-termoffice
as legislatorof classical doctrineand shaken abruptlyoffthe high
pillars of Parnassus at the end of the nineteenthcentury,Boileau's
poetic talents and techniques need to be re-examined now.
Whetherhis decline in statuswas due to the iconoclasticeffectsof
Revillout'scriticalbreakthroughin 1890 or to a natural development of changing estheticsis a difficultquestion to answer.1But
surely one cannot disregard even among some of Boileau's most
sympatheticcriticsthat a subtle whisper of hesitantsuspicion has
been in the air-implicating suspicion about his poetic talent and
outrightcondemnationforlack of originalityin styleand content.2
1 For the origin of thiscriticalbreakthroughreferto Revillout's"La Legende de
Boileau," Revue des Langues Romanes,34 (1890), 449-502; 35 (1891), 548-96; 36
(1892), 524-72; 37 (1894), 59-114, 149-81, 197-215, 374-82, 443-56, 552-65; 38
(1895), 75-83, 127-34, 221-31, 255-68, 316-29. See Boudhors' introductionto his
edition of the Satires(Paris: Belles Lettres, 1934) for a discussion of the legend.
"'Regent du Parnasse', legislateurde la Raison, grand-maitrede l'Ecole classique:
c'est dans cetteattitude,sous ces insigneset a ces titresque s'est dress&ela gloire de
Boileau-et qu'elle s'estecroulee. Le Romantismeajete a bas cettestatue."(p. XIV)
All citationsin this paper will be fromBoudhors' edition.
2 See Bernard Beugnot and Roger Zuber, Boileau' visagesanciens,visagesnouveaux
(Montreal:Pressesde l'Universitede Montreal,1973) fora surveyof Boileau's reputationin France and abroad from 1665-1970. Antoine Adam's introductionto the
Oeuvrescompletes(Paris: Gallimard, 1966) startsin the followingprovocativemanner:
"Nous ne songerions plus a voir en Boileau l'un des tres grands noms de notre
litterature.Le Lutrinne nous fait plus rire. Les Satireset les Epitresnous semblent
simplementdes oeuvres interessanteset vigoureuses,mais non pas des oeuvres de
genie. L'ArtPoetique n'est plus pour nous le code de l'eternelleRaison, et nous savons
maintenantque Moliere ni Racine n'ont eu besoin de Boileau pour ecrireleurs chef
d'oeuvres." (p. IX)
Daniel Mornet,NicolasBoileau (Paris:Calmann Levy,n.d.): "II est tropevidentque
Boileau n'estjamais un penseur. Ce qu'il pense . . . il le pense avec Juvenal,avec La
Mothe le Vayer, avec une douzaine de Satiriques,avec tout le monde." (p. 43)
Rene Bray, Boileau, Ihommeet 1'oeuvre(Paris: Boivin, 1942): "[Boileau] C'est un
fant6meverbal, en compagnie duquel il faut que tous nos ecoliers viventpendant
des annees et a qui ils vouent des lors une haine solide. Boileau merite un autre
sort."(p. 4) Even as earlyas 1890 in Le Grandsi~cle.Boileau(Paris), M. Richardwrites:
"Ouvrez les maitres,les grands critiques, meme les plus devoues-a la gloire de

MLN 91 (1976) 672-697

Copyrightt 1976 by The Johns Hopkins UniversityPress
All rightsof reproductionin any formreserved.

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M L N

673

by takinga
I hope to reopen the case forBoileau's poeticaffectivity
closer look at the structuralcomplex of his Satires-a rich corpus
consisting of a prose Preface, thirteen poems and two prose
Discours,-withspecial attentionto its unityof formand thought.3
The particularfocus of thisstudyis on the structuralrelationships
betweenBoileau the lyricpoet divided againsthimself,and Boileau
the satiriccriticat odds with a multifariousEnemy, the hydra of
hypocrisy.4
WithinBoileau's Satiresand because of the nature of satireitself,
a conflictbetween the satiristand his criticaltargetsis comically
sustained by ambivalent verbal combat. This satiric criticismis
characterized formallyby an interplayof contrastswhich I shall
referto as the poeticsof opposition.The targetsmove in twodirections: inwardly,towardsthe poet himself,his veryown enemy,and
outwardly towards the Other, that complex of mutable forms
which are sometimes more friendlythan foul. The enemy takes
various shapes-the king,ambiguity,satire,poets, poetryitself,the
public, societyin general, women in particular,human folly,false
nobilityand honor, and evil incarnate or l'Equivoque.The poet's
ambivalentperception of himselfnaturallyaffectsthe poetic expression of his subject and his critical perception of others.
of the
Through a systematicinvestigationinto the transformations
Boileau, les manuels et les traites d'histoire litteraire,c'est a qui s'6vertuera a
chercherune excuse pour les imperfectionset les imitationspar trop servilesqu'il
est de bon ton de confesseret de reconnaitredans les premieressatiresdu jeune
imitateurde Juvenal et d'Horace." (p. 109)
Emile Deschanel in Le Romantisme
des classiques:Boileau,CharlesPerrault(Paris:
Calmann Levy, 1891): "Despreaux etaitenfermedans ce cerclerestraint
[de la satire.]
C'est une circonstanceattenuantepour excuser son peu de fecondite."(p. 61)
3While publicationdates from 1665-1711 are easily verifiable,there is a discrepancy as to the precise year in which Boileau actuallycreated the individual satires,
not to mention when, how, and why he edited them. Le Verrier's edition with
Boileau's annotationsis a valuable reference.Rene Bray simplifiesthe problem by
grouping the creation of the satires into three periods: Satires I-VIII in 1666,
Satires VIII and IX in 1668 and Satires X-XII in 1694. The chronologyof these
satiresis more delicate than thiscategorizationindicates. Antoine Adam and Rene
Bray disagree, for example, on the dates of Satires I and VI, cf. Histoirede la
littiraturefranfaise
au XVIIe siecle(Paris: Del Duca, 1962), III, 94.
4 Although E.B.O.
Borgerhoff in his excellent article entitled "Boileau
Satirist:Animi
Gratia,"RomanicReview 43 (1952), 241-255 has few compunctions
about identifyingBoileau the man withthe poet's persona,narrator,adversaryand
satirist,I endeavored to maintainthese distinctions.Any interpretativereferenceto
personalitytraitsand behavioral patterns are thereforerelegated strictlyto the
poetic creationwhichis thatelusive and constantlytransformingvoice of the poet.

