Paul Verlaine Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Susan Taylor-Horrex

Critical Essay by Susan Taylor-Horrex

SOURCE: "Impossible Lands: Themes in Fêtes galantes" and "Themes in Romances sans paroles," in Verlaine: "Fêtes galantes " and "Romances sans paroles," Grant & Cutler Ltd., 1988, pp. 24-63.

Below, Taylor-Horrex analyzes the themes of love, active versus passive modes of loving, and irresponsibility versus responsibility in Verlaine's collections of verse Fêtes galantes and Romances sans paroles.

In essence, Verlaine's poems treat the theme of the divided self: in Fêtes galantes the passive versus the active self, in Romances sans paroles the irresponsible versus the responsible self. As such, Fêtes galantes and Romances sans paroles take a different approach from La Bonne Chanson and Sagesse which treat the theme of the weak self to be saved, respectively, by marriage to Mathilde [Mauté] and returning to God, and where the conflict is somewhat externalised. With Fêtes galantes and Romances sans paroles the conflict remains firmly located within the poet's self.

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