We decided it would be a good idea to let our students know about other important writers from the participant countries so we sent two texts with comprehension questions. And these are the extracts:
ROMANTIC TEXTS
SPAIN
TEXT 1
MAR I CEL by ANGEL GUIMERÀ (1888)
(Saïd is expressing his love to Blanca)
SAÏD: My lady! ……Blanca! Excuse me! I look up to you with admiration.
You are not from this world. No. You haven’t been born like other men do.
You come from other places where those dreams sweetened by childhood are born. When I see you, when I hear you! Just with the air you move when you walk past, all my life, all of me, my body , my soul awakens.
And I feel, shaking that I live and die at the same time.
And with joy and sorrow. With hopes and worries I search and breathe the air you have breathed in this very same air I choke and my soul rejoices.
And a powerful wave, like the one that tears rocks from the bottom of the sea to throw them against the sun, the moon and the stars.
A wave of blood, sighs and kisses. Of wild roarings and joyful clamors, of tears, complaints and harmonies that break my soul into pieces that jump to my lips and burst to tell you, oh , Blanca, that I love you. I love you more than your God loves his angels, more than Mahoma loves his Huris. More than those who have lived and will have to live in heavens and earths.
READING COMPREHENSION
Imagine a boy called William. William is on cloud nine and his friends notice that he is absent-minded. They suspect that he is in love. He is not hungry any more. He is feeling blue. His friends tell him he is an incurable romantic. How many times have you heard or said the word ‘romantic’ to refer to a certain act of love? Perhaps a lot of times.
Try to answer this questions about the meaning of this word:
a) What does ‘being romantic’ mean to you?
b) Now choose three things from the following that you consider to be ‘romantic’:
- One autumn evening as the sun goes down.
- The shades that a lit candle makes.
- A dinner with a beloved person.
- A walk in a forest.
- A secluded castle.
- A cycle ride in the woods.
- An argument with your parents.
- A fight with your best friend.
- The meaning of the word ‘freedom’.
- A ghost.
1.
2.
3.
c) Now write two situations that you consider romantic:
- ……………………………….
- ………………………………...
Mar i celis a romantic drama written in Catalan in 1888. Saïd, a Valencian Morisco (a ‘morisco’ is a Moorish converted to Christianity), who had been expelled from our territory in 1609, captures a boat. Blanca, a Christian lady, is travelling on it. They fall in love. But, when they see that their relationship is impossible, because of the religious intransigence, the two lovers prefer to die rather than live apart.
d) The words that Saïd utters express his love with intensity. In your opinion, which sentence expresses more intensity?
e) Have you heard the expression ‘terms of endearment’? Try to explain it.
f)Let's write some terms that show your affection to your boyfriend/ girlfriend, best friend, parents, brother or sisters. If you like, you could try to imitate the litterature style of Saïd.
g)Mar i cel has been adapted to theatre with big succes by a theatre company called Dagoll Dagom. Here you can see a video from this musical play:
TEXT 2
THE PROMISE fromLEYENDAS (Legends), Gustavo Adolfo Becquer (1858)
In the tent the Count of Gómara was sitting on a larch bench still, pale, terrible, his hands crossed on the hilt of the mullion and his eyes fixed in the air with the vagueness of someone who seems to stare at an object and, nevertheless, he sees nothing of whatever is around him.
On one side and standing the old squire of the house was talking. During those hours of black melancholy he and only he could have dared to interrupt him without fearing his outburst of rage.
Squire:
-What’s with you, sir? What ails you? You go to battle sad and sad you come back despite victory. When all the soldiers are asleep after an exhausting day, I hear you sighing in despair. And if I
run to your room, I see you fighting against something invisible that is really tormenting you. You open your eyes and yet, your fear does not disappear. What ails you, sir? What’s the matter with you? If it’s a secret, I’ll know how to keep it that way at the bottom of my memory like a tomb’’.
Count:
- I’ve suffered a lot in silence. I believed myself to be a simple toy of a vain fantasy. Up to now I’ve kept quiet out of shame. But no, it’s not an illusion what’s ailing me. I must be under the influence of some sort of terrible curse. Either heaven or hell must want something from me and they make me know it. Do you remember our siege against the moors of Nebrija in Triana? Believe me. It was not an illusion. I saw a hand holding my reins with a supernatural strength. It brought my horse to a halt and it turned it towards my soldiers. And in doing so, I was saved miraculously.
