Cyrano
Verbose, long-nosed suitor
Cyrano refers to someone who woos on another's behalf, from the protagonist of Edmond Rostand's 1897 play *Cyrano de Bergerac*—a brilliant swordsman and poet with an enormous nose who ghostwrites love letters for a handsome but inarticulate friend courting the woman Cyrano himself loves.
A Cyrano supplies the words another lacks: He played Cyrano, texting her on his friend's behalf.
French town, Dordogne region
- panacheFlamboyant confidence of manner
- playRecreation or staged drama
- dramaTheatrical art or turmoil
- tragedyDisastrous or sorrowful event
verse · French · romantic · hero · protagonist · 17th-century · Roxane · Christian
Not returned in kind
- loveIntense fond attachment
- longingIntense, persistent desire
- devotionDeep, loyal commitment
- ghostwritingWriting anonymously for others
proxy · letters · confession · sacrifice · selfless · hidden · passion · courtship
Elongated animal head appendage
- prominentEasily noticed or distinguished
- largeOf great size
- distinctiveReadily identifiable, set apart
- profileSide-facing outline
appendage · snout · beak · schnoz · feature · facial · protuberance · caricature
Student of fundamental questions
- libertineOne lacking moral restraint
- freethinkerRejects doctrine for reason
- satiristOne who mocks through wit
- writerCreator of texts
astronomer · moon · voyage · sun · utopia · science-fiction · pioneer · Molière
Bergerac
French town, Dordogne region
tragedy · verse · French · romantic · hero · protagonist · 17th-century · Roxane · Christian · balcony
unrequited
Not returned in kind
ghostwriting · proxy · letters · confession · sacrifice · selfless · hidden · passion · courtship · wooing
proboscis
Elongated animal head appendage
- prominentEasily noticed or distinguished
- largeOf great size
- distinctiveReadily identifiable, set apart
profile · appendage · snout · beak · schnoz · feature · facial · protuberance · caricature · self-deprecating
philosopher
Student of fundamental questions
- libertineOne lacking moral restraint
- freethinkerRejects doctrine for reason
- satiristOne who mocks through wit
writer · astronomer · moon · voyage · sun · utopia · science-fiction · pioneer · Molière · plagiarism
dueling
Formal armed combat
cadet · musketeer · bravado · combat · challenger · honor · skill · flourish · thrust · parry
- Romantic FiguresRomeo, Juliet, Casanova, Don Juan, Cleopatra
- French CharactersJean Valjean, Cosette, Javert, Athos, Porthos
- French TheatreRacine, Voltaire, Tartuffe, Ionesco, Rhinoceros
- literary loversRomeo, Juliet, Romeo and Juliet, Lancelot and Guinevere, Heathcliff
- Stage CharactersHamlet, Ophelia, Romeo, Juliet, Macbeth
- Nose LiteraturePinocchio
CyranoChristian
Adherent of the gospel
Adonis · pretty face · Apollo · matinee idol · Prince Charming