Poetry
Poèmes antiques
Not translated into English
Leconte de Lisle · 1852
Synopsis
The collection draws on the mythologies and history of ancient civilisations. It opens on ancient India, then dwells at length on Greece, its gods, its heroes and its statues, with pieces such as Hypatie, Khirôn or Vénus de Milo. The poet seeks a plastic and learned beauty, far from any confidence. Britannica notes, beneath this erudite surface, a deep pessimism: human history appears there as a slow decline from the ancient golden age.
Context
The collection appeared in 1852, with thirty-one poems and a preface regarded as a true manifesto: the author asserted there that a work of the mind devoid of sensory beauty cannot be a work of art, and that the poet must isolate himself from the world of action. It reprised poems published earlier and was afterwards revised, expanded and corrected from one reissue to the next. It made its author the central figure of the Parnassus.
Who it is for
Ample, learned poems, laden with ancient proper names; an annotated edition helps to follow them.
Prizes and reception
The founding collection of the Parnassian movement; Classiques Garnier published a critical edition in 2011, the first volume of the complete works.
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