SOURCE: "Prince of Poets (1893-96)," in Verlaine, The Viking Press, 1971, pp. 323-61.

In the following excerpt from her seminal biography of Verlaine, Richardson discusses Verlaine 's poetry in the context of his era.

Verlaine published his first book at a moment when French poetry was dominated by the Pernassians: by a belief in technical perfection and by the creed of impassibility. Verlaine was a technician of consummate skill, he understood the value of discipline; but he could not be impassible. He was, by his nature, from the first, the most responsive and personal of poets.

To be a poet [he maintained, at the end of his life], I think one must live intensely, in every way—and remember it . . .

As I see it, then, the poet must be absolutely sincere, but completely conscientious as a writer. He must hide nothing of himself; but, in his honesty, he must...