Jessie Redmon Fauset's 'La Vie C'est La Vie': A Study in Irony and Unrequited Love

About the Author

To understand this poem, it is helpful to look first at its author. Jessie Redmon Fauset was born in New Jersey in 1882 and educated at Cornell University, where she earned a degree in classical languages, followed by graduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania and the Sorbonne in Paris. From 1919 to 1926, Fauset served as the literary editor of 'The Crisis', the official publication of the NAACP. In that role, she became known as a central guiding force of the Harlem Renaissance. Langston Hughes famously referred to her as one of the key 'midwives' of the movement, acknowledging her work in discovering, editing, and championing young Black writers like Hughes himself, Countee Cullen, Jean Toomer, and Claude McKay.

In addition to editing and writing four novels, Fauset was an accomplished poet. In July 1922, she published 'La Vie C'est La Vie' in 'The Crisis'. That same year, James Weldon Johnson included it in his landmark anthology, 'The Book of American Negro Poetry'. The title is French for 'That's Life'—a phrase that carries a sense of weary acceptance. Yet, as the poem reveals, that worldly shrug masks a profound emotional sting.

The Poem

Here is the poem in its entirety:

On summer afternoons I sit
Quiescent by you in the park
And idly watch the sunbeams gild
And tint the ash-trees' bark.

Or else I watch the squirrels frisk
And chaffer in the grassy lane;
And all the while I mark your voice
Breaking with love and pain.

I know a woman who would give
Her chance of heaven to take my place;
To see the love-light in your eyes,
The love-glow on your face!

And there's a man whose lightest word
Can set my chilly blood afire;
Fulfillment of his least behest
Defines my life's desire.

But he will none of me, nor I
Of you. Nor you of her. 'Tis said
The world is full of jests like these.—
I wish that I were dead.

Literary Analysis

At first glance, 'La Vie C'est La Vie' opens as a serene, traditional nature poem. The speaker sits quietly on a warm summer afternoon, watching light filter through the trees and squirrels playing in the grass. Her choice of the word 'quiescent' is deliberate. It suggests stillness, passivity, and an outward composure.

However, this peaceful outdoor setting immediately contrasts with human distress. Beside the speaker sits a companion whose voice is 'breaking with love and pain'. He is pouring out his romantic feelings for her, but she remains emotionally detached, idly observing nature while he suffers.

As the poem moves into its third and fourth stanzas, Fauset constructs a intricate chain of unrequited desire. The speaker reveals that another woman envies her position, willing to trade 'her chance of heaven' just to be sitting in the park receiving this man's adoration. But the speaker cannot return his affection because her heart belongs elsewhere—to a different man whose lightest word sets her 'chilly blood afire'.

This leads to the poem's climax in the final stanza, where Fauset maps out the complete romantic geometric puzzle:

'But he will none of me, nor I / Of you. Nor you of her.'

It is a tragic sequence of unreciprocated love. Person A loves Person B, Person B loves Person C, and Person C loves Person D, with none of them receiving the affection they desire.

The speaker attempts to brush off this agonizing reality with a conventional platitude: ''Tis said / The world is full of jests like these'. This echoes the title's resigned shrug: 'c'est la vie'—that's life. But the final line shatters that stoic facade. Following an abrupt dash, the poet delivers a blunt, unvarnished confession: '— I wish that I were dead.'

Technically, Fauset crafts the poem using five standard four-line stanzas with an ABCB rhyme scheme. The steady rhythm and accessible ballad meter create a pleasant, lyrical cadence. This musical quality makes the sudden emotional drop in the final line all the more jarring. The polished, rhythmic surface acts as a veil, concealing raw heartbreak until the speaker can no longer hold it back.

Historical Context

Historically, 'La Vie C'est La Vie' reflects the literary philosophy of Fauset and several of her contemporaries during the 1920s. Writers like Fauset and Countee Cullen frequently utilized classic, highly structured European poetic forms to express complex, universal human experiences. By applying precise technique to timeless themes of longing and irony, Fauset demonstrated her formal skill while capturing an intimate, enduring picture of emotional anguish.

Through its subtle imagery, deceptive composure, and sharp final turn, 'La Vie C'est La Vie' remains a striking example of Jessie Redmon Fauset's literary craft. Thank you for listening.