Home > Stéphane Mallarmé

Mallarmé was a major French symbolist poet and rightly famed for his salons, occasional gatherings of intellectuals at his house for discussions of poetry, art, philosophy.

His fin-de-siecle style is anticipatory of many of the developments in fusions between art and poetry which were to blossom in the Dadaist, Surrealist and Futurist schools, where the tension between the words on the page and the way in which they were displayed was paramount. But whereas most of the latter work was concerned principally with form, Mallarmé's work was concerned with style and content: this is particularly evident in the highly innovative Un coup de dés jamais n'abolira le hasard (trans. "A roll of the dice") of 1897, his last major poem.

Mallarmé is considered one of the French poets most difficult to translate into English. This is often said to be due largely to the inherently vague nature of much of his work, but this explanation is really a simplification. On closer reading of his work in the original French, it is clear that the sound relationships between the words in the poetry are of equal or even greater importance than the standard 'meanings' of the words themselves, often unfolding new meanings in the spoken text which are not self-evident on reading the work on the page. It is this aspect of the work which is impossible to translate into any other language, as it depends in part on the ambiguity inherent in the phonology of the spoken French language, and throws up huge numbers of relationships that are difficult to capture in any other language, particularly when attempting to remain as close as possible to the translation of the standard meanings of the words involved. It can also be suggested that it is this 'pure sound' aspect of his poetry that has lent itself to being compared with, and inspiring, music (see below).

A good example of this appears in Roger Pearson's book 'Unfolding Mallarmé', in his analysis of the Sonnet en '-yx'. The poem opens with the words 'Ses purs ongles' ('Her pure nails'), which when spoken aloud sounds almost identical in French to the words 'C'est pur son..' ('It's pure sound'). This use of homophony, and the relationships and layers of meanings it results in, is simply impossible to capture accurately through translation.

For many years, the Tuesday night sessions in his apartment on the rue de Rome were considered the heart of Paris intellectual life as W.B. Yeats, Rainer Maria Rilke, Paul ValéryPaul Valery ( October 30, 1871 July 20, 1945) was a French author and poet of the Symbolist school. He was born in Sete, Herault. Living in Paris from 1892 onwards, he produced nothing for a twenty-year period, eventually breaking his silence in 1917 with, Stefan GeorgeStefan George ( Bingen, Hesse, July 12, 1868 Locarno, December 4, 1933) was a German poet and translator. Work George's poetry was categorised by an aristocratic and remote ethos; his verse was formal in style, lyrical in tone, and often arcane in languag, Paul VerlainePaul Verlaine ( March 30, 1844 January 8, 1896) is one of the greatest and most popular of French poets. Born in Metz, he was educated at a lycee in Paris and then took up a post in the civil service. He began writing poetry at an early age, and was initi, and many more held court with Mallarmé as the judge, jester, and king.

Mallarmé's poetry has been compared to music, and has been the inspiration for several musical pieces, notably Claude DebussyClaude Achille Debussy ( August 22, 1862 March 25, 1918), composer of impressionistic classical music. Born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Yvelines, France, Claude Debussy studied with Guiraud and others at the Paris Conservatoire ( 1872- 84) and as an 1884 Pr's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune ( 1894Events January 8 A fire at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago causes a good deal of damage. January 9 New England Telephone and Telegraph installs the first battery-operated telephone switchboard ( Lexington, Massachusetts). February 15 04:51 GMT), a free interpretation of Mallarmé's poem L'Après-Midi d'un faune ( 1876Events January events January 31 The United States orders all Native Americans to move into reservations. February events February 2 The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs of Major League Baseball is formed. February 14 Alexander Graham Bell a) which creates powerful impressions by the use of striking but isolated phrases. Debussy also set Mallarmé's poetry to music in Trois poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé (1913). Other composers to use his poetry in song include Maurice RavelMaurice Ravel ( March 7, 1875 December 28, 1937) was a French composer, best known for his orchestral work, Bolero and his famous 1922 orchestral arrangement of Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. He was born in Ciboure, France (near Biarritz, (Trois poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé, 1913), Darius MilhaudDarius Milhaud ( September 4, 1892 June 22, 1974) was a French- Jewish composer and teacher. He was a member of Les Six and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. Milhaud was born in Aix-en-Provence and studied in Paris under Charles Wido (Chansons bas de Stéphane Mallarmé, 1917) and Pierre Boulez ( Pli Selon Pli, 1957-62).