Paul-Marie Verlaine

French poet. Born on March 10th in Metz, northeastern France, where his father (a captain of engineers) was stationed. He was raised as an only child and doted on by his parents, who were from wealthy old families. When he was seven years old, his father retired from the military and the family moved to Paris. He received his primary education at a boarding school on the Rue Hélène, and from the age of nine he became a boarder at the Laundry Institute, from which he commuted to Lycée Bonaparte (now Condorcet). He was an excellent student who regularly attended church, but by adolescence he had transformed into an underachiever, earning the disapproval of his teachers. He was absorbed in reading and writing poetry, and at the age of 14 he sent a draft of his own poem "Death" to Victor Hugo. His poem "Aspirations", written at the age of 17, shows the influence of Baudelaire. In August 1862 (at the age of 18), he passed the university entrance exam. He enrolled in law school, but rarely attended, spending his days writing poetry and drinking. Following his father's recommendation, he worked for an insurance company for about two months, and then became a city hall official. In 1866, his name was included in the "Modern High-Tempered Poetry Collection." In October of the same year, he self-published his first collection of poems, "Songs of the Saturnians," which was praised by high-tempered poets. His unique world of musical rhythm was already timeless. His poems, "Frequent Dreams" and "Autumn Songs," translated by Ueda Bin, are beloved in Japan as well. After his secretly published second collection of poems, "Girl Friends" (1867), was banned, he published his third collection, "A Voluptuous Banquet" (1869). He sings of the languor of modern times with the sensual beauty of the Rococo style.

He soon became engaged to Mathilde Mauté de Fleurville (1853-1914), the sister-in-law of his friend, the composer Charles de Sivry. He gave up drinking and began a peaceful, bourgeois married life in Paris during the Franco-Prussian War (1870). He dedicated his poems to Mathilde to the composer in the work "Les Liedes le le sûte" (1872). In the autumn of 1871, he was moved by poems and letters sent to him by the young boy from Charleville, and invited him to Paris. Fascinated by Rimbaud's antisocial poetic style and behavior, he destroyed his family, which had produced one child, and was shunned by the poetry world. He fled to Belgium with Rimbaud, and then to London. In the midst of this turbulent life, his musical metered poetic style was further developed, resulting in the creation of "Les Liedes le sûte sans você" (1874).

In July 1873, after a heated argument and drunkenness in Brussels, he fired two shots from a pistol at Rimbaud, wounding him in the left wrist. After being imprisoned in Petit Carmes prison, he was sentenced to two years' imprisonment and transferred to Mons prison. While in prison, he was shocked to learn that his wife had been granted a divorce (1874). He experienced a conversion. After being released in January 1875, he tried to convince Rimbaud of his faith but failed, but he became a teacher in England and continued to live a peaceful Catholic life. The poems about faith that he wrote during and after his imprisonment are included in "Wisdom" (1881) and "Poems of Love" (1888), while others are mainly included in "Past and Present" (1885), "Poems of Two Hearts" (1889), and "Poems of Abuse". In 1877, he returned to France and worked at the Leter secondary school. His life was thrown into disarray once again by his love for his beautiful student, Létinois, and the grief of his young death. He harmed his mother and was imprisoned for a month. However, he also wrote excellent essays on poets, such as "Les Poets Cursed" (1884), and made a great contribution to introducing and promoting the poetic work of the unknown poet Rimbaud.

In his later years, he achieved fame as a master and was named the "King of Poets", but he also fell into extreme poverty due to alcoholism and syphilitic arthritis, attempted suicide, and suffered from extreme misery, even receiving relief funds from the Minister of Education. On January 8, 1896, he died of bronchial pleurisy in Paris, surrounded by the prostitute Eugénie with whom he was living, and the painter Cortigny, and ended his turbulent life at the age of 52. Copé, Barrés, Mallarmé and others carried the pall of his funeral.

