Poems of Jules Laforgue

Laforgue Jules

"He is an exquisite poet, a deliverer of nations... a father of light", said Ezra Pound in 1918 of Jules Laforgue. Among the most innovative of poets in the French language, Laforgue was an important influence on the young T. S. Eliot. Part symbolist and part impressionist, his associative method, speech-rhythms and boldly heterogenous diction make him not only one of the most individual of French poets but also among the most entertaining. Notable also for his early protests for the liberation of women, Laforgue died in Paris in 1887 aged just 27.

In this revised edition of his verse translation, Peter Dale (described by Donald Davie as an "exceptionally thoughtful and enterprising translator") captures the energy and panache of Laforgue's poetry in translations which are by turns as playful, wild, clear, obscure and impossible as the French poems.

About the Author

Jules Laforgue (1860-1887) was born in Montevideo, Uruguay and raised by a cousin's family in Tarbes, in south-west France. In 1876 he moved with his family to Paris. He was a poor student but developed an interest in art and became secretary to Charles Ephrussi, one of the first collectors of Impressionist art. From 1881 to 1886 he lived in Berlin, working as French reader for the Empress Augusta. In 1886 he married an Englishwoman, Leah Lee, in France. He died of tuberculosis in the following year.

Reviews

Awards won by Jules Laforgue
Short-listed, 1999 T. S. Eliot Prize (Poems of Jules Laforgue)

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