Azure: Poems and Selections from the "Livre" (Wesleyan Poetry Series)

During his lifetime, Stéphane Mallarmé (1842 - 1898) was recognized as one of the greatest living French poets. He wrote extensively on themes of reality and his desire to turn away from it, marrying form and content in revolutionary ways that departed drastically from the more tightly controlled French tradition. Despite his status as one of the first modernists, much of Mallarmé’s radicalism has been lost in translation. Finally, in this new collection by Blake Bronson-Bartlett and Robert Fernandez, the magic and mastery of form and diction, so striking in Mallarmé’s French verse, comes to life in English. Drawing from Poesies (1899), Un coup de des (A Cast of Dice), and the "Livre" (the "Book" - the overarching conceptual work left unfinished at the death of the poet), this collection captures Mallarmé’s true linguistic brilliance, bringing the poems into our current history while retaining the music, playfulness, and power of the originals. Cover 2 Title Page 6 Copyright 7 Contents 8 Translators’ Note 10 Poésies [Edition Deman, 1899] 29 Salut 30 Hex 31 Apparition 34 Hopeless Plea 35 This Worked-Over Clown 36 Windows 37 Flowers 39 Renewal 40 Anguish 41 “Tired of my indolence ...” 42 The Bell Ringer 43 Summertime Sadness 44 The Azure 45 Sea Breeze 47 Sigh 48 Alms 49 Their Desirable Gift 50 Hérodiade [scene] 51 The Afternoon of a Faun [Eclogue] 57 “Lock of hair ...” 61 Saint 62 Funeral Toast 63 Prose [for des Esseintes] 65 Fan [of Mme. Mallarmé] 68 Other Fan [of Mlle. Mallarmé] 69 Scrap, as for an Album 70 Remembrance of Belgian Friends 71 Street Song I (The Shoemaker) 72 Street Song II (Herb Vendor) 73 Ticket 74 Tune I [“So alones (choose)”] 75 Tune II [“My drives’”] 76 Various Sonnets 77 “When shade ...” 77 “Vivacious, pretty hymen ...” 78 “Suicide. Good death ...” 79 “Her pure nails ...” 80 Tomb of Edgar Poe 81 Tomb of Charles Baudelaire 82 Tomb (Anniversary—January 1897) 83 Homage [Wagner] 84 Homage [Puvis de Chavannes] 85 “To you colonist ...” 86 I 87 II 88 III 89 “What balm-of-time-silk ...” 90 “Straight to your story ...” 91 “Red fire lozenge ...” 92 “Leaves seal the name ...” 93 A Cast of Dice 94 From the “Livre” 105 Acknowledgments 153 A vibrant new translation of a modernist poet During his lifetime, Stphane Mallarm (1842 - 1898) was recognized as one of the greatest living French poets. He wrote extensively on themes of reality and his desire to turn away from it, marrying form and content in revolutionary ways that departed drastically from the more tightly controlled French tradition. Despite his status as one of the first modernists, much of Mallarm's radicalism has been lost in translation. Finally, in this new collection by Blake Bronson-Bartlett and Robert Fernandez, the magic and mastery of form and diction, so striking in Mallarm's French verse, comes to life in English. Drawing from Posies (1899), Un coup de ds (A Cast of Dice), and the "Livre" (the "Book"--the overarching conceptual work left unfinished at the death of the poet), this collection captures Mallarm's true linguistic brilliance, bringing the poems into our current history while retaining the music, playfulness, and power of the originals. During his lifetime, Stéphanie Mallarmé (1842-1898) was recognized as one of the greatest modern French poets. He wrote extensively on themes of reality and his desire to turn away from it, marrying form and content in revolutionary ways that departed drastically from the more tightly controlled French tradition. Despite his status as one of the first modernists, much of Mallarmé's radicalism has been lost in translation. Finally, in this new collection by Blake Bronson-Bartlett and Robert Fernandez, the magic and mastery of form and diction so striking in Mallarmé's French verse comes to life in English. Drawing from Poésies (1899 edition), Un coup de dés (A cast of dice), and the "Livre" (the "Book"--The overarching conceptual work left unfinished at the death of the poet), this collection captures Mallarmé's true linguistic brilliance, bringing the poems into our current context, while retaining the music, playfulness, and power of the originals. -- from back cover During his lifetime, Stéphane Mallarmé (1842 – 1898) was recognized as one of the greatest living French poets. He wrote extensively on themes of reality and his desire to turn away from it, marrying form and content in revolutionary ways that departed drastically from the more tightly controlled French tradition. Despite his status as one of the first modernists, much of Mallarmé's radicalism has been lost in translation. Finally, in this new collection by Blake Bronson-Bartlett and Robert Fernandez, the magic and mastery of form and diction, so striking in Mallarmé's French verse, comes to life in English. Drawing from Poésies (1899), Un coup de dés (A Cast of Dice), and the'Livre'(the'Book'—the overarching conceptual work left unfinished at the death of the poet), this collection captures Mallarmé's true linguistic brilliance, bringing the poems into our current history while retaining the music, playfulness, and power of the originals.