1844-1896.
The most striking and original figure among the poets of the latter
half of the century. In the irregularity of his life he might count
as a modern Rutebeuf or Villon. He certainly possessed a rich poetic
endowment, which only occasionally produced what it seemed capable
of. He began under the influence of the _Parnassiens_, but his most
characteristic work is as far removed as possible from the plastic
objectivity of that school. He pursues the expression of the most
elusive sensations, and is so little concerned about clear ideas and
precise forms and outlines that even grammatical coherence often
fails, and the mind gropes in a mist of unintelligibility--in which
direction, however, his disciples have gone very far beyond him. But
in the rendering of pure feeling and sensation, in direct emotional
appeal of tone and accent, he discovered powerful secrets for his
verse that others have not known. He seems now to have been one of the
original poetic forces of the century.
Works: _Poèmes saturniens_, 1866; _Fêtes galantes_, 1869; _la Bonne
Chanson_, 1870; _Romances sans paroles_, 1874; _Sagesse_, 1881; _Jadis
et naguère_, 1885; _Amour_, 1888; _Parallèlement_, 1889; _Bonheur_,
1891; _Chansons pour elle_, 1891; _Dans les limbes_, 1894; _Chair_,
1896; _Invectives_, 1896; selections from the volumes to and including
_Bonheur_ are given in _Choix de poésies_, 1891.
For reference: Ch. Morice, _Paul Verlaine, l'homme et l'oeuvre_; J.
Lemaître, in _Revue Bleue_, Jan. 7, 1888; F. Brunetière, _Évolution de
la poésie Iyrique_, vol. ii, 1894; A. Cohn, in _The Bookman_, vol. i,
with portraits.
28O. COLLOQUE SENTIMENTAL. From _Fêtes galantes_.
288. 1. The quotation is from Dante's _Purgatorio_, canto iii, 79-84.
ART POÉTIQUE. From _Jadis et naguère_.