Chapitre 1840

The poems of Henri Cazalis, who has preferred to give his later works to the public under the nom de plume Jean Lahor, have the grave pessimism of Leconte de Lisle, but with more of buddhistic resignation. They are often sustained by a high moral fortitude, and though they are clothed in a less rich and brilliant garment than the poems of Leconte de Lisle, they have a charm of their own, “inquiétant et pénétrant,” says Paul Bourget, “comme celui des tableaux de Burne Jones et de la musique tzigane, des romans de Tolstoi et des lieder de Heine.”

Works: Vita tristis, 1865 (under the pseudonym Jean Caselli;) Mélancholia, 1866; le Livre du néant, 1872; l’Illusion, 1875; the preceding were collected in one volume and published under the name Jean Lahor and with the title l’Illusion, 1888; under the same name, le Cantique des cantiques, a translation of the Song of Solomon, 1885; les Quatrains d’Al-Ghazali, 1896.

For reference; J. Lemaître, les Contemporains, vol. iv.

CHARLES FRÉMINE.