Pros: good and varied selection from a prolific poet's life-work; some beautiful translations; layout; notes
Cons: poems that merit notes are not annotated on the poem page
The Bottom Line: Some wonderful translations of a wide range of poems from different periods of Verlaine's life. Good cross-section of various themes and styles.
jc_hall's Full Review: One Hundred and One Poems by Paul Verlaine
The Poet
The French poet Paul Verlaine was ruled by his passions. Deeply influenced by the work of Charles Baudelaire, he aspired to be a poet from an early age. As a young married man, he fell in love with the 17-year-old poet Arthur Rimbaud, with whom he had a tempestuous and destructive affair. With Stephane Mallarme and Baudelaire, Verlaine formed the Decadents, known for their freedom of morals and sensational, not to say scandalous behavior, and their emphasis on creative self-expression and the principle of art for art's sake.
Verlaine frequented the ale-houses in the company of other poets, over-indulging in absinthe, the drink that would later wreck his health. His affair with Rimbaud and his own violent temper destroyed his marriage and landed him in jail where he wrote the acclaimed Romance Sans Paroles, widely considered a masterpiece.
Verlaine’s conversion to Catholicism spawned many of the poems in Sagesse. Bankruptcy, the death of a favorite pupil whom he had adopted, and the death of his mother a few years later, pushed Verlaine over the brink into drunken despair. But he continued to write, and was celebrated as the leading poet of France. At the same time, he spent long periods in hospitals, slept in slums and even spent a month in prison. Verlaine spent his last years living alternately with two middle-aged prostitutes and another man. Dissolute to the last, Verlaine died in poverty, but his casket was followed by thousands of Parisians to the Batignolles cemetery, a fitting tribute to France’s Prince of Poets.
A major representative of the Symbolist Movement during the late 1800s, Verlaine was highly gifted and extremely prolific. He churned out volume upon volume of poetry throughout his life, beginning with Poemes Saturniens (1866), Fetes Galantes (1869), La Bonne Chanson (1870), Romances Sans Paroles (1874), Sagesse (1881), Jadis et Naguere (1884), Amour (1888), Parallelement (1889), Dedicaces (1890), Bonheur (1891), Liturgies Intimes (1892), Odes en son Honneur (1893), Le Livre Posthume (1893-4), Epigrammes (1894), Chair (1896), and Invectives (1896).
It is said of Verlaine's work that much of it demonstrates the importance of self, and that for him, the function of poetry is to preserve moments of extreme sensation and unique impressions. Verlaine’s oeuvre speaks for itself and much of it certainly can be described as self-indulgent and impressionistic. However, Verlaine also shows a careful craftsmanship in his compositions, and while maintaining the outward form of classical poetry, Verlaine was able to transcend the stilted forms of formal verse by his use of simple, musical language.
The Layout
This bilingual edition benefits from a easy-to-reference layout that has the original French poem and the English translation on facing pages. The Contents pages list all 101 poems according to the volume from which they are drawn, in chronological order. There is a brief two-page description prefacing each section of poems chosen from each volume, giving an account of Verlaine’s life at the time. While there are end notes, the poems themselves are not annotated, and the reader has to keep checking to see if a particular poem merits a descriptive note. Lastly, there is an Index of Titles and First Lines, in both English and French.
The Translation
It has been said that a perfect translation of a poem retains the sense, sound and form of the original. However, in practice, this is often not possible, or even desirable. Too strict adherence to one aspect or another can be counter-productive, resulting in stilted, fake-sounding language. Sometimes it is enough just to retain the sense, for when the translator frees himself from restrictive form, the new composition may differ in style and yet be equally apt. Sound is much harder to capture, and can fall prey to strict adherence to sense or form. Rhyming original poems do not always have to rhyme in the translated versions, but translators often feel they must, and sound is thereby sacrificed. There is such a thing as lyrical prose, and as long as the beauty of the original poem is preserved, or, even better, re-created, who cares about the rhyming? Well, it’s obvious that Norman Shapiro, the translator of One Hundred and One Poems by Paul Verlaine, does. There are many instances where he’s managed to preserve both sense and form. As for sound, it’s not as faithfully reproduced as often, and is that any wonder, when a Latin-based language is morphed into a Germanic one? Still, there are occasions (gem-like rare and just as exquisite) where he actually manages to improve on Verlaine’s own music, a veritable feat in itself.
Here are some examples to whet your appetite:
Last stanza from Chanson d’Automne (Autumn Song):
Et je m’en vais/Au vent mauvais/Qui m’emporte/Deca, Dela, /Pareil a la/Feuille morte. (And like a dead/Leaf, buffeted,/Tempest-tossed,/I ride the air—/Now here, now there—/Aimless, lost.)
Sense and form are both preserved. As for sound, I actually think the rhythm is improved.
The first stanza of Pantomime:
Pierrot, qui n’a rien d’un Clitandre,/Vide un flacon sans plus attendre,/Et, pratique, entame un pate. (Pierrot—no swain Clitander, he—/Swills from a flagon glutonnously,/Cuts into a pate. (Why wait?))
I just love the translation of ‘pratique’ (can’t you just see that Gallic shrug?) into the aside (Why wait?)
From En Sourdine (In Muted Tone):
Ferme tes yeux a demi,/Croise tes bras sur ton sein/Et de ton coeur endormi/Chasse a jamais tout dessein. (Dim your eyes and, heart at rest,/Freed from all futile endeavor,/Arms crossed on your slumbering breast,/Banish desire forever.)
Far from literal, yet sense beautifully preserved. Not as pretty-sounding as the original, but we’re talking French into English after all.
From “La lune blanche…”(“Among the trees…”):
Revons, c’est l’heure.//Un vaste et tendre/Apaisement/semble descendre/Du firmament/Que l’astre irise…//C’est l’heure exquise. (The hour for dreams.//The heavens, star-lit,/Seem to bestow/Calm infinite/On earth below/From realms above…//The hour for love.)
Note how the form (rhyming scheme) is preserved. Not as easy as it looks! And the beauty of the original is re-created.
There are many more poems notable for their startling and beautiful imagery, e.g. L’ombre des arbres dans la riviere embrumee…” (“Reflections in the fogbound rivulet…”), Allegorie (Allegory), Limbes (Limbo), etc.
Not all of the 101 poems (either in the original or translated versions) will appeal to everyone, but that’s a goodly number to make sure there are a dozen or so that would appeal to the casual reader. This bilingual edition of One Hundred And One Poems by Paul Verlaine, translated by the award-winning Norman R. Shapiro, will be a valued addition to the bookshelf of poetry lovers everywhere, especially those with a francophile leaning.
The Translator (from back flap)
Norman R. Shapiro is professor of Romance languages and literature at Wesleyan University. Among his many translations are Four Farces by Georges Feydeau, which was nominated for a National Book Award; The Fabulists French: Verse Fables of Nine Centuries, named Distinguished Book of the Year by the American Literary Translators’ Association; Fifty More Fables of La Fontaine; and Selected Poems from Les Fleurs du mal.
This is a very late entry to francophile Barbara (ifif1938) ’s Fabulous French Finds write-off. Thanks for inspiring me to dust off my copy of One Hundred And One Poems by Paul Verlaine and reacquaint myself with some beautiful poems and their equally beautiful translations.
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