TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES: In the plain text version text in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_) and small capitals are represented in upper case as in SMALL CAPS. A number of words in this book have both hyphenated and non-hyphenated variants. For the words with both variants present the one more used has been kept. Obvious punctuation and other printing errors have been corrected. * * * * * THE EAST I KNOW THE EAST I KNOW BY PAUL CLAUDEL “Look East, where whole new thousands are!” BROWNING TRANSLATED BY TERESA FRANCES AND WILLIAM ROSE BENÉT [Illustration] NEW HAVEN: YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON: HUMPHREY MILFORD OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS MDCCCCXIV COPYRIGHT, 1914 First printed one thousand copies October, 1914 _Yale University Press_: ... _I should be most happy and honored if my works could be brought to the attention of the American public under the shelter and patronage of the illustrious University of which you are a part._ Paul Claudel March 28, 1914 CONTENTS PAGE _Paul Claudel_ vii 1895-1900 THE COCOA PALM 1 THE PAGODA 4 THE CITY AT NIGHT 12 GARDENS 17 THE FEAST OF THE DEAD IN THE SEVENTH MONTH 22 THOUGHTS ON THE SEA 25 CITIES 27 THE THEATER 29 TOMBS AND RUMORS 33 THE ENTRANCE TO THE EARTH 39 THE RELIGION OF LETTERS 42 THE BANYAN 47 TOWARD THE MOUNTAIN 49 THE GREAT SEA 52 THE TEMPLE OF CONSCIOUSNESS 54 OCTOBER 56 NOVEMBER 58 PAINTING 61