Ballade des dames du temps jadis

The Ballade des dames du temps jadis ("Ballad of the Ladies of Times Past") is a poem by François Villon which celebrates famous women in history and mythology, and a prominent example of the Ubi Sunt ? genre. It forms part of his larger work, the Grand Testament.

The section is simply labelled Ballade by Villon; the title des dames du temps jadis was added by Clément Marot in his 1533 edition of Villon's poems.

Translations and adaptations

Particularly famous is its interrogative refrain, Mais où sont les neiges d'antan? This was translated into English by Rossetti as "Where are the snows of yesteryear?", for which he coined the new word yesteryear to translate Villon's antan. The French word was used in its original sense of "last year", although both antan and the English yesteryear have now taken on a wider meaning of "years gone by".

The refrain is taken up in the bitter and ironic Berthold Brecht/Kurt Weill "Nannas Lied", expressing the short-term memory without regrets of a hard-bitten prostitute, in the refrain

Wo sind die Tränen von gestern abend?
Wo ist der Schnee vom vergangenen Jahr?

Where are the tears of yesterday evening?
Where is the snow of yesteryear?

The ballad has been made into a song (using the original Middle French text) by French songwriter Georges Brassens, and by the Czech composer Petr Eben, in the cycle Sestero piesní milostnych (1951).

In history

During World War Two, a regular feature of English radio was the broadcast of coded messages. By far the most famous of such messages was the line "where are the snows of yesteryear?" This was broadcast shortly before the D Day landing to inform the French resistance that the invasion was immanent.

In popular culture

• The poem was alluded to in Joseph Heller's novel, Catch-22, when Yossarian asks "Where are the Snowdens of yesteryear?" in both French and English
• The text "Ou sont les neiges" is used as a screen projection in the first scene of Tennessee Williams's play "The Glass Menagerie."
• "And like the snows of yesteryear, gone from this earth" is used by Lt. Archie Hicox in Quentin Tarantino's film Inglourious Basterds to describe the intended effects of a plot to assassinate the Nazi leadership.
• The poem appears in season two, episode three of Mad Men - the character Don sits in an almost empty cinema, watching a French film (identity unknown) in which a female narrator reads the poem over a series of stills.
• In chapter five of D.H. Lawrence's book Lady Chatterly's Lover Clifford Chatterly asks, "Where are the snows of yesteryear?...It's what endures through one's life that matters." Here he is referring to the short-lived sexual affairs that his wife, Lady Chatterly, has had with other men. He is suggesting that these affairs, like the snows of yesteryear, are ephemeral and once gone leave nothing tangible behind.
• In Act Two, scene II of the play Blithe Spirit by Noël Coward, Madame Arcati quotes the line, Où sont les neiges d'antan? as she waxes nostalgic about the good old days of "genuine religious belief" when "a drop of holy water could send even a poltergeist scampering for cover."
• In the graphical novel The Crow by James O'Barr the quote "ou' sont les neiges d'antan" appears in the second chapter.
• The phrase "Where are the snows of yesteryear?" is included in Act II of the Broadway musical, I Do! I Do!, in a song entitled "Where Are the Snows?" It is a duet sung by the leading characters, Michael and Agnes. (Book and Lyrics by Tom Jones. Music by Harvey Schmidt. Copyright 1966, 1968)
• In chapter 13 of Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums, the quote "où sont les neiges d'antan?" is referenced by Alvah.
• During the Season 2 Christmas special of Downton Abbey, the Dowager Countess (Maggie Smith) quotes, "Où sont les neiges d'antan" while reminiscing with her son about old acquaintances.
• In HBO's Boardwalk Empire (episode 6 of season 3) prosecuting attorney Esther Randolph quotes, "Where are the snows of yesteryear" in response to Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson's assertion that his days as County Treasurer of Atlantic City are past.

Text of the Ballad

The original text is mostly taken from Oxford Book of French Verse. The translation is deliberately close to the original.

Dictes moy où, n'en quel pays,			Tell me where, in which country
Est Flora, la belle Romaine;			Is Flora, the beautiful Roman;
Archipiada, ne Thaïs,			Archipiada (Alcibiades ?), and Thaïs
Qui fut sa cousine germaine;			Who was her first cousin;
Echo, parlant quand bruyt on Maine			Echo, speaking when one makes noise
Dessus rivière ou sus estan,			Over river or on pond,
Qui beaulté ot trop plus qu'humaine?			Who had a beauty too much more than human?
Mais où sont les neiges d'antan!			Oh, where are the snows of yesteryear!
Où est la très sage Helloïs,			Where is the very wise Heloise,
Pour qui fut chastré et puis moyne			For whom was castrated, and then (made) a monk,
Pierre Esbaillart à Saint-Denis?			Pierre Esbaillart (Abelard) in Saint-Denis ?
Pour son amour ot cest essoyne.			For his love he suffered this sentence.
Semblablement, où est la royne			Similarly, where is the Queen (Marguerite de Bourgogne)
Qui commanda que Buridan			Who ordered that Buridan
Fust gecté en ung sac en Saine?			Be thrown in a sack into the Seine?
Mais où sont les neiges d'antan!			Oh, where are the snows of yesteryear!
La royne Blanche comme lis,			The queen Blanche (white) as a lily (Blanche de Castille)
Qui chantoit à voix de seraine;			Who sang with a Siren's voice;
Berte au grant pié, Bietris, Allis;			Bertha of the Big Foot, Beatrix, Aelis;
Haremburgis qui tint le Maine,			Erembourge who ruled over the Maine,
Et Jehanne, la bonne Lorraine,			And Joan (Joan of Arc), the good (woman from) Lorraine
Qu'Englois brulerent à Rouan;			Whom the English burned in Rouen;
Où sont elles, Vierge souvraine?			Where are they, oh sovereign Virgin?
Mais où sont les neiges d'antan!			Oh, where are the snows of yesteryear!
Prince, n'enquerez de sepmaine			Prince, do not ask me in the whole week
Où elles sont, ne de cest an,			Where they are - neither in this whole year,
Qu'à ce reffrain ne vous remaine:			Lest I bring you back to this refrain:
Mais où sont les neiges d'antan!			Oh, where are the snows of yesteryear!

External links

• Another verse-translation of the poem, along with a modern adaptation