Paul Verlaine

Born in Metz in 1844, Paul Verlaine became one of the defining poets of 19th-century France. He was linked with the Parnassian and Symbolist circles, but his poetry has a sound and softness all its own: intimate, wistful, and deeply attentive to mood. His best-known books include Poèmes saturniens, Fêtes galantes, Romances sans paroles, and Sagesse.

Verlaine's life was as turbulent as his verse was delicate. His stormy relationship with Arthur Rimbaud, periods of poverty, imprisonment, and religious feeling all left marks on his writing. That mix of tenderness, instability, and musical control gives his poems their special tension.

Today he is remembered as a major influence on modern poetry. His work inspired later writers in France and abroad, and many readers still come to him for the way he can make sadness, desire, memory, and passing time feel almost like music.