Sainte-Beuve,in criticising Jasmin's poems,says that "It was in 1835that his talent raised itself to the eminence of writing one of his purest compositions--natural,touching and disinterested--his Blind Girl of Castel-Cuille,in which he makes us assist in a fete,amidst the joys of the villagers;and at the grief of a young girl,a fiancee whom a severe attack of smallpox had deprived of her eyesight,and whom her betrothed lover had abandoned to marry another.
"The grief of the poor abandoned girl,her changes of colour,her attitude,her conversation,her projects--the whole surrounded by the freshness of spring and the laughing brightness of the season--exhibits a character of nature and of truth which very few poets have been able to attain.
One is quite surprised,on reading this simple picture,to be involuntarily carried back to the most expressive poems of the ancient Greeks--to Theocritus for example--for the Marguerite of Jasmin may be compared with the Simetha of the Greek poet.This is true poetry,rich from the same sources,and gilded with the same imagery.In his new compositions Jasmin has followed his own bias;this man,who had few books,but meditated deeply in his heart and his love of nature;and he followed the way of true art with secret and persevering labour in what appeared to him the most eloquent,easy,and happy manner.
"His language,"Sainte-Beuve continues,"is always the most natural,faithful,transparent,truthful,eloquent,and sober;never forget this last characteristic.He is never more happy than when he finds that he can borrow from an artizan or labourer one of those words which are worth ten of others.It is thus that his genius has refined during the years preceding the time in which he produced his greatest works.It is thus that he has become the poet of the people,writing in the popular patois,and for public solemnities,which remind one of those of the Middle Ages and of Greece;thus he finds himself to be,in short,more than any of our contemporaries,of the School of Horace,of Theocritus,or of Gray,and all the brilliant geniuses who have endeavoured by study to bring each of their works to perfection."[5]
The Blind Girl was the most remarkable work that Jasmin had up to this time composed.There is no country where an author is so popular,when he is once known,as in France.When Jasmin's poem was published he became,by universal consent,the Poet Laureate of the South.Yet some of the local journals of Bordeaux made light of his appearance in that city for the purpose of reciting his as yet unknown poem."That a barber and hairdresser of Agen,"they said,"speaking and writing in a vulgar tongue,should attempt to amuse or enlighten the intelligent people of Bordeaux,seemed to them beneath contempt."But Jasmin soon showed them that genius is of no rank or condition of life;and their views shortly underwent a sudden change.His very appearance in the city was a triumph.Crowds resorted to the large hall,in which he was to recite his new poem of the Blind Girl of Castel-Cuille.The prefect,the mayor,the members of the Academy,and the most cultivated people of the city were present,and received him with applause.
There might have been some misgivings as to the success of the poem,but from the moment that he appeared on the platform and began his recitation,every doubt disappeared.He read the poem with marvellous eloquence;while his artistic figure,his mobile countenance,his dark-brown eyebrows,which he raised or lowered at will,his expressive gesticulation,and his passionate acting,added greatly to the effect of his recital,and soon won every heart.When he came to the refrain,"The paths with buds and blossoms strew,"he no longer declaimed,but sang after the manner of the peasants in their popular chaunt.His eyes became suffused with tears,and those who listened to the patois,even though they only imperfectly understood it,partook of the impression,and wept also.
He was alike tender and impressive throughout the piece,especially at the death of the blind girl;and when he had ended,a storm of applause burst from the audience.There was a clapping of hands and a thunderous stamping of feet that shook the building almost to its foundations.
It was a remarkable spectacle,that a humble working man,comparatively uneducated,should have evoked the tumultuous applause of a brilliant assembly of intelligent ladies and gentlemen.It was indeed something extraordinary.Some said that he declaimed like Talma or Rachel,nor was there any note of dissonance in his reception.The enthusiasm was general and unanimous amongst the magistrates,clergy,scientific men,artists,physicians,ship-owners,men of business,and working people.They all joined in the applause when Jasmin had concluded his recitation.
From this time forward Jasmin was one of the most popular men at Bordeaux.He was entertained at a series of fetes.He was invited to soirees by the prefect,by the archbishop,by the various social circles,as well as by the workmen's associations.
They vied with each other for the honour of entertaining him.
He went from matinees to soirees,and in ten days he appeared at thirty-four different entertainments.
At length he became thoroughly tired and exhausted by this enormous fete-ing.He longed to be away and at home with his wife and children.He took leave of his friends and admirers with emotion,and,notwithstanding the praises and acclamations he had received at Bordeaux,he quietly turned to pursue his humble occupation at Agen.