Although he is a comparatively minor figure among nineteenth-century French poets, his reputation resting on the two collections published during his lifetime and the one published in the year following his death, Albert Samain's poems have an enduring attraction and have often been included in anthologies. Robert Sabatier in his Histoire de la poésie française (History of French Poetry, 1975-1988) lists him, along with Jean Moréas (pseudonym of Tannis Pappadiamantopoulos and Henri Régnier, as one of the "three masters of Symbolism." A different perspective was provided by his friend and poet Léon Bocquet who, in Albert Samain, sa vie, son ouvre (Albert Samain, His Life and Work, 1905), described him as "invinciblement Romantique" (invincibly Romantic) and suggested that his inspiration had close links with that of poets such as Victor Hugo and Alphonse de Lamartine.

Albert Victor Samain was...