That night I got into my tent very worried. I tried in vain to forget that strange experience. But, when I was going to bed I saw that hand again. It was beautiful, white, almost pale and it drew the curtain and then it vanished.
Since then, I have seen it everywhere all the time. I’m seeing that mysterious hand preventing my wishes and getting ahead of my actions. I saw it when we took the castle of Triana by storm. I saw it catch and break an arrow that was meant to hurt me. At dinnertime, in the middle of the uproar and confusion while I am trying to drown my sorrows I have seen it pouring wine in my glass. It is always there in front of my eyes. Wherever I go it follows me. To the tent, the battlefield, at daytime, at night, right now. Look at it, look, it is right here resting softly on my shoulders’’. On hearing this the squire wiped a tear.
Reading comprehension:
1. Why did his oldest squire ask the Count what is disturbing him? How do you think he feels?
2. What was the supernatural fact that had happened in the siege of Nebrija in Triana?
3. In what occasions did the noble see the mysterious white hand?
4. Who do you think the hand belongs to? Why would he or she want to torture him? If the title of the legend is THE PROMISE, do you think the Count kept a promise he made?
5. If you feel really curious you can always have a look at the complete text of the legend. We invite you to listen to the whole legend here:
Just by looking at the pictures you can guess the story. We will give you a clue. Her name was MARGARITA.
Funny enough, look what we found while surfing the Internet. Here you can hear two opera singers interpreting a song featuring the legend when the promise was actually made:
ROMANTIC TEXTS
FRANCE
TEXT 1
Victor Hugo, Demain, dès l'aube
Demain, dès l'aube, à l'heure où blanchit la campagne,
Je partirai. Vois-tu, je sais que tu m'attends.
J'irai par la forêt, j'irai par la montagne.
Je ne puis demeurer loin de toi plus longtemps.
Je marcherai les yeux fixés sur mes pensées,
Sans rien voir au-dehors, sans entendre aucun bruit,
Seul, inconnu, le dos courbé, les mains croisées,
Triste, et le jour pour moi sera comme la nuit.
Je ne regarderai ni l'or du soir qui tombe,
Ni les voiles au loin descendant vers Harfleur,
Et, quand j'arriverai, je mettrai sur ta tombe
Un bouquet de houx vert et de bruyère en fleur.
Tomorrow, at dawn
Tomorrow at dawn, when the countryside whitens,
I will leave. You see, I know you are expecting me.
I will go through the forests, I will go by the mountain.
I cannot stay away from you any longer.
I will walk with my eyes fixed on my thoughts,
Not seeing anything outside, not hearing any noise,
Alone, unknown, back bent, hands crossed,
Sad, and the day for me will be like the night.
I will not look at the gold evening falling,
Nor at the far off boats sailing towards Harfleur,
And when I arrive, I will put on your grave
A bunch of green holly and heather in bloom.
Questions
Victor Hugo, "Demain dès l'aube ...", "Tomorrow, at dawn..."
1. a. A qui s'adresse l'auteur dans le texte ? To whom is the author addressing in the text ?
b. Pour quelle raison lui écrit-il ce poème ? Why did he write her this poem ?
2. a. Vers quel but Victor Hugo marche-t-il ? Where is Victor Hugo going ?
b. A quel moment le découvre-t-on dans le texte ? When do we find out ?
3.a. Quel est l'état d'esprit du poète ? What is the state of mind of the poet ?
b. Comment est-il révélé ? How is it revealed ?
c. Quels sont les registres littéraires du texte ? What are the registers of this text ?
4. Quel thème privilégié par les Romantiques reflète l'état d'âme du poète ? Which theme is prefered by Romantic writers to show the state of mind of the poet ?
TEXT 2
Alfred de Musset, La Confession d'un enfant du siècle, I, 1 et 2
Ayant été atteint, jeune encore, d’une maladie morale abominable, je raconte ce qui m’est arrivé pendant trois ans. Si j’étais seul malade, je n’en dirais rien; mais comme il y en a beaucoup d’autres que moi qui souffrent du même mal, j’écris pour ceux-là, sans trop savoir s’ils y feront attention; car dans le cas où personne n’y prendrait garde, j’aurai encore retiré ce fruit de mes paroles de m’être mieux guéri moi-même, et comme le renard pris au piège, j’aurai rongé mon pied captif. (...)
