Six Nineteenth Century French Poets

by A.M. Blackmore (Translator)

'Poetry will no longer keep in time with action; it will be ahead of it.' Arthur Rimbaud The active and colourful lives of the poets of nineteenth-century France are reflected in the diversity and vibrancy of their works. At once sacred and profane, passionate and satirical, these remarkable and innovative poems explore the complexities of human emotion and ponder the great questions of religion and art. They form as rich a body of work as any one age and language has ever produced. This unique anthology includes generous selections from the six nineteenth-century French poets most often read in the English-speaking world Lamartine, Hugo, Baudelaire, Verlaine, Rimbaud, and Mallarme. Modern translations are printed opposite the original French verse, and the edition contains over a thousand lines of poetry never previously translated into English.

Genres: Poetry, France, French Literature, Anthologies, Classics, 19th Century

384 pages, Paperback

First published March 2, 2000

Reviews

[Davvybrookbook · Rating 3 out of 5]

This anthology is well-constructed and translated well. My (⭐️⭐️⭐️) rating is completely a factor of lacking an ability to truly grasp the poets span. This comes after reading Rimbaud’s Complete Works and Selected Letters so perhaps the assumption that this anthology could do more is unfair. Agreed. I learned and love the sections on Victor Hugo, the raging Romantic, and on Baudelaire, the Faustian bard. But the last section on Stephane Mallarmé was underwhelming as was the section on Alphonse de Lamartine.

What this collection did well was to showcase how well the poets built upon developments made by each other, and to see how the poetic concept evolved and was expressed by subsequent poets. They are all different, and truly this was a good introduction to their individuation. The translation of Rimbaud’s “The Drunken Boat” by Martin Sorrell stood out as an excellent rendition.

[Carmen Tudor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely collection of C19 French poets Hugo, Rimbaud, Larmatine, Mellarme, Beaudelaire and Verlaine. I particularly enjoyed the included works of Mellarme and Beaudelaire, but the entire collection is a lyrically dynamic offering with impressive translations alongside the original pieces.

[Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up at the Nashville Public Library. I has been looking for poetry from Verlaine and Rimbaud and found this book as the only one available at my branch which had their poetry.

Design: 6 poets-- Lamartine, Hugo, Baudelaire, Verlaine, Rimbaud, and Mallarme; French on left page; English on right. Even though I don't know French, I enjoyed sometimes comparing the two. The font is kind of small to read; no pictures; a helpful intro essay about 4-5 pages long for each poet. If I were editing the collection, I would have placed each poet's info in front of their poetry, rather than at front of book, and enlarged the font. As is, layout makes the book seem old rather than lively.

Poets: A nice introduction. I had read Baudaliere before, but not the others. Having all of the poets together, it became easy to determine which I liked and did not. This was valuable, and I give the collection 4 stars for helping me quickly understand the major differences b/t the poets.
Liked: Baudelaire and Verlaine-- both raw, and often understandable; Rimbaud-- classic adolescent rebel. Can't believe he wrote at such a young age.
Disliked: Lamartine-- old timey style with rhymes; Hugo-- poems way too long for my attention span; Mallarme-- for the most part, good luck figuring out what he is saying; I suspect his poetry was written for himself rather than with the reader in mind.

Overall: I feel like I just audited an intro college class in 19th Century French poetry. That is good.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stéphane Mallarmé is quite possibly untranslatable, even in French.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really appreciated the detailed notes on the poets at the front of the book that gave some background and outlined some of the main themes seen in the poets' works. I also liked having the French next to the English so I could see how it had been translated and pick up some new vocab; 'crowned' and 'abyss' came up quite often! My favourite poets were Baudelaire, Verlaine and Rimbaud for the way they broke the 18th C poetry 'rules' in their use of 'unpoetic' language and irregular form.

[Dave H · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are into poetry, this is worth your time.

[Shayan Foroozesh]

This book is sitting on my shelf for over a year and I haven't touched it yet?! Shame on me.

[Eden]

Read the selections by Verlaine, Rimbaud, and Mallarmé in both French and English - hooray for dual language editions!