Paul Verlaine - Poems by the Famous Poet - All Poetry

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Paul Verlaine

1844-1896  •  Ranked #102 in the top 500 poets

Paul Verlaine was born on March 30, 1844 and became one of the greatest and most popular of French poets. Born in Metz, he was educated in Paris and began a post in the civil service. He started writing poetry at an early age and his first collection, Poemes saturniens was published in 1867.

Verlaine's work reflected his private life beginning with his love for Mathilde Maute, who later became his wife. By 1872 he had lost interest in her, and effectively abandoned her and their son, preferring the company of his homosexual lover, Arthur Rimbaud. Verlaine was a heavy drinker, and shot Rimbaud in a jealous rage, injuring him not killing him. As an indirect result of the incident, he was arrested and imprisoned at Mons, where he underwent a religious conversion, which again influenced his work. Romances sans paroles was the poetic outcome of this period.

Following his release, Verlaine travelled to England, where he worked for some years as a teacher and worked on another successful collection, Sagesse. He returned to France in 1877, and, while teaching English at a school in Rethel, became infatuated with one of his pupils, Lucien Letinois, who inspired further poems. Verlaine was devastated when the boy died of typhoid fever.

Verlaine's last years witnessed a descent into alcoholism, insanity, and poverty. Yet even in his lifetime, his poetry was recognised as ground-breaking. Perhaps the best-known of Verlaine's poems is Chanson d'automne, largely thanks to its use as a code message for the Allies during the Second World War. Verlaine's poetry was also popular with musicians, such as Faure, who set several of his poems, including La bonne chanson.

Paul Verlaine died in 1896 and is buried in Paris.
Bibliography source: knowledgerush.com
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Clair De Lune

Your soul is as a moonlit landscape fair,
    Peopled with maskers delicate and dim,
That play on lutes and dance and have an air
    Of being sad in their fantastic trim.

The while they celebrate in minor strain
    Triumphant love, effective enterprise,
They have an air of knowing all is vain,—
    And through the quiet moonlight their songs rise,

The melancholy moonlight, sweet and lone,
    That makes to dream the birds upon the tree,
And in their polished basins of white stone
    The fountains tall to sob with ecstasy.

      ~~  ORIGINAL FRENCH  ~~

Votre âme est un paysage choisi
Que vont charmant masques et bergamasques
Jouant du luth et dansant et quasi
Tristes sous leurs déguisements fantasques.

Tout en chantant sur le mode mineur
L'amour vainqueur et la vie opportune
Ils n'ont pas l'air de croire à leur bonheur
Et leur chanson se mêle au clair de lune,

Au calme clair de lune triste et beau,
Qui fait rêver les oiseaux dans les arbres
Et sangloter d'extase les jets d'eau,
Les grands jets d'eau sveltes parmi les marbres.

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Analysis (ai): "Clair De Lune" presents a surreal and melancholic landscape within the psyche, populated by enigmatic figures engaged in a bittersweet celebration. The scene unfolds under the dreamy, ethereal light of the moon, which casts an air of both enchantment and sorrow. The poem conjures a sense of fading grandeur, as the masked revelers celebrate triumphs that seem ultimately futile.

Compared to Verlaine's other works, "Clair De Lune" is notable for its evocative imagery and dreamlike atmosphere. Its symbolist themes and use of musicality echo throughout his body of work, capturing the essence of the late 19th-century artistic movement. The poem's focus on the fleeting and elusive reflects the broader cultural climate of the period, marked by a sense of disillusionment and a search for meaning in a rapidly changing world.
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Il Pleure dans mon Coeur

He is crying in my heart

He is crying in my heart
As it rains over the town.
What is this languor
Who penetrates my heart?

Oh sweet sound of rain
Ground and on rooftops !
For a heart that is bored,
O the song of the rain!

He cries for no reason
In this disgusted heart.
What ! no treason ?
This mourning is without reason.

It's the worst pain
Of not knowing why,
Without love and without hate,
My heart hurts so much.

It Rains in My Heart

It rains in my heart
As it rains on the town,
What language so dark
That it soaks to my heart?

Oh sweet sound of the rain
On the earth and the roofs!
For the dull heart again,
Oh the song of the rain!

It rains for no reason
In this heart that lacks heart.
What? And our treason?
It's grievance without reason.

By far the worst bread,
Without hatred, or love,
Yet no way to explain
Why my heart feels such pain!

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Analysis (ai): This poem expresses deep anguish and inexplicable sorrow. The rain symbolizes the emotional downpour in the speaker's heart. Verlaine's use of repetition and parallel structure creates a sense of rhythm and incantation.

Compared to Verlaine's earlier works, this poem is more restrained and melancholy. It reflects the disillusionment and pessimism of the Symbolist movement, which emerged during the late 19th century. The poem's focus on inner states of being aligns with the Symbolists' exploration of the irrational and subjective.
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Autumn Song

With long sobs
the violin-throbs
of autumn wound
my heart with languorous
and montonous
sound.

Choking and pale
When I mind the tale
the hours keep,
my memory strays
down other days
and I weep;

and I let me go
where ill winds blow
now here, now there,
harried and sped,
even as a dead
leaf, anywhere.

FRENCH

Les sanglots longs
Des violons
De l'automne
Blessent mon cœur
D'une langueur
Monotone.

Tout suffocant
Et blême, quand
Sonne l'heure.
Je me souviens
Des jours anciens,
Et je pleure...

Et je m'en vais
Au vent mauvais
Qui m'emporte
De çà, de là,
Pareil à la
Feuille morte...
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Analysis (ai): This poem captures the melancholy and nostalgia associated with autumn. The long, mournful notes of a violin evoke a sense of sadness and yearning, reminiscent of the passing of time and the fading of summer. The speaker's memories of happier past days are juxtaposed with the present, creating a sense of loss and regret. The imagery of a leaf being carried away by the wind symbolizes the speaker's own sense of displacement and purposelessness. The poem's rhythm and rhyme scheme are subtle and hypnotic, reinforcing the theme of longing and sorrow. Compared to other works by the author, this poem displays a similar use of musical imagery and a focus on the ephemeral nature of life. It also reflects the disillusionment and pessimism prevalent during the period of Symbolism in French literature.
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