Trois éléments partageaient donc la vie qui s’offrait alors aux jeunes gens: derrière eux un passé à jamais détruit, s’agitant encore sur ses ruines, avec tous les fossiles des siècles de l’absolutisme; devant eux l’aurore d’un immense horizon, les premières clartés de l’avenir; et entre ces deux mondes… quelque chose de semblable à l’Océan qui sépare le vieux continent de la jeune Amérique, je ne sais quoi de vague et de flottant, une mer houleuse et pleine de naufrages, traversée de temps en temps par quelque blanche voile lointaine ou par quelque navire soufflant une lourde vapeur; le siècle présent, en un mot, qui sépare le passé de l’avenir, qui n’est ni l’un ni l’autre et qui ressemble à tous deux à la fois, et où l’on ne sait, à chaque pas qu’on fait, si l’on marche sur une semence ou sur un débris.
Voilà dans quel chaos il fallut choisir alors; voilà ce qui se présentait à des enfants pleins de force et d’audace, fils de l’Empire et petits-fils de la Révolution.
The Confession of a child of the century
Attacked in early youth by an abominable moral malady, I here narrate what happened to me during the space of three years. Were I the only victim of that disease, I would say nothing, but as many others suffer from the same evil, I write for them, although I am not sure that they will give heed to me. Should my warning be unheeded, I shall still have reaped the fruit of my agonizing in having cured myself, and, like the fox caught in a trap, shall have gnawed off my captive foot.
Three elements entered into the life which offered itself to these children: behind them a past forever destroyed, still quivering on its ruins with all the fossils of centuries of absolutism; before them the aurora of an immense horizon, the first gleams of the future; and between these two worlds—like the ocean which separates the Old World from the New—something vague and floating, a troubled sea filled with wreckage, traversed from time to time by some distant sail or some ship trailing thick clouds of smoke; the present, in a word, which separates the past from the future, which is neither the one nor the other, which resembles both, and where one can not know whether, at each step, one treads on living matter or on dead refuse.
It was in such chaos that choice had to be made; this was the aspect presented to children full of spirit and of audacity, sons of the Empire and grandsons of the Revolution.
Questions
Alfred de Musset, La Confession d'un enfant du siècle, The Confession of a child of the century
1. a. Paragraphe 1, quelles sont les raisons d'écrire invoquées par le narrateur ?
In the first paragraph, what are the reasons to write mentioned by the narrator ?
b. Ligne 2, Quels sont les événements historiques français en lien avec la souffrance morale du narrateur ? Line 2, what are the French historical events related to the moral suffering of the narrator ?
2. a. Paragraphe 2, ligne 7, quels sont les "Trois éléments" analysés par le romancier et quel est leur lien avec le romantisme français ? In the second paragraph, line six, what are the "Three elements" analysed by the novelist and what is the link with French romanticism ?
b. Paragraphe 2, quelles images propose-t-il pour illustrer et justifier ces "Trois éléments" ?
In the second paragraph, what imagery is used to illustrate and justify these "Three elements" ?
3. a. Lignes 7 et 16, comment sont désignés les personnages qui composent la génération romantique ? Lines 6 and 14, how are the characters that make up the romantic generation refered to ?
b. Expliquez le choix du titre, La Confession d'un enfant du siècle, pour ce roman autobiographique. Explain the choice of title, The Confession of a child of the century, for this autobiographic novel.
c. Qu'est-ce que le "mal du siècle" selon Musset ? According Musset, what is the "disease of the century" ?
ROMANTIC TEXTS
POLAND
TEXT 1
NIEPEWNOŚĆ ( original version in Polish) Adam Mickiewicz
Gdy cię nie widzę, nie wzdycham, nie płaczę,
Nie tracę zmysłów, kiedy cię zobaczę;
Jednakże gdy cię długo nie oglądam,
Czegoś mi braknie, kogoś widzieć żądam;
I tęskniąc sobie zadaję pytanie:
Czy to jest przyjaźń? czy to jest kochanie?
Gdy z oczu znikniesz, nie mogę ni razu
W myśli twojego odnowić obrazu?
Jednakże nieraz czuję mimo chęci,
Że on jest zawsze blisko mej pamięci.
I znowu sobie powtarzam pytanie:
Czy to jest przyjaźń? czy to jest kochanie?
