l842.

He was born in Cuba, but was educated and has resided in France. He attracted notice among the Parnassiens by the degree of perfection with which he rendered in words the element of plastic beauty and the rare finish and precision of his style. He has used almost exclusively the form of the sonnet, to which he has given a new power and amplitude.

Works: Les Trophies, 1893 (many of the sonnets composing this volume had appeared in the Revue des Deux Mondes and elsewhwere and had long been admired).

For reference: J. Lemaitre, les Contemorains, vol. ii, 1887; F. Brunetière, Évolution de la poésie lyrique, vol. ii, 1894; M. de Vogüé, Devant le siècle, 1896; Edmund Gosse, Critical Kit-Kats, New York, 1896.

278. ANTOINE ET CLÉOPÂTRE. LE CYDNUS. This is the name of the river on which Tarsus is situated. 18. LAGIDE; the line of the Ptolemies, to which Cleopatra belonged, was descended from Lagus; the first Ptolemy was commonly called the son of Lagus.

279. 18. BUBASTE ET SAÏS; Bubastis and Saïs were ancient cities of importance in the Delta of the Nile.

280. 6. LES CONQUÉRANTS. PALOS, the famous Spanish port from which Columbus sailed. MOGUER, a small town a little above Palos. 9. CIPANGO, the name given by Marco Polo in the account of his travels to an island or islands east of Asia, supposed to be Japan.

PAUL VERLAINE.

1844-1896.

The most striking and original figure among the poets of the latter half of the century. In the irregularity of his life he might count as a modern Rutebeuf or Villon. He certainly possessed a rich poetic endowment, which only occasionally produced what it seemed capable of. He began under the influence of the Parnassiens, but his most characteristic work is as far removed as possible from the plastic objectivity of that school. He pursues the expression of the most elusive sensations, and is so little concerned about clear ideas and precise forms and outlines that even grammatical coherence often fails, and the mind gropes in a mist of unintelligibility—in which direction, however, his disciples have gone very far beyond him. But in the rendering of pure feeling and sensation, in direct emotional appeal of tone and accent, he discovered powerful secrets for his verse that others have not known. He seems now to have been one of the original poetic forces of the century.

Works: Poèmes saturniens, 1866; Fêtes galantes, 1869; la Bonne Chanson, 1870; Romances sans paroles, 1874; Sagesse, 1881; Jadis et naguère, 1885; Amour, 1888; Parallèlement, 1889; Bonheur, 1891; Chansons pour elle, 1891; Dans les limbes, 1894; Chair, 1896; Invectives, 1896; selections from the volumes to and including Bonheur are given in Choix de poésies, 1891.

For reference: Ch. Morice, Paul Verlaine, l’homme et l’oeuvre; J. Lemaître, in Revue Bleue, Jan. 7, 1888; F. Brunetière, Évolution de la poésie Iyrique, vol. ii, 1894; A. Cohn, in The Bookman, vol. i, with portraits.

28O. COLLOQUE SENTIMENTAL. From Fêtes galantes.

288. 1. The quotation is from Dante’s Purgatorio, canto iii, 79-84. ART POÉTIQUE. From Jadis et naguère.

289. UN VEUF PARLE and PARABOLES are from Amour.

291. PARABOLES. 1. LE POISSON; the use of the fish in Christian art as a symbol of Christ is well known. Its origin is commonly said to be in the initials of the Greek [Greek: Iaesus Christos Theou Tios Sotaer] which make the word Ichthus (fish). 2. L’ÂNON; cf. St. Mark xi. 3. LES PORCS, etc.; cf. St. Mark v, 13.

ÉMILE BERGERAT.