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One Hundred and One Poems by Paul Verlaine

A Bilingual Edition

French poet Paul Verlaine, a major representative of the Symbolist Movement during the latter half of the nineteenth century, was one of the most gifted and prolific poets of his time. Norman Shapiro’s superb translations display Verlaine’s ability to transform into timeless verse the essence of everyday life and make evident the reasons for his renown in France and throughout the Western world.

"Shapiro’s skillfully rhymed formal translations are outstanding." —St. Louis Post-Dispatch "Best Book of 1999"

"Paul Verlaine’s rich, stylized, widely-variable oeuvre can now be traced through his thirty years of published volumes, from 1866 to 1896, in a set of luminous new translations by Norman Shapiro. . . . [His] unique translations of this whimsical, agonized music are more than adequate to bring the multifarious Verlaine to a new generation of English speakers." —Genevieve Abravanel, Harvard Review

"Shapiro demonstrates his phenomenal ability to find new rhymes and always follows Verlaine’s rhyme schemes." —Carrol F. Coates, ATA Chronicle

309 pages | 15 halftones | 5-3/8 x 8-1/2 | © 1999

Poetry

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Preface
 
from Poèmes saturniens (1866)
Mon Rêve familier / My Familiar Dream
Marine / Seascape
Effet de nuit / Night Scene
Soleils couchants / Sunsets
Crépuscule du soir mystique / Mystical Evening Twilight
Promenade sentimentale / Sentimental Stroll
Chanson d’automne / Autumn Song
L’Heure du berger / The Shepherd’s Hour
Femme et chatte / Woman and Cat
Un Dahlia / A Dahlia
Nevermore / Nevermore
 
from Fêtes galantes (1869)
Clair de lune / Moonlight
Pantomime / Pantomime
Sur l’herbe / On the Grass
L’Allé / The Lane
À la promenade / Strolling
Les Ingénus / Innocents We
Cortège / Cortège
Les Coquillages / Seashells
Fantoches / Puppets
En bateau / Sailing
Le Faune / The Faun
Mandoline / Mandolin
À Clymène
Colombine / Colombine
L’Amour par terre / Love Cast Down
En sourdine / In Muted Tone
Colloque sentimental / Lovers’ Chat
 
from La Bonne Chanson (1870)
"Avant que tu ne t’en ailles..." / "Morning star, before you pale..."
"La lune blanche..." / "Among the trees..."
"Une Sainte en son auréole..." / "A Saint set in her stained-glass glow..."
"J’allais par des chemins perfides..." / "I used to wander aimlessly..."
 
from Romances sans paroles (1874)
"C’est l’extase langoureuse..." / "It’s the languorous ecstasy..."
"Il pleure dans mon coeur..." / "Like a city’s rain, my heart..."
"Le piano que baise une main frêle..." / "Bright in the evening’s gray and pinkish blur..."
"Ô triste, triste était mon âme..." / "So sad my heart, so sad it was..."
"Dans l’interminable..." / "Covering the land..."
"L’ombre des arbres dans la rivière embrumée..." / "Reflections in the fogbound rivulet..."
Walcourt / Walcourt
Charleroi / Charleroi
Green / Green
Spleen / Spleen
Streets I / Streets I
Streets II / Streets II
 
from Sagesse (1881)
"Beauté des femmes, leur faiblesse, et ces mains pâles..." / "Beauty of women, weakness, pale soft skin..."
"Un grand sommeil noir..." / "A vast, black lethargy..."
"Le ciel est, par-dessus le toit..." / "Above the roof the sky is fair..."
"Le son du cor s’afflige vers les bois..." / "The horn’s sound in the wood sobs dolefully..."
"La bise se rue À travers..." / "The wind whips through the bushes, green..."
"L’échelonnement des haies..." / "The hedges billow like the sea’s..."
"La ’grande ville’! Un tas criard de pierres blanches..." / "’The city!’ Gaudy cluster of white stones..."
 
from Jadis et naguère (1884)
Pierrot / Pierrot
Le Squelette / The Skeleton
Art poétique / Ars Poetica
Allégorie / Allegory
Circonspection / Circumspection
Langueur / Languor
Prologue / Prologue
 
from Amour (1888)
"Ta voix grave et basse..." / "Your voice was deep and low..."
"À Georges Verlaine / For Georges Verlaine
 
from Parallèlement (1889)
Allégorie / Allegory
Printemps / Spring
été / Summer
À Mademoiselle *** / For Mademoiselle ***
Impression fausse / False Impression
Autre / Other
Tantalized / Tantalized
Le Dernier Dizain / The Last Stanza
À la manière de Paul Verlaine / In the Style of Paul Verlaine
Limbes / Limbo
Lombes / Loins
La Dernière Fête Galante / The Last "Fête Galante"
 
from Dédicaces (1890)
Souvenir de Manchester / Recollection of Manchester
À Edmond Lepelletier / For Edmond Lepelletier
À Arthur Rimbaud / For Arthur Rimbaud
À Bibi-Purée / For Bibi-Purée 

from Bonheur (1891)
"Voix de Gabriel..." / "In Mary’s humble ear..."

from Chansons pour Elle (1891)
"Or, malgré ta cruauté..." / "Yes, despite your cruel excess..."
"Je suis plus pauvre que jamais..." / "I’m poorer than I’ve ever been..."
"Vrai, nous avons trop d’esprit..." / "True, we don’t know when to quit..."
"Es-tu brune ou blonde?..." / "Blonde? Brown? Which is your hair?..."
"Tu crois au marc de café..." / "You believe in superstitions..."
"Lorsque tu cherches tes puces..." / "Lover, when you look for lice..."
"J’ai rêvé de toi cette nuit..." / "I dreamed of you last night; and you..."
 
from Liturgies intimes (1892)
À Charles Baudelaire / For Charles Baudelaire
 
from Odes en son honneur (1893)
"Tu fus souvent cruelle..." / "You’ve often been unkind..."
"Riche ventre qui n’a jamais porté..." / "That firm-fleshed belly that has never borne..."
 
from "Le Livre posthume" (1893-1894)
Dernier espoir / Last Hope

from épigrammes (1894)
"Quand nous irons, si je dois encor la voir..." / "When we go--if I see her yet again..."
"Grâce À toi je me vois de dos..." / "It’s thanks to you I see how I..."
Au bas d’un croquis (Siège de Paris) / Accompanying a Sketch (The Siege of Paris)
Sur un exemplaire des Fleurs du mal / On a Copy of Les Fleurs du mal
 
from Chair (1896)
Chanson pour elles / Song for the Ladies
Fog! / Fog!
 
from Invectives (1896)
Sonnet pour larmoyer / Sonnet to Weep Over
Chanson pour boire / A Drink Song
Autre chanson pour boire / Another Drink Song
Rêve / Dream
Réveil / Awakening
 
Mort! / Death
 
Quatrain / Quatrain
 
Notes
Acknowledgments
Index of Titles and First Lines







































 







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