The Cursed Poets

Assembled from articles published in French journals, the full version of The Cursed Poets (Les Poetes maudits) was published in 1888. Rimbaud, the boy with whom Verlaine has had his infamous affair, Mallarme, and Verlaine himself need little introduction; figures such as Tristan Corbiere and Jules Laforgue, a major influence on the poetry of T.S. Eliot, were lesser known at the time, but are now recognized 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. Villiers de I’Isle-Adam is an ultimate Symbolist, after whose drama Edmund Wilson titles his Axel’s Castle.