Cierpiałem nieraz, nie myślałem wcale,
Abym przed tobą szedł wylewać żale;
Idąc bez celu, nie pilnując drogi,
Sam nie pojmuję, jak w twe zajdę progi;
I wchodząc sobie zadaję pytanie;
Co tu mię wiodło? przyjaźń czy kochanie?
Dla twego zdrowia życia bym nie skąpił,
Po twą spokojność do piekieł bym zstąpił;
Choć śmiałej żądzy nie ma w sercu mojem,
Bym był dla ciebie zdrowiem i pokojem.
I znowu sobie powtarzam pytanie:
Czy to jest przyjaźń? czy to jest kochanie?
Kiedy położysz rękę na me dłonie,
Luba mię jakaś spokojność owionie,
Zda się, że lekkim snem zakończę życie;
Lecz mnie przebudza żywsze serca bicie,
Które mi głośno zadaje pytanie:
Czy to jest przyjaźń? czyli też kochanie?
Kiedym dla ciebie tę piosenkę składał,
Wieszczy duch mymi ustami nie władał;
Pełen zdziwienia, sam się nie postrzegłem,
Skąd wziąłem myśli, jak na rymy wbiegłem;
I zapisałem na końcu pytanie:
Co mię natchnęło? przyjaźń czy kochanie?
Uncertainty
by Adam Mickiewicz (interpretation from the internet)
While I don't see you, I don't shed a tear
I never lose my senses when you're near,
But, with our meetings few and far between
There's something missing, waiting to be seen.
Is there a name for what I'm thinking of?
Are we just friends? Or should I call this love?
As soon as we have said our last good-byes,
Your image never floats before my eyes;
But more than once, when you have been long gone,
I seemed to feel your presence linger on.
I wonder then what I've been thinking of.
Are we just friends? Or should I call this love?
When I'm downcast, I never seek relief
By pouring out my heart in tales of grief;
Yet, as I wander aimlessly, once more
I somehow end up knocking at your door;
What brought me here? What am I thinking of?
Are we just friends? Or should I call this love?
I'd give my life to keep you sound and well,
To make you smile, I would descend to hell;
But though I'd climb the mountains, swim the seas
I do not look to be your health and peace:
Again I ask, what am I thinking of?
Are we just friends? or should I call this love?
And when you place your hand upon my palm,
I am enveloped in a blissful calm,
Prefiguring some final, gentle rest;
But still my heart beats loudly in my breast
As if to ask: what are you thinking of?
Are you two friends? or will you call this love?
Not bardic spirit seized my mortal tongue
When I thought of you and composed this song;
But still, I can't help wondering sometimes:
Where did these notions come from, and these rhymes?
In heaven's name, what I was dreaming of?
And what had inspired me? Friendship or love?
THE DOUBT (our students interpretation)
When I don't see you, I don't sigh, don't cry,
when I see you, I don't lose my mind;
However, when I don't see you for a long time.
Something is missing, someone to see I demand;
And I ask myself a question while longing:
Is it a friendship? Or is it loving?
When you disappear out of my sight,
I can't renew your image in my mind.
However, sometimes I feel, though desire,
That he is always close to my memory.
And again myself the question I repeat:
Is it a friendship? Or loving indeed?
I suffered many times, I wasn't thinking at all,
To pour out sorrows going your sight before;
Walking aimlessly, do not guarding the road,
I do not understand how into your doorsteps I will go;
And I ask myself the question while walking;
What led me here? A friendship or loving?
I wouldn't skimp my life for your health,
For your calmness into hell I would descend;
Although there is no bold lust in my heart,
I would be for you peace and health.
And again myself the question I repeat:
Is it a friendship? Or loving is it?
When you put your hand on my hands,
Will cover me beloved calmness,
It seems to have a light sleep I'll conclude life;
But livelier heartbeat wakes me up,
Which asks me a question loudly :
Is it a friendship? Or loving probably?
When I composed for you this song
Prophetic spirit hadn't ruled my tongue;
Full of wonder, I hadn't seeing
How to rhyme had ran, what I got thinking,
And I wrote the question, where the end was going:
What inspired me? A friendship or loving?
Questions to the poem "Uncertainty" by Adam Mickiewicz
1. What do you think about the person who's speaking in a poem - is that love or friendship? Why do you think that?
2. Select a pasrt of the text that could be the motto for a letter written by a person who feels longing. Write a letter, in which you confess your true feelings.