Cyrano de Bergerac (Renauld translation)

About

This is Charles Renauld's translation of Rostand's beloved 1897 verse play, one of several English versions produced in the early twentieth century as the play's enormous popularity generated demand for a multiplicity of readings. Each translator brought different emphases to the poetry and the comic scenes; Renauld's version is among the more lyrical of the early English renderings. The play itself — the story of the poet-swordsman Cyrano, who loves Roxane but believes himself too ugly to declare it — has never left the repertoire and remains one of the most beloved plays of the French tradition.