Cyrano de Bergerac

Much of the wordplay in Cyrano de Bergerac, a play in verse, relies on a deep understanding of poetry and poetics (the conventions and craft of writing poetry). Both the lead character of Cyrano and his good friend Ragueneau mention the Muse, with a capital letter. The Muse is a figure of inspiration that has been invoked by poets for centuries. Muses are usually female, and the term can refer to people who inspire poets; an ethereal figure (one without body or form); or divine figures, like the Greek goddesses. For instance, Cyrano invokes “the Muse” (25) when ordering the subpar actor Montfleury to stop his performance in the play La Clorise. An untalented actor or poet is an insult to the Muse. Ragueneau, a baker and a poet, says, “Veil, O Muse, thy virgin eyes / From the lewd gleam of these terrestrial fires” (59) while standing before his fireplace. This contrasts the virginal figure of poetic inspiration with the base nature of his work: cooking food in fires.

Cyrano and Ragueneau also mention the lyre, which is a Greek instrument that represents the art of poetry. Ragueneau’s apprentice creates a pastry in the shape of a lyre, “A lyre— [...] In puff-paste [...] And the jewels—candied fruit! [...] And the strings, barley-sugar” (59). This combination of food and poetry pleases Ragueneau, and he rewards the apprentice with money as well as his compliments. Cyrano, when distracting Guiche while Roxane and Christian marry, mentions the lyre in the constellations (called Lyra). Cyrano jokes that his “foot caught in the Lyre, and broke a string” (141). The lyre is an example of the link between poetry and song. Poetry was, at many points in history, set to music and sung. The composition of poetry is often compared to the composition of songs. Furthermore, the term lyric poetry—meaning poetry that does not tell a story, or short poems that focus on emotions and sensory experiences—comes from the Greek word lyre. Rostand’s verse play is a type of narrative poetry in that it conveys a plot, but it contains moments of lyric poetry.

Continuing on with the scene in Ragueneau’s bakery, The Bakery of the Poets, there are many examples of poetic terminology. There are “two sonnets” (70), a sonnet being a lyric poem of 14 lines usually following a specific rhyme scheme. Another poetic term that is about syllables is a “dactyl” (58), which is one long syllable followed by two short syllables. A different formal element is “An equal hemistich on either side, / And the caesura in between” (59), which describes two halves of a line (each considered one hemistich) divided by a caesura, or a break in the meter, meter being the regular flow of syllables. Also, an “ode of Chapelin” pastry (70) is mentioned, which is probably a reference to the French poet Jean Chapelain. Chapelain wrote an ode to Cardinal Richelieu, who is also mentioned in the play as Guiche’s uncle.

All these elements set up the importance of lyrical language to the society in which Cyrano lives and illustrate Cyrano as a skilled poet. Ultimately, the poetry in the play illustrates the underlying message that poetic skills demonstrate a strength of mind and character that is ingrained in a personality and is in contrast to the fleeting and temporary nature of physical beauty.