Editing Paul Verlaine (section)

==Style==
[[File:Paul Verlaine.jpg|thumb|250px|{{center|Verlaine drinking [[absinthe]] in the Café François 1er in 1892, photographed by Paul Marsan [[Dornac]]}}]]
Much of the [[French poetry]] produced during the ''[[fin de siècle]]'' was characterized as "[[Decadent movement|decadent]]" for its lurid content or moral vision. In a similar vein, Verlaine used the expression ''[[poète maudit]]'' ("cursed poet") in 1884 to refer to a number of poets like [[Stéphane Mallarmé]], [[Arthur Rimbaud]], [[Aloysius Bertrand]], [[Comte de Lautréamont]], [[Tristan Corbière]] or [[Alice de Chambrier]], who had fought against poetic conventions and suffered social rebuke, or were ignored by the critics. But with the publication of [[Jean Moréas]]' ''[[Symbolist Manifesto]]'' in 1886, it was the term [[symbolism (arts)|symbolism]] which was most often applied to the new literary environment. Along with Verlaine, Mallarmé, Rimbaud, [[Paul Valéry]], [[Albert Samain]] and many others began to be referred to as "Symbolists." These poets would often share themes that parallel [[Schopenhauer's aesthetics]] and notions of will, fatality and [[Unconscious mind|unconscious forces]], and used themes of sex (such as [[Prostitution|prostitutes]]), the city, irrational phenomena ([[delirium]], dreams, [[narcotic]]s, alcohol), and sometimes a vaguely [[Middle Ages|medieval]] setting.

In poetry, the symbolist procedure—as typified by Verlaine—was to use subtle suggestion instead of precise statement ([[rhetoric]] was banned) and to evoke moods and feelings through the magic of words and repeated sounds and the cadence of verse (musicality) and [[Meter (poetry)|metrical]] innovation.

Verlaine described his typically decadent style in great detail in his poem "Art Poétique," describing the primacy of musicality and the importance of elusiveness and "the Odd."  He spoke of veils and nuance and implored poets to "Keep away from the murderous Sharp Saying, Cruel Wit, and Impure Laugh."  It is with these lyrical veils in mind that Verlaine concluded by suggesting that a poem should be a "happy occurrence."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.aestheticrealism.net/poetry/art-poetique.htm|title=Art Poétique|last=Verlane|first=Paul|date=1882|website=Aesthetic Realism Online Library|others=Translated by Eli Siegel (1968)|access-date=18 February 2017}}</ref> 

An example of Verlaine's subtle use of rhyme, puns and imagery is the untranslatable stanza: "Il pleure dans mon coeur / comme il pleut sur la ville. / Quelle est cette langueur / qui pénètre mon coeur?" This phrase begins with a [[portmanteau]] between "Je pleure" (I am crying) and "Il pleut" (It's raining) and continues by carrying through both the emotion and the vowel sound of the "eu" common to "pleure" and "pleut."