You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
The unhappy ones seem to have affected the world most for both good and evil. Among these was Paul Verlaine, greatest of French poets, creator of some eighteen volumes of outstanding verse, pioneer of a new French school, and purveyor of delight, nostalgia, and pure joy to generations over the entire intellectual world.
Fortunately the best part of Verlaine remains his poetry. The man himself was a drunkard, libertine, homosexual, etc. Like most drunkards he loved company and was an interesting companion, as a list of his friends, including Victor Hugo, Anatole France, André Gide, Oscar Wilde, and their comments attest.
In his fiftieth year Verlaine wrote 'some notes' which his publisher converted into 'confessions' that cover only the first half of his life, and end where gossip, malicious or factual, has most to say. These first twenty-six years are described in a beautiful style, with enormous and intimate detail, wisdom and lively imagery such as only a fine poet can employ.
There is a noteworthy error in the Confessions. Mr. Martin L. Wolf, in his able preface, says that the poet married an eighteen-year-old girl. Verlaine says: 'My wife… [was] sixteen years old'. If Mr. Wolf is correct, then Verlaine confounded the age of his wife with that of his male paramour, Arthur Rimbaud, who was sixteen years old when he first burst upon the sensitive and defenseless Verlaine and came to live in his home.
Like all poets, the relationship of Verlaine to his poetry is very intimate. It is a catharsis of personal problems. A poem is not unlike a dream in its imagery, symbolism, condensation, substitution, and above all, unconscious motivation. The poet must concentrate