The most striking and original figure among the poets of the latter half of the century. In the irregularity of his life he might count as a modern Rutebeuf or Villon. He certainly possessed a rich poetic endowment, which only occasionally produced what it seemed capable of. He began under the influence of the _Parnassiens_, but his most characteristic work is as far removed as possible from the plastic objectivity of that school. He pursues the expression of the most elusive sensations, and is so little concerned about clear ideas and precise forms and outlines that even grammatical coherence often fails, and the mind gropes in a mist of unintelligibility--in which direction, however, his disciples have gone very far beyond him. But in the rendering of pure feeling and sensation, in direct emotional appeal of tone and accent, he discovered powerful secrets for his verse that others have not known. He seems now to have been one of the original poetic forces of the century. Works: _Poèmes saturniens_, 1866; _Fêtes galantes_, 1869; _la Bonne Chanson_, 1870; _Romances sans paroles_, 1874; _Sagesse_, 1881; _Jadis et naguère_, 1885; _Amour_, 1888; _Parallèlement_, 1889; _Bonheur_, 1891; _Chansons pour elle_, 1891; _Dans les limbes_, 1894; _Chair_, 1896; _Invectives_, 1896; selections from the volumes to and including _Bonheur_ are given in _Choix de poésies_, 1891. For reference: Ch. Morice, _Paul Verlaine, l'homme et l'oeuvre_; J. Lemaître, in _Revue Bleue_, Jan. 7, 1888; F. Brunetière, _Évolution de la poésie Iyrique_, vol. ii, 1894; A. Cohn, in _The Bookman_, vol. i, with portraits. 28O. COLLOQUE SENTIMENTAL. From _Fêtes galantes_. 288. 1. The quotation is from Dante's _Purgatorio_, canto iii, 79-84. ART POÉTIQUE. From _Jadis et naguère_. 289. UN VEUF PARLE and PARABOLES are from _Amour_. 291. PARABOLES. 1. LE POISSON; the use of the fish in Christian art as a symbol of Christ is well known. Its origin is commonly said to be in the initials of the Greek [Greek: Iaesus Christos Theou Tios Sotaer] which make the word _Ichthus_ (fish). 2. L'ÂNON; cf. St. Mark xi. 3. LES PORCS, etc.; cf. St. Mark v, 13. ÉMILE BERGERAT. 1845. Widely known under the name of Caliban as the alert and witty _chroniqueur_ of the Figaro and as the facile rhymester of its _lyre comique_, has written a few serious poems of direct and vigorous expression, especially under the inspiration of the memory of the war of 1870-71. Works: _Poèmes de la guerre_, 1871; _la Lyre comique_, 1889. 291. PAROLES DORÉES. 17. CYLINDRE, the cylinder or toothed roller of the hand-organ. FRANÇOIS FABIÉ. 1846. The son of poor peasants, he has perpetuated the scenes and the simple life of his boyhood and the poverty and rude toil of his country home in verse of deep, pure, and tender feeling.