Verlaine, PAUL

Verlaine, PAUL, French poet, was born at Metz, 30th March 1844, and chose French nationality in 1873. He began his course with Poèmes saturniens (1865), Les Fêtes galantes (1869), and La bonne Chanson (1870). Then followed a dozen years of silence, of Bohemianism, of the hospitals, and of Villon-like adventures, round which legends enough have already clustered. His next work, Sagesse (1881), breathed penitence and devotion in verse of singular sweetness, which Jules Lenain makes bold to compare with the Imitation itself. Les Poètes Maudits (1884), a volume of literary criticism, was followed by Jadis et Naguère (1885), Romances sans Paroles (1887), Amour (1888), Bonheur (1889), and Parallèlement (1890), the last a strange collection, the poet singing alternately perverse sin and religious repentance. As a perfect mirror of human impressions Verlaine's lyrics are unequalled in modern France, and many show a marvellous mastery over novel forms of rhythm. Dedicacées dates from 1894; and Confessions: Notes Autobiographiques, from 1895. Verlaine died 8th January 1896.