Manuscript Animals

This section gathers some of the animal-related poems associated with Scudéry, known also as ‘Sapho’, and her circle which were circulated in manuscript form. The poems selected for translation here are those which connect most clearly with the published text on chameleons (either because they feature chameleons; or are mentioned in the Chameleons text; or are by the same authors). They are: three chameleon poems; three poems about Sapho’s hen-pigeon (two of which are attributed to ‘Acante’, a pseudonym for Scudéry’s friend, Paul Pellisson); and one of the many poems featuring Sapho’s fauvette or warbler. My selection also includes a longer ‘Story of Turtledoves’ which features further pigeon poems and stages an exchange between Scudéry and Madame de Platbuisson, author of one of the published chameleon poems. The majority of these manuscript poems date from the mid-1660s. Across all these poems, fidelity and friendship emerge as common themes. These poems are contained in two manuscripts: the chameleons, pigeons and turtledoves are in the MS ‘Conrart’ (BnF 5420.1 and 5420.2) and the warblers in the MS ‘Tallemant des Réaux’ (Bibliothèque de La Rochelle, MS Tallemant des Réaux 673, fol. 241; and reprinted in Le Manuscrit 673 de Tallemant des Réaux, ed. by Vincenette Maigne (Klincksieck, 1994), pp. 622–23). These poems give us a sense of the place of animals in the literary exchange and play of Scudéry and her circle.