MOREAS
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t must not be thought that these very "modern" poets owe theirmodernity merely to some magic chemical present in the Parisian milieu.Moréas was born in 1856, the year after Verhaeren, but hisMadeline-aux-serpents might be William Morris on Rapunzel: Et votre chevelure comme des grappes d'ombres,Et ses bandelettes à vos tempes,Et la kabbale de vos yeux latents,--Madeline-aux-serpents, Madeline.Madeline, Madeline,Pourquoi vos lèvres à mon cou, ah, pourquoiVos lèvres entre les coups du hache du roi!Madeline, et les cordaces et les flûtes,Les flûtes, les pas d'amour, les flûtes, vous les voulûtes,Hélas! Madeline, la fête, Madeline,Ne berce plus les flots au bord de l'île,Et mes bouffons ne crèvent plus des cerceauxAu bord de l'île, pauvres bouffons.Pauvres bouffons que couronne la sauge!Et mes litières s'effeuillent aux ornières, toutes meslitières à grand pansDe nonchaloir, Madeline-aux-serpents.... A difference with Morris might have arisen, of course, over the nowlong-discussed question of vers libre, but who are we to dig up thatBabylon? The schoolboys' papers of Toulouse had learnt all about itbefore the old gentlemen of _The Century_ and _Harper's_ had discoveredthat such things exist. One will not have understood the French poetry of the last half-centuryunless one makes allowance for what they call the Gothic as well as theRoman or classic influence. We should probably call it (their "Gothic")"medievalism," its tone is that of their XIII century poets, Crestien deTroies, Marie de France, or perhaps even D'Orléans (as we noticed in thequotation from Vielé-Griffin). Tailhade in his "Hymne Antique" displayswhat we would call Swinburnism (Greekish). Tristan Klingsor (a nom deplume showing definite tendencies) exhibits these things a generationnearer to us: Dans son rêve le vieux Prince de Tourainevoit passer en robe verte à longue traîneYeldis aux yeux charmeurs de douce reine.* * * * * * * * or Au verger où sifflent les sylphes d'automnemignonne Isabelle est venue de Veniseet veut cueillir des cerises et des pommes.* * * * * * * * He was writing rhymed vers libre in 1903, possibly stimulated bytranslations in a volume called "Poésie Arabe." This book has anextremely interesting preface. I have forgotten the name of thetranslator, but in excusing the simplicity of Arab songs he says: "Theyoung girl in Germany educated in philosophy in Kant and Hegel, whenlove comes to her, at once exclaims 'Infinite!', and allies hervocabulary with the transcendental. The little girl in the tents 'nesavait comparer fors que sa gourmandise.'" In Klingsor for 1903, I find: Croise tes jambes fines et nuesDans ton lit,Frotte de tes mignonnes mains menuesLe bout de ton nez;Frotte de tes doigts potelés et jolis,Les deux violettes de tes yeux cernés,Et rêve.Du haut du minaret arabe s'échappeLa mélopée triste et brèveDe l'indiscret muezzinQui nasillonne et qui éternue,Et toi tu bâilles comme une petite chatte,Tu bâilles d'amour brisée,Et tu songes au passant d'Ormuz ou d'EndorQui t'a quittée ce matinEn te laissant sa légère bourse d'orEt les marques bleues de ses baisers. Later he turns to Max Elskamp, addressing him as if he, Klingsor, atlast had "found Jesus": Je viens vers vous, mon cher ElskampComme un pauvre varlet de cœur et de joieVient vers le beau seigneur qui campeSous sa tente d'azur et de soie.* * * * * * * * However I believe Moréas was a real poet, and, being stubborn, I havestill an idea which gor embedded in my head some years ago: I mean thatKlingsor is a poet. As for the Elskamp phase and cult, I do not makemuch of it. Jean de Bosschère has written a book upon Elskamp, and heassures me that Elskamp is a great and important poet, and some day,perhaps, I may understand it. De Bosschère seems to me to see or to feelperhaps more keenly than any one else certain phases of modernmechanical civilization: the ant-like madness of men bailing out littleboats they never will sail in, shoeing horses they never will ride,making chairs they never will sit on, and all with a frenziedintentness. I may get my conviction as much from his drawings as fromhis poems. I am not yet clear in my mind about it. His opinion of MaxElskamp can not be too lightly passed over. Vide infra "De Bosschère onElskamp."
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