Le Dauphin, La Carpe and Le Dromadaire from Le Bestiaire – Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) and Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918)

The composer of these songs was Francis Poulenc, a French composer and pianist who wrote lots of different types of music including solo piano works, operas, ballets, orchestral music and melodies, or French songs.

The poet was Guillaume Apollinaire who was known as one of the foremost French poets of the early 20th century and a surrealist, which you can really tell from these quirky little poems about different animals.

Le Dauphin (The Dolphin) – can you imagine the dolphins playing amongst the waves?

La Carpe (The Carp) – a pretty sleepy fish in this song…is the water clear or murky?

Le Dromadaire (The Dromedary Camel) – can you feel the camel rocking from side to side as it walks along in this song?