Jules Laforgue Franco-Uruguayan poet
Laforgue was born in 1860 in Uruguay of French parents. He was greatly influenced by impressionism and his poetry has been described as part-symbolist part-impressionist. Renoir is said to have been influenced by him. His poem Aquarelle en cinq minutes printed here and in an English translation could easily be translated into impressionist art.
Aquarelle en cinq minutes
Oh ! oh ! le temps se gâte,
L’orage n’est pas loin,
Voilà que l’on se hâte
De rentrer les foins !…
L’abcès perce !
Vl’à l’averse !
O grabuges
Des déluges !….
Oh ! ces ribambelles
D’ombrelles !….
Oh ! cett’ Nature
En déconfiture ! ….
Sur ma fenêtre,
Un fuchsia
A l’air paria
Se sent renaître….
English translation
An aquarelle in five minutes
Storm is coming
Thunder clouds are looming
Here we are hastening
To collect the hay in
The boil is lanced
The downpour has commenced
The commotion
Of Inundation!
So many fellas
With umbrellas
Oh discomfiture
Of Nature
On my window
A fucked-up
Fuchsia
Begins to glow
