French poet Paul Verlaine, a major representative of the Symbolist Movement during the latter half of the nineteenth century, was one of the most gifted and prolific poets of his time. Norman Shapiro's superb translations display Verlaine's ability to transform into timeless verse the essence of everyday life and make evident the reasons for his renown in France and throughout the Western world.

Norman R. Shapiro is a professor of Romance languages and literatures at Wesleyan University. Among his many translations are Four Farces by Georges Feydeau, which was nominated for a National Book Award, The Fabulists French: Verse Fables of Nine Centuries, named Distinguished Book of the Year by the American Literary Translators' Association, and Charles Baudelaire: Selected Poems from Les Fleurs du mal, the last published by the University of Chicago Press.

List of Illustrations

Preface

 

from Poèmes saturniens (1866)

Mon Rêve familier / My Familiar Dream

Marine / Seascape

Effet de nuit / Night Scene

Soleils couchants / Sunsets

Crépuscule du soir mystique / Mystical Evening Twilight

Promenade sentimentale / Sentimental Stroll

Chanson d'automne / Autumn Song

L'Heure du berger / The Shepherd's Hour

Femme et chatte / Woman and Cat

Un Dahlia / A Dahlia

Nevermore / Nevermore

 

from Fêtes galantes (1869)

Clair de lune / Moonlight

Pantomime / Pantomime

Sur l'herbe / On the Grass

L'Allé / The Lane

À la promenade / Strolling

Les Ingénus / Innocents We

Cortège / Cortège

Les Coquillages / Seashells

Fantoches / Puppets

En bateau / Sailing

Le Faune / The Faun

Mandoline / Mandolin

À Clymène

Colombine / Colombine

L'Amour par terre / Love Cast Down

En sourdine / In Muted Tone

Colloque sentimental / Lovers' Chat

 

from La Bonne Chanson (1870)

"Avant que tu ne t'en ailles..." / "Morning star, before you pale..."

"La lune blanche..." / "Among the trees..."

"Une Sainte en son auréole..." / "A Saint set in her stained-glass glow..."

"J'allais par des chemins perfides..." / "I used to wander aimlessly..."

 

from Romances sans paroles (1874)

"C'est l'extase langoureuse..." / "It's the languorous ecstasy..."

"Il pleure dans mon coeur..." / "Like a city's rain, my heart..."

"Le piano que baise une main frêle..." / "Bright in the evening's gray and pinkish blur..."

"Ô triste, triste était mon âme..." / "So sad my heart, so sad it was..."

"Dans l'interminable..." / "Covering the land..."

"L'ombre des arbres dans la rivière embrumée..." / "Reflections in the fogbound rivulet..."

Walcourt / Walcourt

Charleroi / Charleroi

Green / Green

Spleen / Spleen

Streets I / Streets I

Streets II / Streets II

 

from Sagesse (1881)

"Beauté des femmes, leur faiblesse, et ces mains pâles..." / "Beauty of women, weakness, pale soft skin..."

"Un grand sommeil noir..." / "A vast, black lethargy..."

"Le ciel est, par-dessus le toit..." / "Above the roof the sky is fair..."

"Le son du cor s'afflige vers les bois..." / "The horn's sound in the wood sobs dolefully..."

"La bise se rue À travers..." / "The wind whips through the bushes, green..."

"L'échelonnement des haies..." / "The hedges billow like the sea's..."

"La 'grande ville'! Un tas criard de pierres blanches..." / "'The city!' Gaudy cluster of white stones..."

 

from Jadis et naguère (1884)

Pierrot / Pierrot

Le Squelette / The Skeleton

Art poétique / Ars Poetica

Allégorie / Allegory

Circonspection / Circumspection

Langueur / Languor

Prologue / Prologue

 

from Amour (1888)

"Ta voix grave et basse..." / "Your voice was deep and low..."

"À Georges Verlaine / For Georges Verlaine

 

from Parallèlement (1889)

Allégorie / Allegory

Printemps / Spring

été / Summer

À Mademoiselle *** / For Mademoiselle ***

Impression fausse / False Impression

Autre / Other

Tantalized / Tantalized

Le Dernier Dizain / The Last Stanza

À la manière de Paul Verlaine / In the Style of Paul Verlaine

Limbes / Limbo

Lombes / Loins

La Dernière Fête Galante / The Last "Fête Galante"

 

from Dédicaces (1890)

Souvenir de Manchester / Recollection of Manchester

À Edmond Lepelletier / For Edmond Lepelletier

À Arthur Rimbaud / For Arthur Rimbaud

À Bibi-Purée / For Bibi-Purée 

from Bonheur (1891)

"Voix de Gabriel..." / "In Mary's humble ear..."

from Chansons pour Elle (1891)

"Or, malgré ta cruauté..." / "Yes, despite your cruel excess..."

"Je suis plus pauvre que jamais..." / "I'm poorer than I've ever been..."

"Vrai, nous avons trop d'esprit..." / "True, we don't know when to quit..."

"Es-tu brune ou blonde?..." / "Blonde? Brown? Which is your hair?..."

"Tu crois au marc de café..." / "You believe in superstitions..."

"Lorsque tu cherches tes puces..." / "Lover, when you look for lice..."

"J'ai rêvé de toi cette nuit..." / "I dreamed of you last night; and you..."

 

from Liturgies intimes (1892)

À Charles Baudelaire / For Charles Baudelaire

 

from Odes en son honneur (1893)

"Tu fus souvent cruelle..." / "You've often been unkind..."

"Riche ventre qui n'a jamais porté..." / "That firm-fleshed belly that has never borne..."

 

from "Le Livre posthume" (1893-1894)

Dernier espoir / Last Hope

from épigrammes (1894)

"Quand nous irons, si je dois encor la voir..." / "When we go--if I see her yet again..."

"Grâce À toi je me vois de dos..." / "It's thanks to you I see how I..."

Au bas d'un croquis (Siège de Paris) / Accompanying a Sketch (The Siege of Paris)

Sur un exemplaire des Fleurs du mal / On a Copy of Les Fleurs du mal

 

from Chair (1896)

Chanson pour elles / Song for the Ladies

Fog! / Fog!

 

from Invectives (1896)

Sonnet pour larmoyer / Sonnet to Weep Over

Chanson pour boire / A Drink Song

Autre chanson pour boire / Another Drink Song

Rêve / Dream

Réveil / Awakening

 

Mort! / Death

 

Quatrain / Quatrain

 

Notes

Acknowledgments

Index of Titles and First Lines