| Summary: | <p>This study aims to produce a positive assessment of the <em>Franciade</em>, by viewing Ronsard's epic venture in the context of works by Ronsard himself and by poets such as Baïf and Belleau. The com- positions considered extract single episodes from an epic whole, and are united by their structural and rhetorical techniques, forming a group dominated by the <em>Franciade</em>.</p> <p>The first chapter examines the question of genre raised by the fragments, and reviews classical models utilized by the French poets, placing particular emphasis upon the Alexandrians. It re- veals how the sixteenth-century poets long to produce a full-scale epic .</p> <p>Chapter 2 groups the fragments according to theme, highlighting Argonautic poems, notably Ronsard's <em>Hymne de Calais, et de Zetes</em>, <em>Hymne de Pollux et de Castor</em>, and <em>Hylas</em>.</p> <p>Chapter 3 examines the structure of the fragments in terms of contraction and expansion. Some poets circumscribe their material with a prelude and conclusion; others extend its temporal and spatial perspectives, by such means as retrospection, prophecy, and descriptions of ornate objects.</p> <p>The rhetoric of the fragments is seen in Chapter 4 to reflect the expansive urge: simile, circumlocution, and preterition all widen the poetic vistas.</p> <p>Chapter 5 studies Ronsard's approach to the problem of inven- ting an original framework for his epic, how he tries to lend it coherence by structural and rhetorical means. Yet the techniques Ronsard practised in the fragments finally prevail: the <em>Franciade</em> breaks up into a series of vivid miniatures: Ronsard repeatedly returns to material made familiar by classical epics.</p> <p>The conclusion emphasizes that the 'accidental' fragmentation of the <em>Franciade</em> should be viewed alongside the voluntary frag- mentation of the sixteenth-century heroic miniatures. The <em>Franciade</em> should, especially, be considered in conjunction with other Ron- sardian productions, such as the Argonautic hymns. Together with these, it forms an intricate fretwork of epic motifs.</p>
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