Assembled from the articles published in French journals, the full version of Les Poetes Maudits was first published in 1888. Rimbaud, the boy with whom Verlaine had his infamous affair, Mallarme, and Verlaine himself need little introduction; figures such as Tristan Corbiere and Jules Laforgue, a huge influence on the poetry of TS Eliot, were lesser known at the time, but are now recognised as major figures. Marceline Desbordes-Valmore is still unknown outside the francophone world, though Goya painted her portrait and Stefan Zweig wrote a study of her.

Author Biography

Paul Verlaine ranks alongside Baudelaire, Mallarme, and Rimbaud as one of the most influential poets of late nineteenth-century France. Remarkable not only for his exquisitely crafted verse, he is also the poet of strong emotions and appetites, with an unrivalled gift for the sheer music of poetry, and an inventive approach to its technique.