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Paul Verlaine (1844–1896)

Author of Poèmes saturniens

363+ Works 3,003 Members 35 Reviews 20 Favorited

About the Author

The dissolute, erratic leader of the decadents and one of the early symbolists, Verlaine wrote 18 volumes of verse in alternating moods of sensuality and mysticism. He and the Poet Rimbaud, 10 years younger, wandered throughout Europe together, until their relationship ended when Verlaine shot his show more companion in Brussels in 1873 and was imprisoned for two years. Sagesse (1881), his collection of religious poems of great melodic and emotional beauty, is generally considered his finest volume. In his famous poem Art Poetique, Verlaine stressed the primary importance of musicality in poetry over description. Mallarme called the collection in which it appears, Jadis et Naguere (1884), "almost continuously a masterpiece . . . disturbing as a demon's work," and described Verlaine's skill as that of a guitarist. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Wikipédia France

Series

Works by Paul Verlaine

Poèmes saturniens (1866) 202 copies, 8 reviews
Selected Poems (1961) 199 copies
Women and Men: Erotica (1972) — Author — 162 copies, 1 review
Poemes Saturniens/Fetes Galantes (1866) 156 copies, 1 review
Poems (1984) 134 copies, 2 reviews
The Cursed Poets (1980) 118 copies, 2 reviews
Fêtes galantes (1973) 92 copies, 1 review
Verlaine : Oeuvres poétiques complètes (1938) — Author — 88 copies, 2 reviews
Romances sans paroles (1976) 70 copies
La Bonne Chanson Romances Sans Paroles Sagesse (French Edition) (1963) — Author — 68 copies, 1 review
Choix de poésies (1906) — Author — 44 copies
Feste galanti (1973) — Author — 44 copies, 1 review
Confessions of a poet (1977) 37 copies
Obra completa en poesía (1994) 35 copies, 2 reviews
Selected Poems (1977) 33 copies
Royal Tastes (1984) 32 copies
A Lover's Cock and Other Gay Poems (1979) 26 copies, 1 review
Sagesse (2000) 25 copies
La bonne chanson (1979) 24 copies
Sagesse Amour Bonheur (1975) 20 copies
Twee weken Holland (1893) 20 copies
21 variations on a theme (1953) — Contributor — 20 copies
Antologia Poetica (1963) 17 copies
Oeuvres poétiques (1993) 17 copies
Verlaine : Oeuvres en prose complètes (1972) — Author — 16 copies, 1 review
Poems of Paul Verlaine (2012) 13 copies
Parallelement Invectives (1959) 12 copies
In gevangenschap (2003) 12 copies
Verlaine: Poems (1961) 12 copies
Hombres (2005) 12 copies
Chansons pour elle (1984) 12 copies
Femmes e Hombres 12 copies
Jadis et naguère (2009) 10 copies
Poesie e prose (1992) 9 copies
Femmes (2007) 9 copies
Odes en son honneur (2010) 9 copies
Parallèlement (1993) 8 copies
Sånger utan ord (2016) 8 copies
Poesie erotiche 7 copies
A Voz dos Botequins e Outros Poemas (2008) 7 copies, 1 review
Un concert d'enfers: vies et poésies (2017) — Author — 7 copies
Mes hôpitaux (2003) 7 copies
Poesías (1986) 6 copies
Songs without Words (2013) 6 copies
Poésies (2001) 6 copies
Paul Verlaine versei (1979) 6 copies
Slova na strunách (1998) 6 copies
Poèmes de Verlaine en bandes dessinées (2003) 5 copies, 1 review
Les mémoires d'un veuf (1989) 5 copies
Oeuvres Poetiques* (2003) 5 copies
Romances sans paroles (1874) 5 copies
Bonheur 5 copies
Sagesse (2006) 5 copies
Oeuvres poetiques (1996) — Author — 5 copies
Album zutique, suivi de Dixains réalistes (2016) — Author — 4 copies
Poemes (1992) 4 copies
Romances sans paroles (1989) 4 copies
Recueils de jeunesse (2018) — Author — 4 copies
Hashish and incense 4 copies, 1 review
Parallèlement (2001) 3 copies
Poesie d'amore (2006) 3 copies
POEMAS (2008) 3 copies
Liturgies intimes (2001) 3 copies
My Hospitals & My Prisons (2020) 3 copies
Poèmes 3 copies
Écrits sur Rimbaud (2019) 3 copies
Volmaakt moment (2022) 3 copies
Hombres de mi tiempo (1901) 3 copies
Paul Verlaine versei (1974) 3 copies
Le Verlaine (1999) 3 copies, 1 review
Saggezza 2 copies
Cellulely (2020) 2 copies
Oeuvres poétiques (1984) 2 copies
Mes prisons (2013) 2 copies
Poems of Paul Verlaine (2014) 2 copies
Quinze jours en Hollande (2018) 2 copies
Œuvres complètes (2) (2025) 2 copies
Poesie d'amore (2015) 2 copies
Paul Verlaine un poète (2007) 2 copies
Amour 2 copies
Verlaine 2 copies
poesies 1866-1874 (1993) 2 copies
Œuvres complètes. I (2025) 2 copies
Moonlight (2005) 2 copies
叡智 (新潮文庫) (1959) 2 copies
Poemes (1987) 2 copies
Œuvres érotiques (1979) 2 copies
Mon premier Verlaine (2000) 2 copies
Poemes (2012) 2 copies
ANTOLOGIA POETICA (2013) 2 copies
De fr̲dm̲da poeterna (2019) 1 copy
Má vězení 1 copy
Élégies 1 copy
poemes 1 copy
Poésies (1866-1880) (1887) 1 copy
Poemas 1 copy
Confesiones 1 copy
Poesie (1981) 1 copy
Elegje 1 copy
Versuri 1 copy
From the nineties (1982) 1 copy
Lovers and Women (1991) 1 copy
Poezje (1980) 1 copy
Forty Poems (1948) 1 copy
Sagesse Amour (1937) 1 copy
Nők (1983) 1 copy
Poems of Paul Verlaine (2015) 1 copy
Selected Poems (1964) — Author — 1 copy
Poesía completa (1994) 1 copy
Dans les limbes (2001) 1 copy
Jadis et naguère (2013) 1 copy
Sagesse (2013) 1 copy
Some Poems of Verlaine (1972) 1 copy
O lásce (2002) 1 copy
After Three Years {poem} 1 copy, 1 review
Poesias (español) (1950) 1 copy
Miseria nera (2017) 1 copy
Honderd gedichten (2014) 1 copy
SAGEZA (1995) 1 copy
Verlaine, Seurat (2000) 1 copy
Oeuvres Poetiques (1993) 1 copy
Poésies 1 copy
Poesías completas (2001) 1 copy
Poèmes choisis (1969) 1 copy
POÈMES SATURNIENS 1 copy, 1 review
Vers 1 copy

