I don't speak French but have been given a poem to read by my English teacher. The poem is 'Rhapsody on a Windy Night' by T. S. Eliot, and it contains a line of French I need some help with.

The line is:

"Le lune ne garde aucune rancune."

I know from my notes what this means but not how to pronounce it!

Could anybody possibly transliterate the correct pronunciation for me?

Thanks.

Ulrich.

La lune...

all the u sounds are the pinched "u", which I was taught to say by saying eeeeeee and then pushing the lips forward into a Clara Bow bee-sting kiss (don't blame me for having camp teachers).

The e sounds on the end of words are barely voiced.

The Au in "aucune" is a short-ish "oh" sound. Virtually all vowel sounds in French are "pure", that is a single sound, where a lot of English vowels are actually two sounds pushed together.

The r should, ideally, be lightly rolled in the back of the throat, as in gargle, though not as aggressive a sound.

The "an" indicates a nasal sound- try saying something between "ah" and "aw" down your nose.

So a sort of transcription would be

la lewn ne gard o-kewn rah-kewn