ABSTRACT
The ancestors of poetry and chanson are probably common ones, shrouded in the mists of time, before the emergence of a written literature. The mystery, the ritual element survived, however, in the cultural aura attributed to the magic written texts called poetry. The chanson tradition can then be seen to be a re-emergence in a modern urban milieu of the original oral form of poetry, with many of the same characteristics: rhyme, rhythm, dramatic presentation, stylised narration, and so on. The distinction is therefore a clear one: la chanson usually refers to dated creations with identified composers and lyricists; traditional, anonymous songs belong to la chanson folklorique. The distinction is also to some extent a problem of nomenclature: the terms chanson and even la chanson francaise are sometimes used to refer to the rich heritage of French folk-song.
