Parisian Nocturne (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Paul Verlaine
- First Published: 1866
- Type of Work: Lyric
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
- Subjects: Crime or criminals, Music or musicians, Paris, Poverty or poor people, Death or dying, Rivers or waterways, Fate or fatalism, Birds, Bats, Night
The Poem
“Parisian Nocturne” is a poem of 106 lines, divided into seven stanzas of unequal lengths. The title suggests a musical composition, perhaps a peaceful evocation of Paris by night. Instead, however, one finds a macabre reflection on the winding progress of the river Seine. This is the thirty-sixth and longest in a collection of forty poems ostensibly written under the influence of the planet Saturn. In keeping with the coldly pessimistic title of the collection, “Parisian Nocturne” describes only negative aspects of the river.
The poem addresses the...
[The entire page is 1535 words long]
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