Early Poetry

Early Poetry by Auguste de Villiers de l'Isle-Adam (AD 1838-1889) was first published in 1859 (as Premières poésies in French). It contains, as explained in the preface, Villiers' poetry written before his twentieth year: "The author of this volume is nineteen years old. - It is... with a certain modesty that he releases these first pages." He need not have been so modest. The poetry is mature in execution and thought, rich in feeling and imagery; Romantic by and large, it anticipates the Decadents; it is something that a more seasoned poet would have been proud of, with the sometimes added benefit of the enthusiasm of youth.

The poetry speaks for itself:

Muse, what an admirable and rare privilege!

By instinct, she shrugged her shoulders white as snow

Before all that life offers with its impure ennuis;

Like a statue of sovereign forms, she accepted,

With a withering smile the human miseries

And sorrows of obscure days.

Anguish and terrors had rocked her before:

As for solitude, she was weary of it;

Our vain words, sorrows, sufferings, regrets,

Brushed her without leaving any more of a trace

Than a flight of vultures leaves on the surface

Of the Ocean with its dark secrets.

- From "Song the Third: Compassion," Hermosa