by Carl Halling

Created on: September 21, 2011

Verses for Tragic Lovers Adolphe and Ellénore

Ellénore initially resists Adolphe’s advances

But after a great deal of persuasion,

Agrees to see him on a regular basis,

And soon falls in love.

We know little of the physical appearance

Of Adolphe, but in all probability

He possesses the youthfully seductive charm

Of Romantic heroes,

Werther, René and Julien Sorel.

Ellénore initially resists Adolphe’s advances

But after a great deal of persuasion,

Agrees to see him on a regular basis,

And soon falls in love.

Adolphe is preoccupied with himself

In the classic manner

Of the contemplative, melancholy,

Faintly yearning, hypersensitive,

Isolated, perceptive Romantic hero.

Ellénore initially resists Adolphe’s advances

But after a great deal of persuasion,

Agrees to see him on a regular basis,

And soon falls in love.

Perhaps he is somebody who believes

That self-interest is the foundation

Of all morality, but then, he announces:

“While I was only interested in myself,

I was but feebly interested for all that.”

Ellénore initially resists Adolphe’s advances

But after a great deal of persuasion,

Agrees to see him on a regular basis,

And soon falls in love.

There is much genuine goodness

In Adolphe,

But much of it is subconscious,

Surfacing only

At the sight of obvious grief.

Ellénore initially resists Adolphe’s advances

But after a great deal of persuasion,

Agrees to see him on a regular basis,

And soon falls in love.

The cause of this inability to feel

Spontaneously, is very probably the result

Of the complex interaction

Between a hypersensitive nature

And a brilliant if indecisive mind.

Ellénore initially resists Adolphe’s advances

But after a great deal of persuasion,

Agrees to see him on a regular basis,

And soon falls in love. 

By reflecting on his surroundings

To an exaggerated degree,

Adolphe feels a sort of numbness,

A premature world-weariness…

Lucid thoughts and intense emotions confused. 

Ellénore initially resists Adolphe’s advances

But after a great deal of persuasion,

Agrees to see him on a regular basis,

And soon falls in love.

Afterword:

'Verses for Tragic Lovers

Adolphe and Ellénore'

Is based on an essay I wrote

Around 1983

For a former mentor at university,

Who sadly died in 2008,

And who features

As Dr Elizabeth Lang

In various autobiographical

Writings of mine.

It concerns the protagonist

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