Saint-Amant and the Communication of Emotion: Moyse Sauvé
Christopher D. Rolfe
From Saint-Amant and the Theory of 'Ut Pictura Poesis' (1972), pp. 46-60, doi:10.59860/td.c2774d6
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| Part of the book: Saint-Amant and the Theory of 'Ut Pictura Poesis' Christopher D. Rolfe MHRA Texts and Dissertations 6 Modern Humanities Research Association Abstract. In Chapter 2 it was stated that Saint-Amant, wishing to give expression to the great joy experienced by the sister of Moses on seeing the baby safely delivered from a dangerous predicament, 'calls to the rescue' the famous French painter Poussin — a fact which, it was suggested, implies a tendency to think of emotion in visual terms. Several crucial questions arise from this statement. To begin with, one must ask whether Saint-Amant always attempts to express emotion visually. Or does he, on the other hand, ever turn to the other resources of poetry in order to communicate "il di dentro'? To what degree, indeed, does he succeed in portraying emotion at all? In approaching these problems we must think not only of the emotions of the various characters described within the story of Moses but also, and this is perhaps of more importance, of the emotion to be engendered in the reader, and of the poet's skill in doing this. Does he ever manage to move us? Clearly the tone of the poem will be an important factor here — to what extent does Saint-Amant's descriptive, visually evocative verse lend itself to the tone one would expect of a work which the poet calls an 'idyle heroïque'? Full text. This contribution is published as Open Access and can be downloaded as a PDF, or viewed as a PDF in your web browser, here: |