SOURCE: "The Poetry of Jules Laforgue," in Scrutiny, Vol. V, No. 2, September, 1936, pp. 128-49.

In the following essay, Turnell examines Laforgue poetic method, primarily through an analysis of his Dernier vers and a comparison of his poetry to that of Charles Baudelaire.

Je songe à une poésie qui serait de la psychologie dans une forme de rêve, avec des fleurs, du vent, des senteurs, d'inextricables symphonies avec une phrase (un sujet) mélodique dont le dessin reparaît de temps en temps.

J.L. in a letter to Charles Henry, December, 1881.

I

The influence of Laforgue on modem poetry has been decisive. In the ordinary way it is a mistake to distinguish too sharply between the influence of a writer's outlook and the influence of his style or, as I should prefer to call it, his method. In the case of Laforgue, however, some sort of distinction...