Associated Works

World Poetry: An Anthology of Verse from Antiquity to Our Time (1998) — Contributor — 496 copies, 2 reviews
The Penguin Book of Homosexual Verse (1983) — Contributor — 256 copies, 3 reviews
Poésies (1982) — Cover artist, some editions — 209 copies, 3 reviews
Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Verlaine: Selected Verse and Prose Poems (2000) — Contributor — 198 copies, 2 reviews
Herfstlied (2009) 183 copies, 12 reviews
The Columbia Anthology of Gay Literature (1998) — Contributor — 171 copies
The Dedalus Book of Decadence (1990) — Contributor — 107 copies, 2 reviews
Queer: A Collection of LGBTQ Writing from Ancient Times to Yesterday (2021) — Contributor, some editions — 64 copies

Tagged

Common Knowledge

Canonical name
Verlaine, Paul
Legal name
Verlaine, Paul-Marie
Birthdate
1844-03-30
Date of death
1896-01-08
Gender
male
Education
Lycée Condorcet
Occupations
poet
Organizations
Parnasse Contemporain
Awards and honors
Prince des poètes (1894-1896)
Relationships
Rimbaud, Arthur (lover)
Short biography
Verlaine was one of the leading French 19th century Symbolist poets, along with Mallarmé, Rimbaud, and Paul Valéry.
Cause of death
Pneumonie aiguë (+ Diabète, Alcoolisme, Ulcère, Syphilis
Nationality
France
Birthplace
Metz, France
Places of residence
Metz, France (birth)
Paris, Île-de-France, France
Place of death
Paris, Île-de-France, France
Burial location
Cimetière des Batignolles, Paris, Île-de-France, France
Associated Place (for map)
Paris, Île-de-France, France

Members

Reviews

42 reviews
Mulher e gata

Ela brincava com a gata,
Que maravilha era se olhar
A mão branca e abranca pata
Na sombra da noite a dançar.

Ela ocultava - que bandida! -
Nas mitenes de negra malha
As unhas de ágata assassinas,
Claras e afiadas tal navalha.

A outra se fazia sonsa
Mantendo a aguda garra esconsa
Mas o demônio tudo via...

