In the Harbour: the Wine of Jurançon
from The French Of Charles Coran
In the Harbour: the Wine of Jurançon - meaning Summary
Memory Stirred by Wine
The poem recounts a return to a seaside inn where the speaker drinks Jurançon wine that recalls a youthful evening: the same host, the same song, the same bottle. Although the wine itself is unchanged, its taste has turned sour for the speaker. The sourness symbolizes lost gaiety and the passage of time—memory and nostalgia transform a familiar pleasure into evidence of personal change and the end of youthful joy.
Read Complete AnalysesLittle sweet wine of Jurançon, You are dear to my memory still! With mine host and his merry song, Under the rose-tree I drank my fill. Twenty years after, passing that way, Under the trellis I found again Mine host, still sitting there au frais, And singing still the same refrain. The Jurançon, so fresh and bold, Treats me as one it used to know; Souvenirs of the days of old Already from the bottle flow, With glass in hand our glances met; We pledge, we drink. How sour it is Never Argenteuil piquette Was to my palate sour as this! And yet the vintage was good, in sooth; The self-same juice, the self-same cask! It was you, O gayety of my youth, That failed in the autumnal flask!
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