[Chikako Nakayasu]

"Studies on Verlaine" by Horiguchi Daigaku (1947, Shoshinsha)" ▽ "Mallarmé, Verlaine, Rimbaud, translated by Suzuki Shintaro et al. (Chikuma World Literature Series 48, 1974, Chikuma Shobo)" ▽ "Poetry and Depth" by Jean-Pierre Richard, translated by Arita Tadao (1969, Shichosha)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

フランスの詩人。3月10日、父（工兵大尉）の任地フランス北東部メス市に誕生。裕福な旧家出身の両親から一粒種として溺愛(できあい)されて育つ。7歳のとき、父の退役を機にパリに移転。エレーヌ街の寄宿学校で初等教育を受け、9歳からランドリー学院の寄宿生となり、ここからリセ・ボナパルト（現在コンドルセ）に通学。教会にまじめに通う優等生は、思春期に及んで教師の顰蹙(ひんしゅく)を買う劣等生に変貌(へんぼう)する。一方、読書と詩作に没頭し、14歳にして自作の詩稿「死」をビクトル・ユゴーに送る。17歳の詩「熱望」にはボードレールの影響がみられる。1862年8月（18歳）大学入学資格試験に合格。法律学校に籍を置くがほとんど出席せず、詩と酒の日々を送る。父の勧めで2か月ほど保険会社で働いたのち、市役所の役人となる。66年『現代高踏詩集』に名を連ねる。同年10月、第一詩集『土星びとの歌』を自費出版し、高踏派詩人らの称賛を浴びる。音楽的韻律の独自な世界は、すでに時代を超えていた。上田敏訳の「よくみる夢」や「秋の歌」は日本でも愛唱されている。秘密出版の第二詩集『女友だち』（1867）の発禁事件を経て、第三詩集『なまめかしい宴(うたげ)』（1869）を発表。ロココ趣味の官能美をもって近代の倦怠(けんたい)を歌う。

　やがて、友人の作曲家シャルル・ド・シブリCharles de Sivryの義妹マチルド・モーテMathilde Mauté de Fleurville（1853―1914）と婚約。酒をやめ、プロイセン・フランス戦争下のパリでブルジョア的平穏な結婚生活に入る（1870）。マチルドに捧(ささ)げた詩は、『よい歌』（1872）にまとめられる。1871年秋、シャルルビルの少年ランボーから送られた詩と手紙に感動しパリに招く。その反社会的な詩法と行動に魅惑され、1子をもうけた家庭を破壊し、詩壇からも疎まれて、ランボーとともにベルギーに逃亡、ロンドンに渡る。この激動の生活のなかで音楽的韻律の詩法はいっそうの醸成をみて『言葉のない恋歌』（1874）が生まれる。

　1873年7月、ブリュッセルで激しい口論と泥酔のすえ、ランボーに向かって拳銃(けんじゅう)を二発発射。左手首に傷を負わせたあげく、プチ・カルムの刑務所に収容され、禁固2年の極刑判決によりモンスの監獄に移される。獄中、妻に離婚承認判決が下ったことを知り（1874）、衝撃を受ける。回心を体験。75年1月出所後、ランボーに信仰を説いて失敗するが、イギリスで教職につき、穏やかなカトリック的生活が続く。獄中とその後に生まれた信仰にかかわる詩は、『叡知(えいち)』（1881）、『愛の詩集』（1888）に、その他は主として『昔とちかごろ』（1885）、『雙心詩集』（1889）、『悪罵(あくば)詩集』に収録。77年、フランスに戻りレテルの中学に勤務。美少年の生徒レチノアLétinoisへの愛とその夭折(ようせつ)の悲嘆からふたたび生活が乱れる。母に危害を加え1か月間投獄される。だが、一方では『呪(のろ)われた詩人たち』（1884）などの優れた詩人論を書き、無名詩人ランボーの詩業の紹介、推輓(すいばん)に多大の貢献を果たした。

　晩年は、巨匠の名声を得、「詩王」に選ばれる一方、酒と梅毒性関節炎のため極度の貧困に陥り、自殺を企てたりし、文部大臣から救済金を贈られるなど、悲惨を極めた。1896年1月8日、気管支性肋膜(ろくまく)炎により、同棲(どうせい)中の娼婦(しょうふ)ウージェニーと画家コルチニーにみとられ、パリで波瀾(はらん)の生涯を閉じた。52歳であった。棺衣の綱は、コペー、バレス、マラルメらが持った。

［中安ちか子］

『堀口大学著『ヴェルレーヌ研究』（1947・昭森社）』▽『鈴木信太郎他訳『マラルメ、ヴェルレーヌ、ランボオ』（『筑摩世界文学大系48』1974・筑摩書房）』▽『ジャン・ピエール・リシャール著、有田忠郎訳『詩と深さ』（1969・思潮社）』

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