Paul Verlaine

PAUL VERLAINEBy Stefan ZweigEdited by Andrew JaryPaul Verlaine is one of the great lyrical French poets. This study by Stefan Zweig offers a survey of his poetry and a biography, including his famous friendship with Arthur Rimbaud. Paul Verlaine (1844-1896) is one of the great 19th century French poets, part of the group that included Charles Baudelaire, Lautréamont, Gérard de Nerval and of course Arthur Rimbaud. Many of Verlaine's most significant poems are collected in this book, and Verlaine emerges as a highly accomplished artist, with a lyrical rhyming style that's wholly his own (and it sounds particularly beautiful in French - Verlaine is tricky to translate). This edition of Stefan Zweig's monograph includes a selection of Paul Verlaine's best-known poems, including 'Poetic Art', 'Claire de Lune', 'It's Raining In My Heart', 'C'est l'extase langoureuse' and 'Spleen'. With the French text opposite the English translations. Illustrated. 112pp. www.crmoon.com