Frédéric Mistral | Page 6

from the official list of the founders of the Félibrige,
and replaced by that of Jean Brunet. Mistral, in the sixth canto of
_Mirèio_, addresses in eloquent verse his comrades in the Provençal
Pléiade, and there we still find the name of Garcin.

Tù' nfin, de quau un vènt de flamo
Ventoulo, emporto e fouito l'amo

Garcin, o fiéu ardènt dóu manescau d'Alen!
(And finally, thou whose soul is stirred and swept and whipped by a
wind of flame, Garcin, ardent son of the smith of Alleins.)
This attack upon the Félibrige was the first of the kind ever made.
Many years later, Garcin became reconciled to his former friends and
in 1897 he was vice-president of the _Félibrige de Paris_.
The number seven and the task undertaken by these poets and literary
reformers remind us instantly of the Pléiade, whose work in the
sixteenth century in attempting to perfect the French language was of a
very similar character. It is certain, however, that the seven poets who
inaugurated their work at the Château of Font-Ségugne, had no thought
of imitating the Pléiade either in the choice of the number seven or in
the reformation they were about to undertake.
They began their propaganda by founding an annual publication called
the _Armana Prouvençau_, which has appeared regularly since 1855,
and many of their writings were first printed in this official magazine.
Of the seven, Aubanel alone besides Mistral has attained celebrity as a
poet, and these two with Roumanille have been usually associated in
the minds of all who have followed the movement with interest as its
three leaders.
Mistral completed _Mirèio_ in 1859. The poem was presented by
Adolphe Dumas and Jean Reboul to Lamartine, who devoted to it one
of the "Entretiens" of his _Cours familier de littérature_. This article of
Lamartine, and his personal efforts on behalf of Mistral, contributed
greatly to the success of the poem. Lamartine wrote among other things:
"A great epic poet is born! A true Homeric poet in our own time; a poet,
born like the men of Deucalion, from a stone on the Crau, a primitive
poet in our decadent age; a Greek poet at Avignon; a poet who has
created a language out of a dialect, as Petrarch created Italian; one who,
out of a vulgar patois, has made a language full of imagery and
harmony delighting the imagination and the ear.... We might say that,

during the night, an island of the Archipelago, a floating Delos, has
parted from its group of Greek or Ionian islands and come silently to
join the mainland of sweet-scented Provence, bringing along one of the
divine singers of the family of the Melesigenes."
Mistral went to Paris, where for a time he was the lion of the literary
world. The French Academy crowned his poem, and Gounod composed
the opera Mireille, which was performed for the first time in 1864, in
Paris.
The poet did not remain long in the capital. He doubtless realized that
he was not destined to join the galaxy of Parisian writers, and it is
certain that if he had remained there his life and his influence would
have been utterly different. He returned home and immediately set to
work upon a second epic; in another seven years he completed
Calendau, published in Avignon in 1866. The success of this poem was
decidedly less than that of _Mirèio_.
During these years he published many of the shorter poems that
appeared in one volume in 1875, under the title of Lis Isclo d'Or (The
Golden Islands). Meanwhile the idea of the Félibrige made great
progress. The language of the Félibres had now a fixed orthography
and definite grammatical form. The appearance of a master-work had
given a wonderful impulse. The exuberance of the southern
temperament responded quickly to the call for a manifestation of
patriotic enthusiasm. The Catalan poets joined their brothers beyond
the Pyrenees. The Floral games were founded. The Félibrige passed
westward beyond the Rhone and found adherents in all south France.
The centenary of Petrarch celebrated at Avignon in 1874 tended to
emphasize the importance and the glory of the new literature.
The definite organization of the Félibrige into a great society with its
hierarchy of officers took place in 1876, with Mistral as _Capoulié_
(Chief or President). In this same year also the poet married Mdlle.
Marie Rivière of Dijon, and this lady, who was named first Queen of
the Félibrige by Albert de Quintana of Catalonia, the poet-laureate of
the year 1878 at the great Floral Games held in Montpellier, has
become at heart and in speech a Provençale.

A third poem, Nerto, appeared in 1884, and showed the poet in a new
light; his admirers now compared him to Ariosto. This same year he
made a second journey to