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674

SUSAN W. TIEFENBRUN

enemyand the networkof oppositionalrelationshipsbetweenthese

forms and the poet's own dual self-image,I hope to stimulatea
re-assessmentof poetic values and at least promote the reinstatement which Boileau trulydeserves.
Despite the essentiallyimitativeformsof French classical poetry,
Boileau's Satiresare created withina systemof alterity.Throughout
the collectionand in perfectrhetoricalcompliance withthe satiric
Boileau launches a brutal
genre as simultaneouslaus et vituperatio,
and ironic invectiveagainst his Enemy, that complex of mutable
forms which is sometimes more friendly than foul. Boileau's
foremostfriendlyenemyis his own ambivalentself-imagemirrored
in the many faces of his persona.This delicate constructof autoperception is laid bare in its dynamicstate in the veryfirsttextof
the Satires,the Discoursau Roy. The structuralarrangementof the
poem in multiple contrastivepatterns of praise and blame is an
iconicrepresentationof thepoet's innerconflict.The Discoursau Roy
is built on a symmetricaltripartitesystemof parallel reversals5
through which the narrator relentlesslyportrayshimself as the
alienated outcast,strivingdesperatelyto reunite himselfwith the
archetypalOther, a friendlyenemy,here the king. In the firstand
third panegyric sections of the poem,6 Boileau's personaextends
initiallyhyperbolicpraise to the king,and then offersincompatible
explanations for what he humblycalls an inabilityto praise:
Jeuneet vaillantHeros,dontla hautesagesse
N'estpointle fruittardifd'une lentevieillesse,
Et qui seul,sans Ministre,
a l'exempledes Dieux,
etvoistoutparTes yeux,
Soutienstoutpar Toi-mesme,
GrandRoi .. .
Maisje scai peu loder,et ma Muse tremblante
Fuitd'un si grandfardeaula chargetroppesante.
(Disc., 1-10)
Stated more emphatically:
5 The importantrole which reversals play in Boileau's philosophical and moral
thinkingis evidenced in Le Discoursau Roy,v.91-92:
"Ce sonteux que l'on voit,d'un discoursinsens6
Publierdans Parisque toutestrenverse.
Cf. SatireII, v. 21-22:
Enfinquoi que je fasseou que je veuillefaire
La bizarretoujoursvientm'offrir
le contraire.
6 One of the many possible structuraldivisionsis I, v. 1-62: Praise; II, v. 63-114:
Transition,Boileau vs. the Other poets; III, v. 115-end: Strong Praise.

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675

Pour chanterun Auguste,il fautestreun Virgile.

(Disc.,58)
On one level the flatteringallusion to the king's absolute rule,
accomplished expressivelyby alliterativerepetitionin "seul, sans
Ministre,"and "tout par Toi-mesme et ... tout par Tes yeux," is
indisputable,temporaltruthreferringto the death of Mazarin and
the birthof a divine monarch. But Boileau's satiricduplicitymasks
an undertone of sarcasm directed against the king retroactivelyin
SatireI and againstChapelain and Colbertin SatireVII. In the satire
whichbegins"Muse, changeons de stile. . . ", the subjectof monarchical pensions denied the poet in 1663 byColbertand Chapelain is
more explicitlythe target of attack. In SatireI the king's alleged
power is rapidlyreversed and cynicallydisplaced by the power of
his agents represented metonymicallyby "Mecenas":
On doittoutespererd'un Monarquesijuste.
Mais sans un Mecenas,a quoi sertun Auguste?
(I, 85-86)
Moreover,the narratorin the Discoursau Roy intimatesto his own
advantage thatother poets threatenthe king'sstatusof untouchato their
ble divinitywhen theyaudaciously attributehis immortality
verses:
Et Ton nomdu Midijusqu'AI'Oursevant%,
Ne devraqu'Aleursversson immortalit6.
(Disc.,40-41)
Comparing himselfto otherpoets,the enemy,"ces hardis Mortels,"
"sans force,""enfles d'audace" and sarcastically"l'autre . . . un espritsans pareil!", Boileau's narratorpaints a vivid portraitof himselfas an eminentlyfreesatiristrestrainedbyonlyone subject-the
7Boileau's pretended inabilityto praise is a leitmotifthroughouttheSatires(e.g. I,
42-47; II, 19-20,and VII, 26). The structuraland metricalsimilarityof SatiresI and
II to the Discoursau Royis noteworthyin their parallel openings:
Damonce grandAuteur,dontla Musefertile
et la Cour et la Ville.
Amusasi longtemps,
(I, 1-2)
veine
Rareet fameuxEspritdontla fertile
le travailetla peine.
Ignoreen 6crivant
(II, 1-2)
Jeuneet vaillantHeros,dontla hautesagesse
N'estpointle fruittardifd'unelentevieillesse.
(Disc.,1-2)

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676

SUSAN W. TIEFENBRUN

king,too exalted a figurefor his young and inexperienced hand.8

But in directcontradictionto the apologetic,self-effacing
language
in Part I of the poem ("Moi. .. demeure dans un humble silence,"
"Ma Muse tremblante,""Mon faible genie," "plus sage en mon
respect,""ma plume injuste et temeraire"),the poet's self-imageis
transformedappreciablyin Part II, where semes of sincerity,
rigor,
independent freedom,and bold confidencedominate the semantic
field.9
Moi,la plumea la main,je gourmandeles vices,
Et gardantpour moi-mesme
unejuste rigueur,
Je confieau papierles secretsde moncoeur.
(Disc.,70-73)
Je vaisde toutespartsoii me guidema veine,
Sans teniren marchant
une routecertaine,
Et,sansgesnerma plumeen ce libremetier,
Je la laisseau hazardcourirsurle papier.
(Disc.,77-80)
In a hammeringaccumulationof negationsand in utterdefianceof
others' hypocrisy, Boileau's persona flatly refuses to pay false
homage to the king:10
I1 n'estespoirde biens,ni raison,ni maxime,
Qui pusten Ta faveurm'arracher
une rime.
(Disc., 113-114)
At this the impassioned peak of his rudeness, and signaled by the
contrastive conjunction "Mais," the poet quickly reverses his
threateningstance only to pay long and obsequious homage to
his unrivaled king (V.1 15-130):
Maislorsqueje Te voi,d'une si nobleardeur,
T'appliquersans relacheaux soinsde Ta grandeur,
(Disc., 115-116)
8 This rationalizationis repeated in SatireIX: "L'honneur de le louer [Le Roi]
m est un trop digne prix." (v. 314)
9 Boileau's ambivalentself-confidencein the Discoursau Roy is transformedconnotativelyinto superiorityin SatireVII: "Je sens que mon esprittravaillede genie."
(v. 41)
10 Indirect undercuttingof the king is evidenced in Satire VII whose thematic
structuresparallel many of those found in the Discoursau Roy:

S'il fautrimerici,rimonsqueque louange,

Et cherchons
un Herosparmicetunivers,
Dignede nostreencenset dignede nos vers.(VII, 22-24)

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677

M L N

But the exalted and potentiallysarcastic praise in Part III stops

suddenly once again in line 131 by means of the same contrastive
conjunction "Mais." Then in de capo format,the poet's modesty,
fear of reprisal,and duty to sincerityelucidated initiallyin Part I
circular scheme. In the
are finallyrecalled in a characteristically
closing verses of the satire,the narratorconcretizesthe nature of
his conflictin an extended comparison. By attributingqualities of
the endangered seaman to the satirist,the narratorcalls attention
to implicitthreatsplaguing the poet and his coveted sense of freedom, a threatwhichdeveloped naturallyas soon as he compromisinglyentered the ranks of the flatteringpoets:
Commeun Piloteen mer,qu'6pouvantel'orage,
Des que le bordparoist,sanssongerou je suis,
Je me sauvea la nage,etj'aborde ou je puis.
(Disc., 138-140)
What heightensthe ironyof his torturedcapitulationis the certitudeof the satirist'sconviction,the dogmaticand aphoristicmanner in whichhis moral positionagainsthypocrisyand equivocation
are expressed.1"And when he lies, he does so in a similarlyassertive fashionby means of forcefulmetonymicidentities:
Puisquevousle voulez,je vaischangerde stile.

Je le declare donc. Quinautestun Virgile.

