The Sixth Sense : Individualism in French Poetry, 1686-1760

Professor Finch here undertakes to isolate a certain group of poets, belonging to the first half of the eighteenth century, who may appropriately be called __individualistes__ and who are in various ways characteristic of a definite and important trend of their time. It has long been the custom to condemn eighteenth-century French poetry outright as generally unworthy of attention. However, in keeping with a recent change of attitude towards this vast and diverse body of literature, Professor Finch here undertakes to isolate a certain group of poets, belonging to the first half of the century, who may appropriately be called individualistes and who are in various ways characteristic of a definite and important trend of their time. The authors he has chosen were selected from the larger group of individualists because each provides, in addition to his poems, a complete statement of his own conception of poetry and of that conception which is common to the group as a whole. Since the works treated are comparatively unfamiliar the author has considered them from a historical and an analytical as well as a critical point of view. In addition he has devoted three special chapters to a literary historian (Evrard Titon du Tillet) and to three critical theorists (Jean-Baptiste Dubos, Yves-Marie André, and Charles Batteux) whose contemporary writings, while they may or may not have influenced the poets here examined, support, reflect, or confirm their ideas and practice. Texts of these poets are not easily available and the numerous representative quotations from the poems given in this book will be welcomed by the reader. PREFACE 7 CONTENTS 9 CHAPTER ONE. INTRODUCTION 11 CHAPTER TWO. SEGRAIS, SAINT-EVREMOND, PERRAULT: LE GÉNIE (1686) 31 CHAPTER THREE. FÉNELON Qualities rather than Forms 47 CHAPTER FOUR. FONTENELLE Originality before Convention 57 CHAPTER FIVE. LA MOTTE A New Anatomy of Poetry 66 CHAPTER SIX. CHAULIEU AND LA FARE: Diction a Matter of Temperament 77 CHAPTER SEVEN. EARLY CHAMPIONS 87 CHAPTER EIGHT. LATER ASSESSORS 99 CHAPTER NINE. J.-B. ROUSSEAU. Trouver la clef de l'âme 111 CHAPTER TEN. GRESSET. Créer ou se taire 146 CHAPTER ELEVEN. LEFRANC DE POMPIGNAN Rêver des mots 187 CHAPTER TWELVE. BERNIS. II faut sentir pour savoir l'art de peindre 213 CHAPTER THIRTEEN. RACINE. Poésie engagée 258 CHAPTER FOURTEEN. LEBRUN: LE GÉNIE (1760), AND AFTER 305 NOTES 315 BIBLIOGRAPHY 401 INDEX 415