SOURCE: “Love in Le Testament,” in Romance Notes, Vol. 24, No. 3, 1984, pp. 270-76.

In this essay, Storme argues that in avenging his own domination, Villon—as the narrator of Le Testament—victimizes the women he writes about, particularly in ballades such as “Les regrets de la belle Heaulmière” and “Ballade de la Grosse Margot.”

The strength of Villon's poetry comes not from conventional poetic forms or didacticism, but rather from the poet's presence in his art which engages him in a struggle to define and resolve his feelings about himself and his life. He reaches, however, neither definition nor resolution; the internal struggle remains and dominates, accounting for much of the poetry's dramatic tension. Villon is trapped in a never-ending dialectic between the poles of self-condemnation and self-justification. Not hesitating to pass negative judgment upon himself, he will freely admit to being a sinner: “Je suis pecheur, je...