(IX, 287-288)

To prove a point and refinea definitionBoileau invariablyhas his

satiristengage in a dazzling dialecticof demonstrationaccording to
standard antitheticalpatterning.Firsta generalized abstraction(1)
appears which automaticallyengenders (2) interrogationsabout
specificationand qualification.Then (3) particularsare rendered
in the formof a negation whichin turnengenders its
contrastively
contrastin a (4) strong affirmation.The final statementof the
demonstrationis frequentlyin a memorable aphoristicformulathe kind of verse whichwon Boileau fame as a poet. Boileau's prose
in the Prefaceillustratesthisdialecticin a compact form:
11 See Nathan Edelman's stunning article entitled "L'ArtPoitique: 'Longtemps
Plaire et Jamais ne Lasser'" in French Classicism, ed. Jules Brody (New
Jersey:Prentice-Hall,1966) for an insightfuland sensitivelook at Boileau's poetic
skill. In a slightlydifferentcontext,Professor Edelman comments on Boileau's
certitude:"If Iis stylewaxes imperative,to the point of sounding dogmaticto us at
times,this comes from the certitudeof strongpersonal faithin his experience of
beauty and art, but not out of any concern withofficialregulations."(p. 209)

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678

SUSAN

W. TIEFENBRUN

extraordinaire?
qu' une pens&eneuve,brillante,
(2) Qu' est-ce
(3) Ce n'estpoint,commese le persuadentles Ignorans,une pensee
une
que personnen'a jamais eu&,ni dfiavoir.C'estau contraire
pens&equi a dfivenira toutle monde,etque quelqu'uns'avisele
premierd'exprimer.
(4) Un bon motn'estbon qu'en ce qu'il dit une choseque chacun
pensoit,et qu'il la ditd'une manierevive,fineet nouvelle.(Preface,p. 4)
Numerous variations on this dialectic are noticeable throughout
the Satires,especiallyin SatireVIII constructedas a forensicdebate
withrebuttalsand proofsforthe paradox thatman withhis Reason
is "le plus sot animal." Other stylisticsignals for demonstrationin
the Satires are the predominance of dialogue forms, debates,
rhetorical and literal questions, antitheticaland oxymoric structures.
While Boileau's frequent recourse to abstraction,lieux communs
and the proverbialmaxim is functionalin reinforcingthe strength
of his convictions,the satiristdoes not disregard the effectiveness
of concretization,precision and targetname-calling:
Le malest,qu'en rimant,ma Muse un peu legere
Nommetoutpar son nom,et ne scauroitrientaire.
(Disc.,81-82)
There is no doubt, especiallyafterreading SatireXII, probablythe
most poetic and personal of Boileau's poems, that ambiguityis his
fiercestenemy. Yet he, too, must resortto an effectof ambiguity,
thatis of imprecision,when in his Prefacehe attemptswithobvious
frustrationto define literaryexcellence by the ineffable:
Un ouvragea beau estreapprouved'un petitnombrede Connoissel proprea
agrementetd'uncertain
seurs,s'iln'estpleind'uncertain
piquerle goustgeneraldes Hommes. . . Que si on me demandece
etce sel,Jerepondray
que c'estunjenescay
que c'estque cetagrement
quoyqu'on peutbeaucoupmieuxsentir,que dire.
(Preface,p. 3)
Satire, itself,that floatingform of necessary contradictionand
ambivalence,is the quintessence of friendlyenemies, a "monstre"
the poet calls it, death itself,"un mechant metier,""A l'auteur qui
l'embrasse il est toujours fatal." (VII,3), a senseless, involuntary
torrentof will that propels the satiristdespite himself.The purposelessness of satire,in the face of its traditionof beneficial reform,is repeated so oftenby the poet thatitsleitmotifreaches the
proportionsof an obsession:

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679

Ainsi, sans m'aveugler d'une vaine manie,

(Disc., 13)
Muse, c'est donc envainque la main vous demange.
(VII, 21)
Mais a ce grand effortenvainje vous anime:
(VII, 25)
J'aybeau frottermon front,j'aybeau mordremes doigts
(VII, 27)
C'est envainqu'au milieu de ma fureurextreme
Je me fais quelquefois des le~ons a moi-mesme.
Envain je veux au moinsfaire grace a quelqu'un
Ma plume auroit regretd'en epargner aucun;
(VII, 49-52)
Enfin sans perdre temps en de si vains propos.
(VII, 59)

The poet's periodic but futileattemptsto abandon satire are mirrored by the cyclicalironiesof the da capo structureseen both in the
Discoursau Royand in SatireVII, whichbegins witha friendlyinvitation to leave satireand ends on a patheticresignationto resume its
inanity:
Muse, changeons de stile,et quittonsla Satire:
(VII, 1)
Finissons,Mais demain, Muse, a recommencer.
(VII, 96)

The parallel positioningof the initial firstperson plural imperatives,"changeons," "quittons,""finissons,"effectsan authorial intimacyand significantdepreciation in strengthof conviction.But
the dictatorial impulse to resume once again the "metier
12 is expressed appropriatelyby the forcefulinfinitivalimfuneste"
perative,"Muse, a recommencer."Althoughinspirationis clearlya
giftfrom God, or a similar outside agent like a Muse, the poet,
perhaps unknowingly,attributespersonal responsibilityfor his inspirationby associatingits effectsto a natural phenomenon:
Mes vers, comme un torrent,coulent sur le papier.

(VII, 43)13

See SatireIX, v. 243 forothersemes of death. Cf. v. 137, "noye"',v. 26, "tomb&"
SatiresVII and II contradicteach other on the question of personal poetic
freedom. In Satire II the poet describes the paralyzing inabilityto rhyme his
thoughts,which,as Brody puts it (p. 70) is "less an abilitytofind rhymesthan ...
absence of method to guide his search. "Boileau and Longinus(Geneva:Droz, 1958)
12

13

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SUSAN W. TIEFENBRUN

The satirist,who sees himself rather patheticallyas a worthless

poet, cannot resist a natural instinctfor pleasure, a gratifying
impulse to rhymewhich in itselfbestows meritand value on him:
Souventj'habilleen versune maligneprose:

C'est par la que je vaux, sije vaux quelquechose.

(VII, 61-62)

Despite the deleterious if not fatal effectsof his two-facedfriend,

satire,the poet is drivenby a hedonisticand uncontrollableurge to
write:
Enfinc'estmonplaisir,
je veuxme satisfaire.
(VII, 89)
He describes his ambivalent state of mind by means of the
hypotheticalsubjunctive,expressing fear and doubt, as well as an
accumulation of parallel antithesesrepresentativeof his splitting
internalconflict:
Ainsi,soitque bien-tost,
par une dure loi,
La Mortd'un vol affreuxviennefondresur moi;
Soitque le Ciel me gardeun courslongat tranquille,
A Romeou dans Paris,aux champsou dans la ville,
Deustma Muse par Ia choquertoutl'Univers,
Riche, gueux, tristeou gay,je veuxfaire des vers.

(VII, 63-68)

Like the Cornelian hero caught between the onrushingwill and

his suppressingReason, the poet's passionate pleas for freedomto
writesatiricpoetryreach the heightsof lyricalintensityin Satire IX.
Modern psychologicaltheoristsinvestigatingthe role of freedomin
the creativeprocess have found thatthe creativeindividual,who is
invariablyinvolved in changing the status quo, must necessarily
experience differentkinds of freedom in order to create effectively.14He musthave the freedomforstudyand preparation,the
freedom for unlimited exploration and inquiry,the freedom of
expression,and the freedomto performwithoutexcessiveevalua14 MorrisI. Stein'sbook entitledStimulating
Creativity
(New York: Academic Press,
in preparation) promisesan informeddiscussionof thissubject. See his "Creativity
in a Free Society" in GraduateCommentV, 1 (Oct. 1961), 26pp. Frank Barron in
and PersonalFreedom,as well as in "Psychologyof Imagination,"Scientific
Creativity
American199 (1958), 151-166 was a pioneer investigatorin the subtle psychological
relationshipsbetween freedomand creativity.Cf. Jacques Barzun, "Each Age Picks
its LiteraryGreats,"in the New YorkTimesBookReviewof March 6, 1955.

