Paul Verlaine Quotes

1844–1896 France

Paul-Marie Verlaine (March 30 1844 – January 8 1896) was a French Symbolist poet. He is often characterized as a poète maudit and an example of fin-de-siècle decadence in literature.

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Also known as: Verlaine

Random Paul Verlaine quote

9 quotes

By far the worst pain
Is not to understand
Why without love or hate
My heart's full of pain.

What have you done, you standing there
In floods of tears?
Tell me what you have done
With your young life?

Falling tears in my heart,
Falling rain on the town.
Why this long ache,
A knife in my heart.

The long sobs of
The violins
Of autumn
Lay waste my heart
With monotones
Of boredom.

You must let your poems ride their luck
On the back of the sharp morning air
Touched with the fragrance of mint and thyme…
And everything else is LIT-RIT-CHER.

Art poétique", from Jadis et naguère (1884)

La lune blanche
Luit dans les bois;
De chaque branche
Part une voix
Sous la ramée.

And so I leave
On cruel winds
Squalling
And gusting me
Like a dead leaf
Falling.

Pas la Couleur, rien que la nuance!

Art poétique", from Jadis et naguère (1884)

Let's hear the music first and foremost,
And that means no more one-two-one-twos…
Something more vague instead, something lighter
Dissolving in air, weightless as air.
When you choose your words, no need to search
In strict dictionaries for pinpoint
Definitions. Better the subtle
And heady Songs of Imprecision.

Art poétique", from Jadis et naguère (1884)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Paul Verlaine (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.