Literature · 1844–1896
Born: 30 March 1844 · Died: 8 January 1896 · Age: 51
French Symbolist poet of Romances sans paroles, famed for his musical verse and turbulent affair with Rimbaud
Did you know?He once shot his fellow poet and lover Arthur Rimbaud during a drunken argument, leading to a prison sentence.
Paul Verlaine wrote some of the most musical poems in French. His verse is soft, melancholy and dreamlike. He had a stormy affair with the young poet Arthur Rimbaud. In Brussels he shot Rimbaud in the wrist and was jailed. In prison he returned to Catholicism. He struggled with drink and poverty. Younger poets hailed him as the Prince of Poets.
Paul Marie Verlaine ( vair-LEN; French:; 30 March 1844 – 8 January 1896) was a French poet, writer and critic associated with the Symbolist, Parnassianist and Decadent movements. He is considered one of the paramount exponents of the fin de siècle in French and international poetry.
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Profile
French poet, 1844–1896
Paul Verlaine was born in Metz on 30 March 1844.
His first book, Poèmes saturniens, appeared in 1866.
He shot Rimbaud in 1873.
He wrote Romances sans paroles (1874).
Career highlights
Did you know?His line "Les sanglots longs des violons" was used as a coded message before D-Day.
Questions people ask
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