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681

tion from others. Satire is the art form of reform,the poem of

restraint.And Boileau, then,is ironicallylimitingthe freedomof all
poets by engaging in creativecriticism.The poet's dualityof emotion towardsthe satiricgenre is appropriatelyrepresentedin Satire
IX by a bipartitearrangementin which the poet and "Son Esprit"
dialogue about the dubious meritsof satiriccriticism.Boileau uses
the word "esprit" in this satire in much the same way he interchanged it with "nature" in the Trait6du Sublime.15 But the term
"esprit"has multiplemeaningsin Boileau's works,meaningswhich
sometimes contradict each other and contrast intuitivecreative
power or "puissance" (in Descartes' terms)withjudgment and restraint.Nowhere in Boileau's worksis the complex dualityof this
term more expressivelyrendered than in SatireIX where the two
aspects of the creative mind are actuallysevered, personified,and
dialogue realisticallyin classical Freudian patterns of ego and
superego interaction.Not unlike Mallarme's paralysisbefore the
whitenessof his blank page, Boileau's restrainingsuperego, tempted by silence,is painfullyaware of his sterilepower as a poet and
social critic. He describes this empty stillness,in contrastto the
fertilerushes of energy fromhis other self,througha dense concentrationof imageryin which his mind is frozen and his inspiration petrified.He laughs patheticallyat his own impotence:
On croiroita vousvoirdans voslibrescaprices,
... Qu'estantseul a couvertdes traitsde la Satire,
Vous avez toutpouvoirde parleret d'6crire.
Maismoi,qui dansle fondspaisbience quej'en crois,
Qui comptetouslesjours vos defauxpar mesdoigts;
Je ris,quandje vousvois,si foibleet si sterile,
la ville,
Prendresurvousle soinde reformer
(IX, 7-16)
of this
renunciation
between
incessantly
mind
wavers
His tortured
purposeless vocation and defiant determination to defend his
raisond'etre.In a grandiose but finallyunsuccessfulcampaign of
rationalization,the satiristtriesto convince himselfthathis chosen
genre is unique in its edifyingand didactic purpose:16
15 See lules Brody's discussion of the term "esprit" in his Boileau and Longinus
(Geneva: roz, 1958), pp 58-59. Brody'sworkon Boileau is indispensable.He is one
of the fewcriticswho restoredoriginalityand unityof thoughtto the poet Boileau.
16 See Borgerhoff'sdetailed analysisof SatireIX, op. cit, pp. 245-253, where he
makes reference to the structuresof inversion in both halves of the poem. He
discusses the implicitcyclicalreturnto the beginningof the satire.

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La Satire en le~ons, en nouveautez fertile,

Spaitseule assaisonner le plaisant et l'utile,
Et d'un vers qu'elle 6pure aux rayonsdu bon sens,
Dctrompe les Espritsdes erreurs de leur temps.
Elle seule bravant1'orgueilet l'injustice,
Va jusques sous le dais faire paslir le vice;
(IX, 267-272)

Satire is his inspiration,his guidepost along the path of poetic creation, his courage and force,his Mentor-a fatal teacher who encourages unsociable propensitiesto criticizeothers:
C'est Elle [la Satire] qui m'ouvrantle chemin
qu'il faut suivre,
M'inspira des quinze ans la haine d'un sot livre,
Et sur ce mont fameux ouij'osayla chercher,
Fortifiames pas, et m'apprita marcher.
C'est pour elle, en un mot,que j'ay faitvoeu d'ecrire.
(IX, 279-283)

And who are these others who constitutethe very substance of

Boileau's poetic creation? In the Discourssur la Satire,which serves
as a defensive preface to SatireIX, the poet describes his literary
enemies metaphoricallyby the expressive vehicle of a volatile nation:

Je spavoisque la nation des Poetes, et sur tout

des mauvais Poetes, est une nation farouche qui
prend feu aisement,et que ces Espritsavides
de louanges ne digereroientpas facilementune
raillerie,quelque douce qu'elle put estre.
(Disc. S., p. 77)

The poet's overseerand querulous superego in a seeminglyendless

citesspecificnames on an impresscourgeof masochisticretribution
sivelylong listof literaryenemies:
Et qu'ont faittantd'Auteurs pour remuerleur cendre?
Que vous ont faitPerrin,Bardin, Pradon, Haynaut,
Colletet,Pelletier,Titreville,Quinaut,
Dont les noms en cent lieux, placez comme en leurs
niches

Vont de vos vers malins remplirles hemistiches?

(IX, 97-100)

In a sarcastic attack on Cotin, and not without latent fear of

monarchicalreprisals,the more cautious poet explains to his rash
and intuitiveEspritthe contingentdangers of implicationby insinuation:

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Vous aurezbeau vanterle Roydans vos ouvrages,

vos pages.
Et de ce nomsacr6sanctifier
Qui mepriseCotin,n'estimepointson Roi,
Et n'a, selonCotin,ni Dieu, ni foi,ni loi.
(IX, 303-306)
The poet's furtivesuspicion of "ces flots d'Ennemis" motivates
periodic paranoiac outbursts against other defensive poets who
cannot, themselves,tolerate the slightestnuance of negative criticism.17It is they,in turn,who condemn the poet Boileau and who
overestimatehis destructivelycriticalintention:
Traiteren vos 6critschaque versd'attentat,
Et d'un motinnocentfaireun crimed'Etat.
(IX, 301-302)
Despite his own personal desires for acceptance, en masse and
throughthe comic force of parody Boileau's swiftand courageous
Esprit-ego mocks "les poetes doucereux" who write Odes "en
17 and Eclogues "entoure[s] de troupeaux,
phrases de Malherbe"
Au milieux [sic] de Paris . . ." More specificallyhe condemns the
literarytyrannyof Chaplain whose personal and politicalvendetta
had serious repercussionsfor the poet Boileau:18
Maisque pour un modele,on montreses erits,
Qu'il soitle mieuxrentede tousles beaux Esprits:
CommeRoi des Auteurs,qu'on l'elevea l'Empire:
Ma bilealorss'ehauffe,etje brfiled'ecrire:
(IX, 217-220)
No more talk of poetic sterility,no "vers froids"when Boileau's
Esprit-egofinallysuccumbs to his satiricbent. In a satirededicated
to his idol Moliere, who was like Boileau "dans les combats d'esprit
s~avant Maistre d'escrime," (11,5) the poet parodies what he calls
the "cold epithets"of court poets and theirpracticeof hyperbolization:

Si je louois Philis,En miracles

feconde,
Je trouveroisbientost,A nulleautreseconde.
Si je voulois vanterun objetNompareil;
Je mettroisa l'instant,Plus beau que le Soleil.
See SatireIX, v. 250-266 for a developed parody of these poets.
gint'raledes oeuvresde Nicolas
In the introductionto Emile Ma gne's Bibliographie
2 vols. (Paris, 1929) the argumentbetween Gilles and Nicolas is
de BoileauDesprt'aux,
it is enterexplained. Ironically,and a proposof the validityof biographicalcriticism,
tainingto note thatI3oileau'sfathersaid of him,"Colin est un bon garcon qui ne dira
jamais de mal de personne." (p. 4)
17
18

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SUSAN W. TIEFENBRUN

Enfin parlant to jours dAstreset de Merveilles,

De Chef-d'oeuvres
des Cieux,de Beautezsans pareilles;

(II, 37-42;italicsare Boileau's)

