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Jean Racine - Esther
The number of syllables is of little account:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Des mortes douces | qui moururent là | quelque soir.
(H. de Régnier).
The hiatus is no longer tabooed, and lastly, not only the artificial rules of rhyme, but rhyme itself, is
being done away with: assonance may take its place. If the constitution of the French language did not
make it unlikely that these reforms should prove permanent, the vehicle of French poetic thought would
become mere harmonious prose.
APPENDIX II.
THE PAST TENSES IN FRENCH.
The English praeterite being the equivalent of three tenses in French, it is of the utmost importance that a
clear idea of the shades of meaning conveyed by the latter should be firmly possessed.
i.
WHENEVER REPETITION OF THE ACTION IS IMPLIED the IMPARFAIT is used.
The force, in English, is "used to . . .," "kept . . . - ing," etc.
E.g., Esth. l. 6: m'aidais à soupirer . . . "wast wont to sigh with me."
l. 83: . . . disais-je, . . . = "I would say"
ii.
WHEN NO REPETITION OF THE ACTION IS IMPLIED.
A. IF THE ACTION IS CONSIDERED AS BEING SIMPLY IN PROGRESS, WITHOUT
REFERENCE EITHER TO ITS BEGINNING OR TO ITS END, again the IMPARFAIT is used.
The force, in English, is "was . . . - ing."
E.g., l. 12: je vivais séparée = "I was living apart."
l. 58: . . . attendaient leur arrêt = "were awaiting their doom."
B. IF THE ACTION IS STATED WITH REFERENCE EITHER TO ITS BEGINNING, OR TO ITS
END, OR TO BOTH, the PASSÉ DÉFINI is used.
Thus a. Simple occurrence, which is the introduction of a new action now beginning to take
place, takes the passé défini.
E.g., l. 19: . . . ajouta-t-il, . . . = "he [then] added."
l. 26: . . . qui sauva nos aïeux = "which [once before] saved our forefathers."
l. 494.: il trembla pour sa vie = "he began to tremble for his life."
b. Continuous duration through a completed period of time which may be expressed or implied,
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