STUART MERRIL
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know that I have seen somewhere a beautiful and effective ballad ofMerril's. His "Chambre D'Amour" would be more interesting if Samain hadnot written "L'Infante," but Merril's painting is perhaps interesting ascomparison. It begins: Dans la chambre qui fleure un peu la bergamote,Ce soir, lasse, la voix de l'ancien clavecinChevrote des refrains enfantins de gavotte. There is a great mass of this poetry full of highly cultured housefurnishing; I think Catulle Mendès also wrote it. Merril's "Nocturne"illustrates a mode of symbolistic writing which has been since playedout and parodied: La blême lune allume en la mare qui luit,Miroir des gloires d'or, un émoi d'incendie.Tout dort. Seul, à mi-mort, un rossignol de nuitModule en mal d'amour sa molle mélodie.Plus ne vibrent les vents en le mystère vertDes ramures. La lune a tu leurs voix nocturnes:Mais à travers le deuil du feuillage entr'ouvertPleuvent les bleus baisers des astres taciturnes. * * * * * * * * There is no need to take this sort of tongue-twisting too seriously,though it undoubtedly was so taken in Paris during the late eighties andearly nineties. He is better illustrated in "La Wallonie," vide infra.
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