CHANTECLER, shin-V.-Icier'. The most original play of Edmond Rostand, although by no means his best, is (Chantecler,' produced in 1910. The public, which had first been captivated by the dashing 'Cyrano de Bergerac,' and then charmed by the more ambitious (L'Aiglon,' had for a decade yearned for another piece from the poet's pen. When it came, after judicious heralding, it proved, to many, something of a disappointment. A tour de force, brilliant, witty and novel, it was nevertheless seen to stand apart from the main development of the modern drama. Rostand, as a romanticist, had sought to clothe with unconventional garb figures to be used in a satire. From his obser vation of barnyard animals he caught the notion of presenting contemporary society in hide and feathers. Accordingly, he offered a dramatic fable, its central theme the faith of Chantecler, the cock, in his mission as the bringer of the dawn. Chantecler believes that his joyous song directly evokes the sunrise. Great is his distress to find, when the envious Hen Pheasant has screened his eyes with her wing and made him forget his task, that the dawn has brightened without him, and that he and his work are of little moment in the scheme of creation. Yet he will leave the forest
whither the Hen Pheasant has beguiled him, and return to his barnyard to proclaim, though he cannot produce, the day. His companion, freshly enthralled by this evidence of his cour age in defeat, flies up to protect him by divert ing to herself the attention of a hunter, but, caught in a snare, she dies. Incidentally, the play laughs at the social climbers who attend the Guinea-Fowl's five o'clock tea, at the cynical Blackbird, the fancy cocks who are fops and faddists, and the spiteful birds of night. More sympathetic are the hero, Patou the dog, a good old idealist, and the Hen Pheasant, who rep resents woman the enchantress, piqued by man's devotion to his work, yet ready to lay down her life for him. The style of this fantasy is a marvelous mixture of poetry and slang, witty quips and smart local allusions jostling pas sages of lyrical beauty. No translator could hope to render its rich and poetic quality, al though the English versions of Gertrude Hall (1910) and J. S. Newberry (1911) are worthy attempts toward this end. M. F. Liberma has written a critical analysis of the play entitled 'The Story of Chantecler' (1910).