Parodic literarydebates and vehementquarrels are depicted realisticallyalso in Satire III, 19 a less personal poem displayingBoileau's
skillin mimeticdescriptionof the traditional"Diner Ridicule." It is
in Satire III that we find a good example of intertextuality,
the
markerof conscious poetic integration.SatiresII and III are
stylistic
interconnectedexplicitlyby the sarcastic allusion to a common
satiristtermed evasively"on" then "un jeune homme.":
Les Heros chez Quinautparlentbienautrement,
Etjusqu';hjevoushais,touts'ydittendrement.
On ditqu'on la drape dans certainesatire,
Qu'un jeune homme ."-"Ah! je staice que vous
voulezdire,"
(III, 187-190:italicsare Boileau's)
Unlike the easy, unimaginativerimestersrepresentedby Quinaut,
the Abbe de Pure, Pelletier,and above all "Bienheureux Scuderi"
and Menage, whom the satiristassociates ironicallyin Satire II with
Malherbe, Boileau's persona is frustratedby an inabilityto find
rhymes.His inspirationis described as a self-destructive
cleavage,
an anguished trembling,an imprisonmentof wills. He is splitbetweenhis will to rhymefreelyand the divisiveinfluenceof his controllingmind. In a hate-filledcurse directed at the other poets'
ease with rhyme,the satiristdisplaysa profound envy which can
probablybe extended to Moliere himself:20
Mauditsoitle premierdontla verveinsens&e
Dans les bornesd'un versrenferma
sa pensee,
Et donnant'a ses motsune eroite prison,
Voulutavec la rimeenchainerla raison.
(II, 53-56)
The structureof comparisonin Satire II, in which Moliere's facility
forrhymeis contrastedto the satirist'ssearch forspontaneity,is an
iconic representationof the poet's contrastingself-appraisal.But
Boileau's tormentof conflictingwills,whichis expressed implicitly
through manifold formsof opposition, is hidden throughoutby
19 SatireIII, 221-222: "Aussitostsous leurs pieds les tables renversees
Font voir un long debris de bouteillescassees:"
20 Borgerhoff,p. 244 discusses Boileau's backhanded attack and simultaneous
complimentto Moliere.

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satirichumor,by a constantebb and flowof sometimesfalse,sometimes true praise and blame.2' As Jules Brody put it, there is a
"complex connivance of the natural and the intellectual,vitality
and restraint,"22reflected memorably in the concluding verses
of teachwhichstressthroughaffirmationand negationthe futility
ing the art of genius:
Toi donc,qui voisles mauxofima Muse s'abime
l'artde trouverla rime:
De grace,enseigne-moi
tessoinsy seroientsuperflus,
Ou, puisqu'enfin
l'artde ne rimerplus.
Moliere,enseigne-moi
(II, 97-101)
Poetryis slaveryfor Boileau's satiristin SatireII, "un tristemetier,"
"un rude metier,""fatal au repos," a "Demon" in fact,who has
come to pay him back for his sins:
Mais moiqu'un vaincaprice,une bizarrehumeur,
Pour mespechez,je croi,fitdevenirRimeur:
(II, 11-12)
And this Baudelairian infatuationwith the demonic powers of
poetryis encoded throughoutBoileau's satiresin religious cliches
("contentement,""cloiiesur un ouvrage"):
Maisdepuisle momentque cettefrenesie
De sesnoires
vapeurstroublama fantaisie,
Et qu'unDemonjaloux
de moncontentement,
M'inspirale desseind'&crirepoliment:
Tous lesjours malgremoi,cloue surun ouvrage,
une page,
un endroiteffagant
Retouchant
Enfinpassantma vie en ce tristemetier,
le sortde Pelletier.
J'envieen ecrivant
(II, 69-76)
By means of light/darkmetaphorsin SatireXII, his most religious
poem, Boileau develops an extended association of the devil with
inability
one aspect of poeticcreation,l'Equivoque, or the frustrating
to find the appropriate expression for a thought:
Et ne vienspointicide tonombre
grossiere
Envelopermonstyleamidela lumiere.
(XII, 13-14)
21 For a detailed analysis of simultaneous opposition in satire and the resultant
effectsof irony, see my article entitled "Mathurin Regnier's Macette:A Semiotic
Study in Satire" Semiotica13:2(1975), 13 1-153.
22 Brody, p. 59

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SUSAN W. TIEFENBRUN

As in Baudelaire's sonnets, Boileau's devil is both coveted caressinglyand rejected harshlyin characteristically
schizoid fashion-a
patternwhichis whollycompatiblewiththe manyvariantsof ambivalent "approach/avoidance" evidenced throughout Boileau's Satires. Interestinglyenough, the quotation below reveals the interplayof light/darkand cold/heatmetaphorsin an integratedreligious structureof the devil as inspiration:
Fui donc. Mais non, demeure; un Demonqui m'inspire
Veut qu'encore une utile et derniere Satire,
De ce pas, en mon livre,exprimanttesnoirceurs,
Se vienne en nombre pair,joindre a ses Onze Soeurs;
Et je sens que ta vuihWchauffe
mon audace.
Viens, approche: Voyons, malgr6 l'Ageet sa glace,
Si ma Muse aujourd'hui sortantde sa langueur,
Pourra trouverencore un reste de vigueur.
(XII, 17-24)

And not less anticipatoryof Baudelaire's "hypocritelecteur" is

Boileau's ambivalenthate and love forhis reading public who perceives him as the diabolical critic:
Et Tel en vous lisantadmire chaque trait,
Qui dans le fond de l'ame, et vous craintet vous hait.
(VII, 19-20)

Their hypocrisy is encoded in the traditional antitheses of

semiosis:
white/blackand exterior/interior
C'est Ia ce qui faitpeur aux Espritsde ce temps,
Qui tout blancs au dehors, sont tout noirs au dedans.
Ils tremblentqu'un Censeur, que sa verve encourage,
Ne vienne en ses ecritsdemasquer leur visage,
(Disc., 83-86)

Withunrelentinganaphoric insistence,Boileau cracksthe whips of

satire on his two-facedpublic:
Ce sonteux que l'on voit,d'un discours insense,
Publier dans Paris, que tout est renverse,
Au moindre bruitqui court,qu'un Auteur les menace
De jouer des Bigots la trompeuse grimace.
Pour Eux un tel ouvrage est un monstreodieux;
C'est offenserles loix, c'est s'attaquer aux Cieux:
(Disc., 91-96)

And, yet, the public is identifiedbeneficentlywith the poet, not

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687

explicitlyas "son semblable,"but implicitlyas the ultimateand just

Judge of lastingliterature:
Envaincontrele Cidun Ministrese ligue,
Tout Parispour Chimenea les yeuxde Rodrigue.
L'Academieen corpsa beau le censurer,
Le Publicrevoltes'obstinea l'admirer.
(IX, 231-234)
On a beau se farderaux yeuxde l'Univers;
A la finsurquelqu'unde nos vicescouverts
Le Publicmalinjetteun oeil inevitable;
Et bien-tost
la Censure,au regardformidable,
Spait,le crayonen main,marquernos endroitsfaux
Et nous developperavec tousnos defaux.
(XI, 27-32)
Even in his less lyricalpoems like SatireI, ContrelesMoeursde la ville
de Paris, Boileau's narratorpaintsan intimateportraitof himselfas
the naivelycandid observerin conflictwithhis false friends.By an
accumulationof negationsand semanticreversalssupported stylisticallyby proximalantitheses,the poet contrastshis genuine sincerityto the hypocrisyof his contemporaries:
ni feindre,ni mentir,
Je ne sai ni tromper,
Et quandje le pourois,je n'ypuisconsentir.
Je ne scaipointen lacheessuyerles outrages
D'un Faquinorgueilleuxqui voustienta ses gages:
Pour un si bas emploima Muse esttropaltiere.
Je suisrustiqueet fier,etj'ai l'amegrossiere.
(I, 43-50)
Like the proverbialsatiristwho is traditionallyearthyand realistic
in his brutal reformof society'swicked ways,Boileau's "rustique"
describes his qualityof candor withthe aid of animal metaphors:
Je ne puisriennommer,si ce n'estpar son nom.
J'appelleun chatun chat,et Roletun fripon.
(I, 51-52)
In Les Embarrasde Paris, or SatireVI, which is associated thematically with the firstsatire although relativelyless personal, the
satirist'slivelyportrayalof the demonic Parisian societyis achieved
primarilythrough the staccato rhythmsof short sentence fragments,exclamations,anacoluthons,shortquestionsimitativeof con-

