SOURCE: "The French Symbolists," in Scribner's Magazine, Vol. XIII, No. 3, March, 1893, pp. 337-52.

In this excerpt, Gorren places Laforgue in the context of other poets associated with Symbolism, commenting on both his similarities with and his differences from them.

. . . [Love] of the barest rhythmic notation, and of that unseizable distinction that lurks in folk-songs and popular legends, tempted Jules Laforgue . . . —Jules Laforgue, charming and charmeur, who died at the age of twenty-seven, delicate, well-bred wizard who was like no one ever but himself.

He also tried the mixing of prose and verse. His verse was always of the sort that the Symbolists approve; its harmonies and its unity were "psychic rather than syllabic." He had all audacities as to feet and accent. His poetry indeed seems little else than rhythmic prose divided, typographically, into separate lines. His prose, on the other hand, has poetical cadences, returns upon itself...