Traditional French song, anonymous, from Le Manuscript de Bayeux, XV^th century. English translation, Arnold vander Nat © 2007, all rights reserved.

The original song has the five verses listed here, although it is often pre­sented with only the first three verses. There seem not be be any good translations of the song, even in its shortened form, save this one. The present trans­lation, for the most part, preserves not only the meaning of the words, the meter, and the rhyme, but also the song's original beauty. There are some notes on this translation at the end of this webpage.

The composition has five parts, one for each verse. The scores for verses 1, 3 and 5 are the same, consisting of four staffs, the first and the fourth being the same: I, II, III, I. The scores for verses 2 and 4 comprise staff II, staff III varied, and both repeated: II, III*, II, III*:

verse 1	verse 2	verse 3	verse 4	verse 5
I, II, III, I,	II, III*, II, III*,	I, II, III, I,	II, III*, II, III*,	I, II, III, I

Comments on the proper translation of the poem L'Amour De Moy
by Arnold vander Nat, 2-2007

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An interesting question arises about the identity of the nightingale that is mentioned in verse 3 of this poem:

If there is any doubt about who the beloved person inside the garden is, verses 4 and 5 make it clear that it is a woman, perhaps young, since she is directly referred to by the feminine pronouns "la" and "elle", and she is described as "the most beautiful one that ever I saw". Verse 3 introduces a night­in­gale that sings at night till morning, and "quand il est las, il se repose". This phrase is worded with the masculine pronoun and literally says, "when he is tired, he rests himself".

But why is there a verse in this poem devoted to a male night­in­gale, when the poem is about a beloved young woman? Here one might suppose that the night­in­gale comes to the garden in order to sing for the enjoyment of the young woman, or perhaps for the enjoyment of both lovers. One might even try to suppose that the night­in­gale is a metaphor for the young man whose beloved is enclosed in the garden. He spends the night in the garden with the young woman and takes his pleasure there, as verse 2 literally says, "there one takes one's pleasure, as much the night as the day". It is also true that only the males of the night­in­gales have the ability to sing their song.

But remember that French nouns, unlike English nouns, have a grammati­cal gender, masculine or feminine, and pronouns take their gram­matical form from the grammatical gender of the noun they refer to. Since "rossi­gnolet" is a masculine noun, the modifying adjective is the masculine "doux", and the referring pronoun is the masculine "il". It is a grammatical error to refer to "rossignolet" by the feminine pronoun "elle". What this means is that although in French the masculine pronoun "he" must be used for the masculine noun "night­ingale", in English, any of three pro­nouns, "he", "she", and "it", can be used to translate the phrase in question, and one is allowed to say, "when she is tired, she rests herself".

How, then, are we to decide what the poem means? Verse 3 introduces the night­in­gale in a special way, inviting a query:


Why does it say here, "que de ce doux rossignolet" ("as that of this sweet night­in­gale"), rather than, "que de un doux rossignolet" ("as that of a sweet night­in­gale")? What can the young man mean by the word "this"? The young man is the one reciting the poem, and it is difficult to suppose that he is saying that he himself is "this sweet night­ingale". The young man refers directly to himself throughout the poem, and the idea that he is

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a meta­phorical night­in­gale makes no sense at all. Perhaps, then, one should say that the phrase "this sweet night­in­gale" refers to a night­in­gale, albeit in a general way that emphasizes the night­in­gale's qualities. On this view, the function of verse 3 is merely to further develop the imagery of the poem: verse 3 thus adds a bird to the flowers that already fill the garden. Admittedly, one does expect a garden to have both flowers and birds. But yet, this night­in­gale is not just an added bird. This night­in­gale has center stage; it is the highlight of the poem. An entire verse is devoted to it, and in it the young man makes an astounding claim: "il n'est si douce chose que de ce doux rossi­gnolet": there is no sound so sweet as that of this sweet night­in­gale. But how can that be true? Would not the voice of the young woman herself be infinitely more sweet to the young man than the voice of some bird? Can we suppose that the young man would inter­rupt his ardent hymn of devotion in order to praise some bird we do not know, with words he does not mean, to improve the imagery? This is most implausible.

There is, of course, another, better, explanation. The opening words of the poem introduce the young woman; she is the young man's one true love. Only she has been mentioned, and only she can be "this sweet night­in­gale". It is she who, in this metaphor, sings the sweetest of all songs, throughout the night. It is she of whom it is said, "and when she tires, she rests in sleep". This is a pleasing metaphor. It not only expresses the young man's ardent love but also greatly adds to the imagery of the poem.

When one sees that the sweet night­in­gale is the young woman, another question presents itself in a way that it did not before. Why does verse 3 begin with the word "Hélas"? Alas! This is a word that introduces sorrow and regret. Is the young man grieving? Why?

This is a poem of yearning. The young man is lovesick, and he ardently desires to be with his beloved, from whom he is at present separated. In her absence, the young man thinks about her garden, how lovely it is, and about his beloved, how she is the sweetest and most gentle person that he has ever known, how she loves to pick the flowers, how much he loves her, the way she looks, her touch, her lips.

But maybe, this is a poem of lamentation. A time came when the young man's infatuation became the deepest grief, because he was forever seperated from his beloved. Her garden is small, and filled with the flowers she loved. The sweetest of night­in­gales rests here. He remembers how she loved to pick the flowers, and how much he loved her. He remem­bers the last time he was with her, the way she looked, her touch, her lips.

Every line of the poem takes on a new meaning.