L'Art Poétique de Paul Verlaine
Don't worry, this blog hasn't suddenly turned into French. My writing skills aren't good enough for that yet, unfortunately. Anyway, for those of you who understand French, I came across this poem in What is Art? by Tolstoy. For those of you who haven't read it, think of a cross between Mary Whitehouse and Plato. If your brain hasn't exploded from the sheer weirdness of that last statement, What is Art? is just a very conservative treatise on art which argues that without religion, art has degenerated from something meaningful into something which serves only to give sensual pleasure. And if you're thinking that that sounds like every conservative diatribe ever, you'd be right. Still, I'm reading it because hey, it's Tolstoy and I like to argue. This poem is cited as an example of the degeneration of art, as it talks about how poetry should be intentionally vague. Disregarding any and all critical opinion , I like to think of it as a parody. ...