Provence

Provence is a geographical region and historical province of south-eastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the south. The largest city of the region and its modern-day capital is Marseille.

Quotes

• In fair Provence, the land of lute and rose...
  • Edmund Gosse, "Sestina", l. 1

• He play’d an ancient ditty, long since mute,
  In Provence call’d, ‘La belle dame sans mercy’.
  • John Keats, "The Eve of St. Agnes", st. 33

• Dance, and Provençal song, and sunburnt mirth!
  • John Keats, "Ode to a Nightingale", st. 2

• Ab l'alen tir vas me l'aire
  Qu'ieu sen venir de Proensa;
  Tot quant es de lai m'agensa,
  Si que, quan n'aug ben retraire,
  Ieu m'o escout en rizen
  E'n deman per un mot cen,
  Tan m'es bel quan n'aug ben dire.
  • I eagerly inhale the breeze
      From thee, sweet Provence, blowing;
    And all that's thine delights me so,
      Such pleasant thoughts bestowing,
    That if thy very name is named
      I listen joyously.
    And ask a hundred words for one—
      So sweet to hear of thee.
  • Peire Vidal, Ab l'alen tir vas me l'aire, st. 1 (tr. Edgar Taylor)

• Soft speech Provençal under the olives!
  Like a queen’s raiment from days long perish’d,
  Breathing aromas of old unremember’d
  Perfumes and shining in dust-cover’d places
  With sudden hints of forgotten splendour—
  So on the lips of the peasant his language,
  His only now, the tongue of the peasant.
  • Margaret Louisa Woods, "March Thoughts from England", st. 7