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SUSAN W. TIEFENBRUN

versationaldialogue, and frequentverbsof rapid motion.To simulate the city sounds, Boileau's persona resorts once again to the
mimesisof animal simileswithspecial preference,itseems,forcats:
Et quel facheuxDemondurantles nuitsentieres,
Rassembleicileschatsde toutesles goutieres?
J'aibeau sauterdu litpleinde troubleet d'effroi,
Je pensequ'aveceux toutl'Enferestchez moi,
L'un miauleen grondantcommeun tigreen furie:
L'autreroulesa voixcommeun enfantqui crie.
Ce n'estpas toutencore.Les souriset les rats
s'entendreavec les chats
Semblent,pour m'eveiller,
(VI, 3-10)
The whole citylike a vibrantBreughel paintingis depicted dramatically from two contrastingaudio-visual perspectives,sights and
sounds seen and heard from inside (V. 1-30) and the same but
worse experienced on the outside (V. 3 1-end); the temporallevel is
transformedgraduallyfromearlymorningto nightwhen "le poete
gueux," in a briefmomentof personal appraisal, contemplateshis
sense of limitedfreedom.
Maismoi,graceau destin,qui n'ai ni feuni lieux,
Je me loge ou je puis,et commeil plaista Dieu.
(VI, 125-126)
While the subject of the firstand sixth satires appears a mere
"sterile" transformationof Juvenal's Umbricius leaving Rome23
into the poet's evasion from contemporary Parisian vices, the
oxymoricstructuresof the poems, that is, the reversals,alternatives,questions and answers,and constantantitheticalpositioning
of the narratoragainst "the others"is a poetic complex characteristic of Boileau's style.In Satire I, however,there is more personal
involvementin the particulartormentsof the poet, crystallizedin
the portraitof Saint-Amant,thatunfortunateplaythingof fateand
the king'sministers.Not wantingto undergo Saint-Amant'scyclical
circuitfrom povertyto courtlyfame and back to shame and dishonor, Damon, the persona, momentarilycontemplateslaw as an
alternative to poetry. He describes this profession in one of
Boileau's most mellifluousmetaphors:
Moi?que j'aille crierdans ce pais barbare,
Oii l'on voittouslesjours l'Innocenceaux abois
d'unDedaledelois
Errerdanslesdetours
(I, 117-120)
23

d'Horaceet deJuvinal. (Paris, 1864).

Otto Benicke,Boileau imitateur

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To reinforcethe absurdityof the legal professionand the horrors

of citydwelling, Damon encodes the hypotheticalalternativesin
forcefuladynatons,a figure intrinsicallyrelated to reversals and
appropriate for Boileau's view of contemporarysocietyas a world
turned upside down:
Avantqu'un teldesseinm'entredans la pens&e,
glacee,
On pourravoirla Seine a la Saint-Jean
Arnaulda Charentondevenirhuguenot,
bigot.
Saint-Sorlin
janseniste,et Saint-Pavin
(I, 125-128)
A sense of freedom, freedom to shun the debased moralityof
Paris, freedom to write poetry,freedom to criticize,freedom to
choose-this is what the satiristholds dear in that"siecle de fer"in
which the wheel of Fortune, "le sort burlesque," plays havoc with
mortals'lives.It is preciselythisfutilesearch fortotalliberationand
contingentresignation to sinceritywhich restrain the poet from
love and eventual marriage, an institutionwhich he describes in
termsof enslavement:
De servirun Amant,je n'en ai pas l'adresse.
J'ignorece grandartqui gagneune maitresse,
I, 54-55)
In Satire X, Boileau's persona plays the role of a scornfuland sceptical preacher who, in a dialogue withAlcippe, paintsvivid portraits
of demonic women, each one more horrible than the other.
Boileau's satiricvirtuosityis unmatched in this impressivedisplay
of female types. Firstthere is "la femme sans honneur," then "la
coquette,""'"1avare," "la colereuse," or the woman changed into
Satan, "la malade imaginaire,""la precieuse,"and finally"la devote
hypocrite et bigotte," with reference to nine others whom the
satiristcould potentiallydevelop in thisalready long and extensive
poem. All of these universalizablefemale portraitshave one thing
in common: the enslavementtrap and the marriage yoke. Satire X
presentsa colorful panorama of court society,offeringbrutal attacksnot only on women as the enemybut men like "le mari trompeur et trompe,"the salon poet, and the tyrannical"directeurde
conscience."In a rathertouchingaccount of his loneliness,Alcippe
espouses familiarJansenistprinciplesof the paradox of freedom,
to which the satiristwill counter witha sarcasticriposte:
L'Hymen&eestunjoug, et c'estce qui m'enplaist.
L'hommeen ses passionstoujourserrantsansguide,

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SUSAN W. TIEFENBRUN

A besoinqu'on lui metteet le morset la bride.

Son pouvoirmalheureuxne sertqu'Ale gesner,
Et pour le rendrelibre,il le fautenchainer.
C'estainsique souventla mainde Dieu 1'assiste."
-Ha bon! voilaparleren docteJanseniste,
(X, 112-118)
The poem ends on a high crescendo of threatening negative
epithets-a descriptiveprelude to the reversalof fateand prophecy
of eternal enslavementwiththe devil herself:
Sous le faixdes procezabbatu,constern6,
Triste,a pie,sansLaquais,maigre,sec,ruine,
Vingtfoisdans tonmalheurresolude te pendre,
Et, pourcomblede maux,reduita reprendre.
(X, 735-738)
Not wishing to restrictthe depiction of his Enemy to females
alone, Boileau's satiristdirects his sceptical invectivein SatireIV
against man in general and, later, in Satire VIII, against human
folly.Like his satireon women,SatireIV containsa relativelyimpersonal series of stereotyped portraits sprinkled with abundant
proverbialismsand universalizingmaximsdesigned to support the
between human wisdom
paradoxical contrast and rapprochement
and folly.Representativeportraitsof human follylike the pedant,
the "galant," the bigot, the "libertin,"and the charlatan are alterwitha plethora of abstractions,aphorismsand
nated systematically
lieuxcommuns:
Chacunveuten sagesseerigersa folie,

(IV, 50)
Le plus sage estceluiqui ne pensepointl'estre.
(IV, 54)
est toujoursindulgent.
Maischacunpour soi-mesme
(IV, 59)
Consistentwiththe poetics of opposition,Boileau presentsa series
of contrastingportraitsin which the miser is compared to the
spendthrift;the cool and calculating gambler who considers fate
his personal science is then followedby the furiousfanaticwhom a
priest exorcises. And in contrastto this enumeration of general
types, the picturesque and brutally incriminating portrait of
Chapelain in particular,"montezsur deux grands mots,comme sur
deux echasses" looms to the foreground:
Chapelain veut rimer,et c'est la' sa folie." (IV, 90)

