Ballade des dames du temps jadis


The "Ballade des dames du temps jadis" is a Middle French poem by François Villon that celebrates famous women in history and mythology, and a prominent example of the ubi sunt? genre. It is written in the fixed-form ballade format, and forms part of his collection Le Testament in which it is followed by the Ballade des seigneurs du temps jadis.
The section is simply labelled Ballade by Villon; the title des dames du temps jadis was added by Clément Marot in his 1533 edition of Villon's poems.

Translations and adaptations

Particularly famous is its interrogative refrain, Mais où sont les neiges d'antan?, an example of the ubi sunt motif, which was common in medieval poetry and particularly in Villon's ballads.
This was translated into English by Dante Gabriel Rossetti as "Where are the snows of yesteryear?", for which he popularized the word "yesteryear" to translate Villon's antan. The French word was used in its original sense of "last year", although both antan and the English yesteryear have now taken on a wider meaning of "years gone by". The phrase has also been translated as "But where are last year's snows?".
The ballade has been made into a song by French songwriter Georges Brassens, and by the Czech composer Petr Eben, in the cycle Šestero piesní milostných.

Text of the ballade, with literal translation

The text is from Clement Marot's Œuvres complètes de François Villon of 1533, in the Le Grand Testament pages 34 to 35.

Cultural references

The refrain Mais où sont les neiges d'antan? has been quoted or alluded to in numerous works.