Besides those whose names are already considered famous, such as
Baudelaire and Verlaine, here are the names of a few of them: Jean
Moréas, Charles Morice, Henri de Régnier, Charles Vignier, Adrien
Remacle, René Ghil, Maurice Maeterlinck, G. Albert Aurier, Rémy de
Gourmont, Saint-Pol-Roux-le-Magnifique, Georges Rodenbach, le comte
Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac. These are Symbolists and Decadents. Next
we have the “Magi”: Joséphin Péladan, Paul Adam, Jules Bois, M. Papus,
and others.
Besides these, there are yet one hundred and forty-one others, whom
Doumic mentions in the book referred to above.
Here are some examples from the work of those of them who are considered
to be the best, beginning with that most celebrated man, acknowledged to
be a great artist worthy of a monument—Baudelaire. This is a poem from
his celebrated _Fleurs du Mal_:—
No. XXIV.
_Je t’adore à l’égal de la voûte nocturne,
O vase de tristesse, ô grande taciturne,
Et t’aime d’autant plus, belle, que tu me fuis,
Et que tu me parais, ornement de mes nuits,
Plus ironiquement accumuler les lieues
Qui séparent mes bras des immensités bleues._
_Je m’avance à l’attaque, et je grimpe aux assauts,
Comme après un cadavre un chœur de vermisseaux,
Et je chéris, ô bête implacable et cruelle,
Jusqu’à cette froideur par où tu m’es plus belle!_[71]
And this is another by the same writer:—
No. XXXVI.
_DUELLUM._
_Deux guerriers ont couru l’un sur l’autre; leurs armes
Ont éclaboussé l’air de lueurs et de sang.
Ces jeux, ces cliquetis du fer sont les vacarmes
D’une jeunesse en proie à l’amour vagissant._
_Les glaives sont brisés! comme notre jeunesse,
Ma chère! Mais les dents, les ongles acérés,
Vengent bientôt l’épée et la dague traîtresse.
O fureur des cœurs mûrs par l’amour ulcérés!_
_Dans le ravin hanté des chats-pards et des onces
Nos héros, s’étreignant méchamment, ont roulé,
Et leur peau fleurira l’aridité des ronces._
_Ce gouffre, c’est l’enfer, de nos amis peuplé!
Roulons-y sans remords, amazone inhumaine,
Afin d’éterniser l’ardeur de notre haine!_[72]
To be exact, I should mention that the collection contains verses less
comprehensible than these, but not one poem which is plain and can be
understood without a certain effort—an effort seldom rewarded, for the
feelings which the poet transmits are evil and very low ones. And these
feelings are always, and purposely, expressed by him with eccentricity
and lack of clearness. This premeditated obscurity is especially
noticeable in his prose, where the author could, if he liked, speak
plainly.
Take, for instance, the first piece from his _Petits Poèmes_:—
_L’ÉTRANGER._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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