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Poems of Jules Laforgue

Jules Laforgue

Translated by Peter Dale

No Text
Imprint: Anvil Press Poetry
Publisher: Carcanet Press
Available as:
Paperback (480 pages)
(Pub. May 2001)
9780856463228
Out of Stock
Digital access available through Exact Editions
  • Description
  • Author
  • Awards
  • ‘ 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.

    Jules Laforgue
    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 ... read more
    Peter Dale
    Peter Dale was born in Addleston, Surrey in 1938 and educated at St Peter’s College, Oxford. He worked as a secondary school teacher before becoming a freelance writer in 1993. He was co-editor of the poetry journal Agenda for many years. He is renowned for his translations from French (Corbière, Laforgue, ... read more
    Awards won by Jules Laforgue Short-listed, 1999 T S Eliot Prize (Poems of Jules Laforgue)
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