The Penguin Book of French Poetry: 1820-1950--With Prose Translations [Paperback]

This collection illuminates the uniquely fascinating era between 1820 and 1950 in French poetry—a time in which diverse aesthetic ideas conflicted and converged as poetic forms evolved at an astonishing pace. It includes generous selections from all the established giants—among them Baudelaire, Verlaine, Rimbaud and Breton—as well as works from a wide variety of less well-known poets such as Claudel and Cendrars, whose innovations proved vital to the progress of poetry in France. The significant literary schools of the time are also represented in sections focusing on such movements as Romanticism, Symbolism, Cubism and Surrealism. Eloquent and inspirational, this rich and exhilarating anthology reveals an era of exceptional vitality.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.Acknowledgments
Introduction
Technicalities
Sources and Acknowledgments

Romanticism in France

Alphonse de Lamartine (1790-1859)
Le Lac
Le Vallon

Marceline Desbordes-Valmore (1786-1859)
Souvenir
Les Roses de Saadi
La Couronne effeuillée

Alfred de Vigny (1797-1863)
La Colère de Samson
Le Mont des Oliviers

Victor Hugo (1802-85)
Extase
Puisque mai tout en fleur...
Souvenir de la nuit du 4
Stella
Mes deux filles
Demain, dès l'aube...
A Villequier
Booz endormi
Je suis fait d'ombre
Fenêtres ouvertes
Bêtise de la guerre

Charles-Augustin Sainte-Beuve (180lS6