To Monica: After Nine Years, by Francis Thompson

Bertha Wegmann - Portrait of a girl
Bertha Wegmann – Portrait of a girl (1880) – from tuttartpitturasculturapoesiamusica.com

Another poem of Francis Thompson published posthumously. Addressed to Monica Meynell, it alludes to an earlier poem dedicated to her, “The Poppy,” which was probably written in 1891 when the girl was 11 years old. Hence this one can be dated around 1900, written for a 20 years old Monica. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…

Lison et le petit cœur de Jeanne, par Émile Blémont

Elizabeth Jane Gardner Bouguereau - In the Garden
Elizabeth Jane Gardner Bouguereau – In the Garden (1878) – The Athenaeum

Chansons des champs, la deuxième partie du recueil Les pommiers en fleur : idylles de France et de Normandie (1891) d’Émile Blémont, comprend de nombreux poèmes d’amour, écrits dans un style léger et joyeux. Par exemple le 6e, « La douce chanson », a pour refrain : « — Mon amie, embrassons-nous, / Tout doux, tout doux ! / — Embrassons-nous, mon amant, / Tout doucement ! » CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…

Sonnets of a Little Girl, I, by Ernest Dowson

Duy Anh Phan (Doak Phan) - Mai Vi
Duy Anh Phan (Doak Phan) – Mai Vi – from flickr

Ernest Dowson wrote around 1885 a series of 7 “Sonnets of a Little Girl,” followed by an 8th called “Epilogue.” In his lifetime, only two were published: the 4th in November 1886 and a modified version of the 8th in November 1896; the latter with the title “A Last Word” is the last poem in verse in his final collection Decorations: in Verse and Prose(1899). CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…

Françoise et Nicole, par Émile Blémont

William Stott of Oldham
William Stott of Oldham – Wild Flower (1881)

Dans des articles précédents, j’ai présenté le poète Émile Blémont (1839–1927) et son recueil Les pommiers en fleur : idylles de France et de Normandie, publié en 1891, avec des poèmes sentimentaux sur les jeunes filles et l’amour choisis dans la première partie de celui-ci, Les matins d’or et les nuits bleues. La deuxième partie du recueil, Chansons des champs, traite également de l’amour, mais sur un ton plus sensuel : il y est question de jolis seins et de baisers. Voici deux poèmes de celle-ci, typiques de cette veine. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…

They plaited garlands in their time, by Michael Field

Lawrence Alma-Tadema - Spring
Lawrence Alma-Tadema – Spring (1894) – from Wikimedia Commons (reduced)

Throughout their adult life, Katharine Bradley and her niece Edith Cooper lived together as lovers and, under the pen name Michael Field, wrote jointly poetry and drama. One generally assumes that their love started in a Platonic mode when Edith was a teenager, and became sexual when she reached adulthood. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…

A Mosaic, by Ernest Dowson

Mosaic of thermal fountain in Czigler Wing, Széchenyi Bath, BudapestMosaic of thermal fountain in Czigler Wing, Széchenyi Bath, Budapest
Zsigmond Vajda and Miksa Róth – Mosaic of thermal fountain in Czigler Wing, Széchenyi Bath, Budapest (1913) – from Wikimedia Commons (cropped)

The English writer Ernest Christopher Dowson (1867–1900) remains famous for his poetry, but he also wrote novels (with Arthur Moore) and short stories, and translated in English several works of French literature. He belonged to the group of writers and artists who called themselves ‘Decadents,’ ‘the movement’ or ‘fin de siècle. With a vague feeling of the decay of civilisation and of its imminent collapse, they rejected Victorian moralism and sentimentality, and strove for the beauty of art for art’s sake. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…