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Satire VIII, like Satire IV, develops within an overriding and

extended comparisonof man to the lowestformof animal,the ass:
par ce discoursprofane,
Quoi? me prouverez-vous
Que l'Homme,qu'unDocteurestau dessousd'unasne?
Un Asne,le jouet de tousles animaux,
Un stupideAnimal,sujeta millemaux;
Dont le nomseul en soi comprendune satire?"
(VIII, 275-279)
But the structuralarrangement of Satire VII in the form of an
intellectualdemonstrationis more intricatethan the earlier fourth
satire. Man's weaknesses, according to the Doctor's interlocutor,
are ambition, avarice and inconstancy, traits which are demonstrated through multiple examples to be clearly absent from
the animal kingdom:
Jamaiscontreun Renardchicanantun poulet,
Un Renardde son sac n'allachargerRolet.
Jamaisla Bicheen rut,n'a pour faitd'impuissance,
TrAinedu fonddes boisun Cerfa l'Audiance,
Jugeentr'euxordonnantle congres,
Etljamais
De ce burlesquemotn'a sali ses arrests.
seul en sa fureurextreme,
L'Hommeseul,1'Homme

Metun brutalhonneura s'egorgersoi-meme.

(VIII, 141-152)

Debate procedures predominate in Satire VIII, and when strict

dialogue is absent, a hypotheticaldialogue is parodied subtlyby
verb tense manipulation:
Moipeutestre.(VIII,
"Qui pouroitle nier?"poursuis-tu.
60)
"Tout beau,"diraquelqu'un,"raillezplusa propos:
la vertudes Heros. (VIII, 97-98)
Ce vicefuttouijours
The satirist'sadversary,identifiedas a poet, then elucidates a false
and wickedlyanti-Christianmoralityin the guise of wisdom. Below
the surface structuresof philosophical demonstration,SatireVIII
contains not only many of Boileau's most intenselymovingverses
but some of his more unusual rhymes:
Mais sansexaminersi,versles antressourds,
L'Ours a peur du Passant,ou le Passantde l'Ours:
(VIII, 61-62)

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Even more exotic is the followingsonorous combination:

Chercherjusqu'au Japonla porcelaineet l'ambre,
Rapporterde Goa le poivreet le gingembre.
(VIII, 75-76)
Arranged oppositionallyon a grandiose comparisonof true and
to the fourth
false nobility,Boileau's fifthsatire,linked structurally
and eighth, appears similarlyimpersonal and more immediately
involved withthe universal,philosophical and moral issues of the
times. These three poems interrelatethematicallywhen Boileau's
satiristdefines nobilityas the essence of true virtue,approaching
divinity:
La Noblesse,Dangeau,n'estpas une chimere
loi d'une vertusevere,
Quand sous l'6troite
Un hommeissud'un sang feconden Demi-Dieux,
ses ayeux.
Suit,commetoi,la traceoi marchoient
(V, 1-4)
As we have seen in many of his satires, Boileau concretizes his
definitionaldemonstrationof true and false nobilitythroughallegoryand an extended comparisonin animal code of "Le Coursier"
and "Le Jument":
On faitcas d'un Coursier,qui fieret pleinde coeur,
Faitparoistreen courantsa boiillantevigueur:
Qui jamais ne se lasse,et qui dans la carriere
S'estcouvertmillefoisd'une noblepoussiere:
d'Alfaneet de Bayard,
Maisla posterit6
Quand ce n'estqu'une rosse,estvendueau hazard,
Sans respectdes Ayeuxdontelle estdescendue,
Et va porterla malle,ou tirerla charue,
(V, 27-34)
Nobilityfor the poet is a symbolof truth,a sign of his professed
sincerity.Truth is the essence of Boileau's esthetics,his criterionof
excellence, the unattainable other side of his ever-encroaching
Enemy, hypocrisy.He expressed his estheticsof truthin the 1701
Prefaceto his Satiresand earlier in the ninthEpitre:
pleind'un
L'Espritde l'Hommeestnaturellement
nombreinfinid'ideesconfusesdu Vrai,que souvent
il n'entrevoit
qu'a demi;etriennelui estplus
ag-rable
que lorsqu'on lui offre. . . quelqu'unede
ces ideesbieneclaircie,et misedans un beaujour.
(p. 4)

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Rien n'estbeau que le vrai.Le vraiseul estaimable.

(Epltre9, v. 43)
While in 1664 a historicalinquiryinto the validityof titlesof nobilityactuallyoccurred and can be considered of potentialrelevance
to SatiresV, VIII, and XI, the poet's obsessive search for truth,
personal identity,and fear of exposure before peers and authority
are mirrored in this seemingly general inquiry into nobility.
Moreover,the structuralrelationof the semic variantof truth,(i.e.
"nobility,")to Boileau's more lyricalsatires,especiallySatireIX and
his lastSatireXII, is of particularinterestin the deeper understanding of the poet's internalfrustrationsand anguish. What the poet
hates most in himself,he senses deeply-in others and criticizes
creativelythroughsatire.When, in accordance withclassicalprinciand the rigorouscontrolof passion, the
bienseance,
ples of honneteN,
poet contraststhe true noble's restraintwith the excesses of false
nobility,he defensivelyassociates the faultsof otherswithhis own
patternsof poetic behavior:
et ma Muse en fureur
Je m'emportepeut-estre,

Verse dans ses discours trop de fiel et d'aigreur.

I1 faut avec les Grands un peu de retenue.
He bien,je m'adoucis. Vostre race est connue.
(V, 67-70)

This projection mechanism and Boileau's particular sensitivity to

his ignoble excesses as satirist were perceived in Satire IX as a function of the satiric genre itself. He also evidenced awareness of a
shamefully anti-Christian tendency which has, perhaps, partially
motivated the poet's recurrent feelings of guilt:
Est-ce donc Ia medire, ou parler franchement?
Non, non, la Medisance y va plus doucement.
(IX, 157-158)
Mais deussiez-vous en l'air voir vos ailes fondues,
Ne valoit-ilpas mieux vous perdre dans les nues,
Que d'aller sans raison, d'un stilepeu Chrestien,
Faire insulteen rimanta qui ne vous dit rien,
(IX, 55-58)

In theDiscourssur la Satire,whichis Boileau's personaljustification

forhis poetic brutalityand ungenerous revengeon his enemies,he
cleverlyunderplays his animosityand insistson his Christian instincttoward forgiveness:

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694

SUSAN

W. TIEFENBRUN

Quelquescalomniesdonton aitvoulume noircir;

quelquesfauxbruitsqu'on ait semezde ma personne,
j'ai pardonn6
sans peinecespetites
vengeances,
au deplaisird'un Auteurirrit6,
qui se voyoitattaqu6
par l'endroitle plus sensibled'un Poete,je veuxdire,
par ses ouvrages."
(Disc. S., p. 77)
SatireXI, writtenmuch later than Satire V and imbued with a
distinctivelyreligious tone, deals with the related subject of real
honor as the equivalent of truth. The poem is structuredon a
similarlycontrastivescheme. An aphoristicdescriptionof honor is
juxtaposed to a portraitof the contemporarydishonorable society
where hypocrisyand false devotion persist.The poet supports his
definitionof honor by a fable of the king,but digressesappreciably
of the Censor as seeker of
when he paints an obvious self-portrait
ultimatetruth:
I1 rompttout,percetout,et trouveenfinpassage.
Maisloinde monprojetje sensque je m'engage
Revenonsde ce pas a montexteegare.
(XI, 45-47)
Ironically it is from this short but powerful digression that the
satire's tourdeforceis executed. Boileau's personasuggeststhat he
alone is inspired by God and, therefore,has true honor, since
honor is withGod alone:
Et peut-estre
est-celuyqu m'a dicteces vers.
Mais en fust-il
l'Auteur,
je conclusde sa Fable;
Que ce n'estqu'en Dieu seulqu'estl'Honneurveritable.
(XI, 204-206)
SatireXII on l'Equivoque is the poetic culminationof Boileau's
Satiresin which the three mainstreamsof his philosophical,religious, and literarycriticismblend while a dynamicmetamorphosisof
the friendlyenemy Incarnate unfolds allegorically.Because of an
extensive system of poetization by concretization observable
throughoutthissatirein multipleformsof comparison,metaphor,
metonymy,personification,and allegory,the precise nature of the
Equivoqueis significantly
difficultto determinemuch less describe
objectively.Firstwe see l'Equivoqueas a mere word whose gender is
ambiguous:
Du langageFran~oisbizarreHermaphrodite,
De quel genrete faire,Equivoquemaudite?
Ou maudit:
(XII, 1-3)

