Dans le recueil de vers Le Livre d’Heures de l’Amour (1887), j’ai choisi un poème à propos d’un homme d’âge mûr amoureux d’une jeune fille : la jeunesse se dérobe face aux avances de l’adulte. Le titre en latin signifie « jeune fille lascive » CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
As it describes Ernest Dowson’s look and behaviour, this strange text has been included in the edition by Flower & Maas of Dowson’s letters. The ghost-like appearance of a repulsive man who seems a living dead carrying mould from his own grave, but who also notices every movement of Dowson and Thurston, seems quite surrealistic. But it is also a dire testimony to the poverty and misery that existed in London at the end of the 19th century.
This text relating events at the end of the 1890’s is undated, but it mentions the 1932 film Cynara directed by King Vidor, it was thus written more than 30 years after the incident. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
L’écrivain et poète Gérard de Nerval, de son vrai nom Gérard Labrunie, est une figure majeure du romantisme français. Né le 22 mai 1808 à Paris, il perdit à deux ans et demi sa mère, qu’il n’avait pratiquement jamais vue, et cet évènement semble avoir durablement marqué son psychisme. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Ernest Dowson wrote The Pierrot of the Minute, a short play in verse, in October 1892; this work was commissioned by the American actor-poet William Theodore Peters. It was published in final form by Leonard Smithers in 1897. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Le 12 mars 1887, le poète, romancier et auteur dramatique français Jean Aicard présenta au Cercle Saint-Simon son recueil de vers Le Livre d’Heures de l’Amour, qu’Alphonse Lemerre publia le même mois. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
The English poet Andrew Marvell (1621–1678) lived through several political regimes, and could adapt to each one. He started his career under the Stuart Monarchy, then visited Europe during the Civil War; afterwards he returned to England and held official positions during the republican Commonwealth, finally he served as Member of Parliament during the monarchic Restoration. He could do this by writing complex and sometimes ambiguous poetry, which could be interpreted in several ways. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Here is a strange and beautiful poem about a dead child. The poet remembers lulling her to sleep several years ago, but now the coldness of her death seems unreal, so he wonders whether it is a dream or he is himself dead. The strangeness of the poem, with its doubts about the boundaries between reality and dream, between the living and the dead, is emphasised by the tortured indentation of its lines. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
One seldom finds persons who really love all children. Most people show themselves selective in their affection, while some don’t like children at all. Usually it is a family affair, one loves one’s own children, but not those of other people, and this attitude gets a wide support in society, since children are implicitly considered as their parents’ property, and too much love for other people’s children is seen with suspicion. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Andrew Marvell (1621–1678) is considered one of the greatest English poets of the seventeenth century. Beside lyric poetry, he wrote political satire, both in verse and in prose, lampooning his contemporaries for their corruption and hypocrisy; most of it was published anonymously, to avoid repression. After his death, many anonymous texts were attributed to him and collected for publication. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Hélène de Fonsèque (1545–1618), fille de René de Fonsèque, baron de Surgères, et d’Anne de Cossé, entra au service de la reine Catherine de Medicis en 1566 en tant que fille d’honneur, puis fille de chambre de la reine de 1567 à 1578. Elle rencontra Pierre de Ronsard (1524–1585) en 1568. Le poète, âgé de 44 ans, tomba amoureux de cette jeune femme de 23 ans, qui fut sa muse jusqu’en 1574. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