E, nesse quarto, onde sonoro
Seu riso tão leve tinia,
Fosforeciam quatro pontos.
Reading behind fabric of these poems, finding lavish synthonies with Saturnine fates, it appears that Verlaine, clearly inspired, was - like most poets that are not magicians - artfully plotting the unsaid, the invisible, the undone in a masterful fashion. What appears to the senses and becomes apparent, profane, or 'touched by human hand' may only be vulgarized, or becomes the subject of philosophy - rarely poetry, unless someone encodes the apparent in reverse to make it concealed for show more others to discover pure meanings. Alike to spiritual alchymy, it is either reverse-concealed, clear and true, or otherwise it is mere charlatanry. Clearly, muses of mother Rhea were at work and di manes (holy dead) that touched the poets heart, soul and mind. Highly commendable to anyone who is willing to breathe this thick eroticism of melancholic death in-between being a prisoner of passing dusks and dawns. show less
Reading behind fabric of these poems, finding lavish synthonies with Saturnine fates, it appears that Verlaine, clearly inspired, was - like most poets that are not magicians - artfully plotting the unsaid, the invisible, the undone in a masterful fashion. What appears to the senses and becomes apparent, profane, or 'touched by human hand' may only be vulgarized, or becomes the subject of philosophy - rarely poetry, unless someone encodes the apparent in reverse to make it concealed for show more others to discover pure meanings. Alike to spiritual alchymy, it is either reverse-concealed, clear and true, or otherwise it is mere charlatanry. Clearly, muses of mother Rhea were at work and di manes (holy dead) that touched the poets heart, soul and mind. Highly commendable to anyone who is willing to breathe this thick eroticism of melancholic death in-between being a prisoner of passing dusks and dawns. show less
Reading behind fabric of these poems, finding lavish synthonies with Saturnine fates, it appears that Verlaine, clearly inspired, was - like most poets that are not magicians - artfully plotting the unsaid, the invisible, the undone in a masterful fashion. What appears to the senses and becomes apparent, profane, or 'touched by human hand' may only be vulgarized, or becomes the subject of philosophy - rarely poetry, unless someone encodes the apparent in reverse to make it concealed for show more others to discover pure meanings. Alike to spiritual alchymy, it is either reverse-concealed, clear and true, or otherwise it is mere charlatanry. Clearly, muses of mother Rhea were at work and di manes (holy dead) that touched the poets heart, soul and mind. Highly commendable to anyone who is willing to breathe this thick eroticism of melancholic death in-between being a prisoner of passing dusks and dawns. show less

Lists

Awards

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Associated Authors

Stefan Zweig Translator, Afterword
W. Gaede Editor
Mark Schorer Contributor
Isabel Bolton Contributor
Henry James Contributor
Stanley Kauffmann Contributor
John Horne Burns Contributor
Wilson Lehr Contributor
Charles Jackson Contributor
Denton Welch Contributor
Oscar Wilde Contributor
Naomi Mitchison Contributor
Sherwood Anderson Contributor
D. H. Lawrence Contributor
Guy de Maupassant Contributor
Paul Bowles Contributor
James T. Farrell Contributor
Richard Burton Contributor
Stephen Spender Contributor
Johannes Schlaf Translator
Richard Schaukal Translator
Ernst Hardt Translator
Hermann Hesse Translator
Karl Henckell Translator
Stefan George Translator
Max Fleischer Translator
K.L. Ammer Translator
Robert Faesi Translator
Franz Evers Translator
Richard Dehmel Translator
Alan Stone Translator
Mahlon Blaine Illustrator
Louis Joos Editor
Léo Ferré Preface
Theodore Wratislaw Contributor
Ernest Dowson Contributor
Vincent O'Sullivan Contributor
Arthur Symons Contributor
John Gray Contributor
Richard Robinson Translator
Jacques Borel Contributor, Annotator, Editor
Philip Shirley Translator
Chloé Radiguet Afterword
Laurence Fey Afterword
Kim Roselier Cover artist & designer
Eugène Carrière Author's portrait
Peter Quennell Introduction
Pierre Bonnard Cover artist
Nicolas Wanlin Présentation, notes, dossier, chronologie, bibliographie
Jaques Borel Preface
Richard Randt Illustrator
Ed Schilders Afterword
Frank de Zwager Translator
Louis Vis Afterword
Karel Jonckheere Translator

Statistics

Works
363
Also by
26
Members
3,003
Popularity
#8,497
Rating
3.9
Reviews
35
ISBNs
377
Languages
19
Favorited
20

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