Orgueil, par Rémy Broustaille

Eliseu Visconti - No Verão ou Menina com Ventarola (1893)
Eliseu Visconti – No Verão ou Menina com Ventarola (1893)

Le recueil de vers La Chanson des Gueuses de Broustaille tourne autour des bas-fonds de Paris, les déclassés, mendiants, prostituées et criminels. En particulier, sa section Les Charnelles est consacrée aux femmes que la misère contraint à vendre leurs charmes. Son titre est précédé par le sous-titre « Fleurs de joie, fleurs de peine » et suivi de l’invocation « A Toi, ô doux Galiléen qui relevas Magdeleine, ce livre de piété. » En effet, Broustaille partage une vision misérabiliste chrétienne de la pauvreté et de la prostitution, et n’y voit d’autre solution que la rédemption religieuse. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…

The Romance of the Swan’s Nest, by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Mary L. Gow - Illustration for The Romance of the Swan's Nest
Mary L. Gow – Illustration for The Romance of the Swan’s Nest – in Illustrated British Ballads, Old and New

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861), one of the most prominent poets of the Victorian era, became widely popular in England and the United States during her lifetime, both for her poetry and her stands against slavery in the United States, injustice toward Italian citizens by foreign rulers, and child labour. From age 15 until her death, she had to battle with a lifelong illness.

Her first known poem, “On the Cruelty of Forcement to Man,” was written at the age of six or eight. She published her first collection of poems, An Essay on Mind, with Other Poems, in 1826. Her 1844 volume Poems made her one of the most popular writers in Britain at the time. A collection of her last poems was published by her husband, the poet Robert Browning, shortly after her death. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…