EMILE VERHAEREN BY STEFAN ZWEIG LONDON CONSTABLE AND COMPANY LTD 1914 [Illustration: Émile Verhaeren from an unpublished photograph by Charles Bernier, 1914.] PREFACE Four years have passed since the present volume appeared simultaneously in German and French. In the meantime Verhaeren's fame has been spreading; but in English-speaking countries he is still not so well known as he deserves to be. Something of his philosophy--if it may be called philosophy rather than a poet's inspired visualising of the world--has passed into the public consciousness in a grotesquely distorted form in what is known as 'futurism.' So long as futurism is associated with those who have acquired a facile notoriety by polluting the pure idea, it would be an insult to Verhaeren to suggest that he is to be classed with the futurists commonly so-called; but the whole purpose of the present volume will prove that the gospel of a very serious and reasoned futurism is to be found in Verhaeren's writings. Of the writer of the book it may be said that there was no one more fitted than he to write the authentic exposition of the teaching which he has hailed as a new religion. His relations to the Master are not only those of a fervent disciple, but of an apostle whose labour of love has in German-speaking lands and beyond been crowned with signal success. Himself a lyrist of distinction, Stefan Zweig has accomplished the difficult feat, which in this country still waits to be done, of translating the great mass of Verhaeren's poems into actual and enduring verse. Another book of his on Verlaine is already known in an English rendering; so that he bids fair to become known in this country as one of the most gifted of the writers of Young-Vienna. As to the translation, I have endeavoured to be faithful to my text, which is the expression of a personality. Whatever divergences there are have been necessitated by the lapse of time. For help in reading the proofs I have to thank Mr. M.T.H. Sadler and Mr. Fritz Voigt. J. BITHELL. HAMMERFIELD, _Nr_. HEMEL HEMPSTEAD, 14_th July_ 1914. CONTENTS PART I THE NEW AGE THE NEW BELGIUM YOUTH IN FLANDERS 'LES FLAMANDES' THE MONKS THE BREAK-DOWN FLIGHT INTO THE WORLD PART II TOWNS ('LES VILLES TENTACULAIRES') THE MULTITUDE THE RHYTHM OF LIFE THE NEW PATHOS VERHAEREN'S POETIC METHOD VERHAEREN'S DRAMA PART III COSMIC POETRY THE LYRIC UNIVERSE SYNTHESES THE ETHICS OF FERVOUR LOVE THE ART OF VERHAEREN'S LIFE THE EUROPEAN IMPORTANCE OF HIS WORK BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX PART I DECIDING FORCES LES FLAMANDES--LES MOINES--LES SOIRS--LES DÉBâCLES--LES FLAMBEAUX NOIRS--AU BORD DE LA ROUTE--LES APPARUS DANS MES CHEMINS 1883-1893