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M L N

695

This ironic play on the distinctionbetween word and concept is

whatinitiallythrowsthe reader offguard especiallywhen the ensuing brutal name-callingappears grosslyoverstatedfor such a relativelyinsignificantlinguisticproblem:
. . . Sorsd'iciFourbeinsigne,
Male aussidangereuxque femellemaligne,
juste effroides Lecteurs;
Tourmentdes Ecrivains,
(XII, 5-8)
When l'Equivoqueis subsequentlyraised to the level of concept,the
reader is immediately reminded of its polysemic value which
Boileau, himself,suggested in his apologetic Discoursde l'Auteur:
... en attaquantl'Equivoque,je n'ai pas prisce motdans toutel'6tgrammaticale;
le motd'Equivoque,
roiterigueurde sa signification
ne voulantdirequ'une ambiguit6
de paroles,maisque
en ce sens-lA,
le commundes hommes,
je l'ai pris,commele prendordinairement
de sens,de pensees,d'expressions,
et
pourtoutessortesd'ambiguitez
enfinpourtousces abus et ces meprisesde l'esprithumainqui font
qu'il prendsouventune chosepour une autre.
(Disc.,A. p. 116)
Shunned initially as a suspicious friend of cold and dark
shadows, l'Equivoque is then invited as the heat-filleddemon of
mysteryand inspirationto accompany the poet in his last of twelve
satires:

va charmerde tesvainsagremens
Laisse-moi,
Les yeuxfauxet gatezde teslouches
amans,
Fui donc. Mais non demeure;un Demonquim'inspire
Veutqu'encoreune utileet derniereSatire,
tesnoirceurs,
De ces pas en monlivre,exprimant
Se vienneen nombrepair,joindrea ses Onze Soeurs
(XII, 11-20)
The problem here and throughoutthis satire on human error is
thatthe poet talksto and about theEquivoquesimultaneouslyin an
effectiveattempt to fathom its ambivalences. Thus the equation
between the Equivoque and the friendlyenemy is established only
never explicitly.Amidstthe poet's doubts as to the
metonymically,
purpose of thisfantasticand historicinquiry,the Equivoqueis subinto any formof poetic tricksequentlygeneralized metonymically
ery practicedby the frivolousbards of the earlier literaryfashion
Je feroismieux,j'entends,d'imiterBenserade.
miseen tonplusbeaujour,
C'estpar lui qu'autrefois,

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696

SUSAN W. TIEFENBRUN

Tu sus, trompantles yeux du peuple et de la Cour,

Leur faire a la faveurde tes bluettesfolles,

Goutercommebonsmotstesquolibetsfrivoles.
Mais ce n'est plus le temps ...

(XII, 30-35)

Magnifiedto the highestdegree of Evil incarnate,l'Equivoque,"sens

de travers"and "source de toute erreur,"is then traced historically
in a biblical context through its varied manifestationsas man's
pride, idolatry, superstition,and polytheism. Finally it is personified as the false god of fables, dreams and lies, reigningin a
worldwhere vice is reveredas virtueand where candor
topsy-turvy

is perceived as rudeness:

Bien-t6tte signalantpar mille faux miracles,

Ce futtoi qui par-toutfis parler les Oracles.
C'est par ton double sens, dans leurs discoursjete,
Qu'ils s~Qrenten mentantdire la verite,
(XII, 102-104)
While some vain hope prevailed during the period in which poets
expressed an optimistic cult of Reason, the satirist debunks this
myth with austere Jansenist scepticism in a provocative allusion to
Socrates, the archetypal philosopher-king:
Et Socrate, l'honneur de la profane Grece,
Qu'etoit-ilen effet,de pres examine,
Qu'un mortel,par lui-memeau seul mal entrainm;
Et malgre la vertu dont il faisoitparade,
Tres-equivoque ami du jeune Alcibiade?
(XII, 146-150)
The implicit reference to Jansenist philosophy automatically en-

genders itsopposition,the heresyofJesuitcasuistryand itsinimical

relaxed morality. The abhorrent total reversal of universal values is
expressed in gripping metaphors of the devil, a monster, and the

poisons of the plague:

Alors, pour seconder ta tristefrenesie,

Arriva de l'enferta fillel'Heresie.
Ce monstredes l'enfance a ton ecole instruit,
De tes le~ons bien-t6tte fitgouter le fruit.
Par lui l'erreur,toujours finementappretee,
Sortantpleine d'attraitsde sa bouche empestee,
De son mortelpoison tout courut s'abreuver,
Et l'Eglise elle-meme eut peine a s'en sauver.

(XII, 189-195)

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M L N

697

All the dynamicsof Pascal's Provincialesare re-enactedas the poet

transformsthe Equivoque into the preacher Lucifer,who disseminates wicked deceptions of probabilismand the vicious systemof
"attrition"by which fear alone, withoutthe love of God, can bring
false salvation:
tu posas l'6normefondement
Qu'aussi-t6t
De la plus dangereuseet terribleMorale,
assisdans la Chaireinfernale,
Que Lucifer,
sermons
contreDieu ses monstrueux
Vomissant

Aitjamais enseigneeaux NovicesDemons,

(XII, 274-276)
splitis establishedand the narrator's
As soon as theJansenist-Jesuit
particularallegiance confirmed,the experienced satiristanticipates
repercussions fromthose who, like himself,live in a reign where
Jansenismis dyingand Le Tellier has usurped the religiousthrone
fromthe now quiet Madame de Maintenon:
J'entendsdeja d'icitesDocteursfrenetiques
Hautementme compterau rangdes heretiques;
fourbe,imposteur,
M'appellerscelerat,traitre,
Froidplaisant,fauxboufon,vraicalomniateur,
copistemiserable,
De Pascal,de Wendrock,
Et, pour toutdireenfin,jansenisteexecrable,
(XII, 321-326)
The poem, whichmarksa triumphantfinaleto Boileau's literary
career, ends appropriatelyon an imperativenote of renunciation
fromSatire,thatfoul and friendlyenemy whose formalcontradicto the fatalEquivoque.And forthe pleasure
tionsallyit intrinsically
of his regeneratingpublic Boileau immortalizesthe poet's pathetic
sense of defiant purposelessness in the memorable creation of
these few sonorous and remarkablyclassical verses:
Concluons,l'hommeenfinperdittoutelumiere,
toutvoir,
Et par tesyeuxtrompeurs
se figurant
Ne vit,ne sat plusrien,ne pat plusriensavoir!
(XII, 138-140)
Columbia
University

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