On Conquering the Empress

[Josephine_Guilbert]

I have had a few questions about my poem Conquering the Empress, so I wanted to kind of explain where this story comes from. The actuality may come as a surprise.

The characters in the story are Napoleon Bonaparte and his first Empress, Josephine de Beauharnais.

Someone asked me about whether I had been inspired by some painting. I have always liked this one:

http://www.dl.ket.org/webmuseum/wm/paint/auth/gros/arcole.jpg

(Now, this is a portrait of Napoleon at a much younger age than when he actually crowned himself Emperor, but for the sake of sexiness, I hope you can let this slide )

First time I saw that I was like WHOA...Napoleon is sexy! So images of that painting as well as Abel Gance's silent film "Napoleon" have turned Napoleon into a sort of sex symbol for me. Hence, this poem. I have written many about Napoleon, but I think this is my favorite.

Anyway, I hope that answers the questions!

 

[Eluard]

Thanks for the explanation: can you point us towards the poem, or copy it here.

 

[Anschul]

Thanks for the explanation: can you point us towards the poem, or copy it here.

Hey El, Anschul here. It occurred to me that Josephine is new here (only two posts on the board) and may not know how to post the link. Here it is, and it's really good. Enjoy.

Nice work, Josephine. Stick around and play with us.
Anschul

 

[Eluard]

Thanks for that.

 

[LeBroz]

I have had a few questions about my poem Conquering the Empress, so I wanted to kind of explain where this story comes from. The actuality may come as a surprise.

The characters in the story are Napoleon Bonaparte and his first Empress, Josephine de Beauharnais.

Someone asked me about whether I had been inspired by some painting. I have always liked this one:

http://www.dl.ket.org/webmuseum/wm/paint/auth/gros/arcole.jpg

(Now, this is a portrait of Napoleon at a much younger age than when he actually crowned himself Emperor, but for the sake of sexiness, I hope you can let this slide )

First time I saw that I was like WHOA...Napoleon is sexy! So images of that painting as well as Abel Gance's silent film "Napoleon" have turned Napoleon into a sort of sex symbol for me. Hence, this poem. I have written many about Napoleon, but I think this is my favorite.

Anyway, I hope that answers the questions!

Thanks for the explanation. It confirmed my initial gut reaction that your poem was of Josephine & Napoleon. That reference to the three syllable name is a huge hint.

.
.

 

[Josephine_Guilbert]

Another thing I'd like to mention is that in the first line I talk about a J.L. David...that is a reference to Jacques-Louis David. He is the most of Napoleon's portrait artists. He is best known for this:

http://www.jomo-news.co.jp/jigyo/napoleon/img/napoleon.jpg

and this:

http://www.patana.ac.th/Students/History/images/Napoleon_coronation.jpg

Incidentally the portrait that most inspired me to write about Napoleon was painted by a different artist by the name of Gros.

 

[Senna Jawa]

I have had a few questions about my poem Conquering the Empress [...]

This brings to my mind the story of Bonaparte & Walewska. Very romantic, dramatic, ... and nothing simplistic. After all it started with Bonaparte taking advantage of (today we would say - raping) a very young girl (but married to Walewski), when during their first meeting she lost conscious due to the weight of the historical moment. She had understood soon enough what had happened when she came back to senses and became alert again. This mix of ugliness and beauty, isn't it what Basho had in mind? It's also what makes a certain beautiful poem so great (unrelated otherwise to the topic at hand).