Les fleurs boréales : les oiseaux de neige – poésies canadiennes by Louis Fréchette

Collection Spotlight

Les fleurs boréales : les oiseaux de neige – poésies canadiennes by Louis Fréchette

Le givre étincelant, sur les carreaux gelés,  
Dessine des milliers d’arabesques informes;  
Le fleuve roule au loin ses banquises énormes;  
De fauves tourbillons passent échevelés.

        Excerpt from “Décembre,” in Les fleurs boréales : les oiseaux de neige – poésies canadiennes, 1881 (page 173) 

Louis Fréchette was a poet, journalist and lawyer, as well as a member of the Canadian House of Commons from 1874 to 1878. Considered to be among Quebec’s great literary figures of the 19th century, he authored several works of prose and poetry. The first edition of his collection of poetry, Les fleurs boréales : Les oiseaux de neige [Northern flowers: The snowbirds], was published in Quebec in 1879.

This poetry collection illustrates a writing style that showcases the author’s environment. Fréchette majestically describes the landscapes of Canada’s regions as they change with the seasons. He also pays tribute to Canada’s natural wonders, exploring themes related to fauna, flora and climate. His enthusiasm for Canada’s rural areas and its regions is reflected in the titles of his poems, such as “Jolliet,” “La forêt canadienne,” “Décembre” and “Le Niagara.”

In 1880, Fréchette was the first Canadian to be awarded the prestigious Montyon Prize from the Académie française for his poetry collection, along with 2,500 francs. The following year, his collection was published for the first time in France.

Details

  • Interestingly, Victor Hugo, a 19th-century French poet and writer, was Fréchette’s idol. According to scholars, Hugo’s influence is undeniable in Fréchette’s texts, especially in his use of similes and alexandrine verse.
  • The Library of Parliament has two copies of this poetry collection. The oldest is a copy of the French edition, published by E. Rouveyre and Em. Terquem in Paris, in 1881. The other is a copy of the third edition, published by C. O. Beauchemin in Montréal, in 1886.
  • The binding of both copies was replaced, likely in the 1960s–1970s. The 1881 edition has 264 pages and has a half-leather binding measuring 18 cm high by 12.6 cm wide by 2.4 cm thick. The 1886 edition, which has a machine-sewn binding, has 278 pages and measures 17.7 cm high by 11.5 cm wide by 2.9 cm thick.

 

A sheet of buffered paper separates the Louis Fréchette portrait engraving on the left and the title page of the on the right.

To prevent colour and acid transfer, a sheet of buffered paper separates the Louis Fréchette portrait engraving on the left and the title page of the 1881 French edition on the right.

The poem “La forêt Canadienne”

The poem “La forêt Canadienne” describes Canada in the fall.

Black and white decorative headers at the beginning of a poem

The 1886 edition of the poetry collection has elegant decorative headers at the beginning of each poem.