SOURCE: Tappan, Donald W. “Musset's Murderous Rose.” Romance Notes 15, no. 3 (spring 1974): 430-32.

In the following essay, Tappan explicates the thematic function of the rose in Musset's “La nuit de mai,” linking it with the poem's representation of fecundity and procreative union.

La rose, vierge encor, se referme jalouse Sur le frelon nacré qu'elle enivre en mourant. 

This image from the second speech of the Muse in the early lines of “La Nuit de mai” has been the subject of several explanatory footnotes by editors of texts destined for students. Most agree that it is the “frelon” who is dying. Steinhauer and Walter, for example, in their anthology translate the second line: “on the pearly drone which it intoxicates as he dies.”¹ French editors generally agree with the interpretation; Chassang and Senninger explain “en mourant” as “tandis qu'il meurt.”² Others justify it by attempting to explain away the “unusual...