Reinventing Romantic Poetry : Russian Women Poets of the Mid-nineteenth Century

which the priests at Chinon question Joan and suggest she be subjected

to trial by ordeal may be viewed as a displacement of her torture and

death.

In comparison to these epics, mock epics, and plays, Pavlova’s

“Jeanne d’Arc” is much more modest in scope: a poem of seventeen

stanzas with no nationalistic stance. It could be argued, however, that

Pavlova’s depiction of Joan is the most powerful and intense of all. The

poem consists of three sections, each showing Joan at a decisive point

of her career. In the first section of seven stanzas Pavlova portrays Joan

listening to her voices. While in Southey’s work the voices that Joan

hears belong to Saint Agnes and in Schiller’s to the Virgin Mary, in

Pavlova’s poem they belong to the Holy Spirit (“l’Esprit”), depicted as

male, merciless, and even sadistic:

Son implacable voix qui lui parle à l’oreille;

[...............]

Malheur à toi! Malheur, ô jeune condamnée!

[...............]

Le souffle du très-haut a rempli sa victime

h

(His implacable voice, which speaks in her ear;

[................]

Misfortune to you! Misfortune young convict!

[................]

The breath from on high has filled its victim)

Pavlova’s description of Joan’s interaction with the spirit suggests re-

peated rape or forced marriage:

Elle doit revenir demain, comme aujourd’hui,

Subir en frissonnant son approache fatale,

Durant toute la nuit rester, muette et pâle,

Face à face avec lui.

h

(She must return tomorrow, as she did today,

To submit, trembling, to his inevitable approach,

Throughout the entire night remain mute and pale,

Face to face with him.)

In Pavlova’s version the spirit takes away Joan’s humanity:

Elle doit [.. .]

Ignorer toute joie et tout amour humain,

[..............]

152 Karolina Pavlova