French poet Stéphane Mallarmé: biography, creativity, photo

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Stefan Mallarmé was an outstanding French poet and writer who lived in the 19th century. He is the head of the symbolist school. Do you know what else Stéphane Mallarmé is famous for? The short biography presented in this article will allow you to learn more about him.

Origin, period of study

The future poet was born in Paris on March 18, 1842. His father was Numa Mallarme, who worked in the Property Office. When Stefan was 5 years old, he lost his mother, after which he was taken to be raised by her parents. Stéphane Mallarmé was a receptive child. He studied first at a religious boarding school located in Auteuil (in 1853), and then, from 1853, attended the Sansa Lycée. Studying in the latter turned out to be painful for the future poet. He began to feel his loneliness even more strongly after his 13-year-old sister Maria died in 1857. Mallarmé received his bachelor's degree in 1860. His father wanted Stefan to become an official, but Mallarme abandoned this career. Even then, he felt that he would become a poet.

Two sides of Mallarme's life

Stefan was in London for several months in 1862. Here he perfected his English. Returning to France in 1863, he became an English teacher at the Lycée Tournon. Stefan's life since that time, as it were, was divided into two parts. He was forced to teach for a small income in order to provide for his family - first in Tournon, then in Besancon (1866-67), in Avignon (until 1871), Paris (until 1894). The other side of his life was poetry.

First works, acquaintance with representatives of the Parnassian school

By the period 1862-64. include the first youthful poems of this author. They show the influence of Edgar Allan Poe and Charles Baudelaire. In 1864 Stéphane Mallarmé met Coutll Mendes, Frederic Mistral, M. V. de Lille-Adan. It is known that he was carried away by the poetry of the creator of the Parnassian school, Theophile Gauthier, and began to write works in its spirit.

Soon, in 1865, his poem appeared under the title "Afternoon of a Faun". Mallarme presented this work to the court of T. de Banville, who was one of the leaders of the Parnassus school. This poem is a sensual and refined eclogue. The pagan joy of being permeates the entire work.

Parnassian period of creativity

May 12, 1866 Mallarmé first published (10 poems published in "Modern Parnassus"). This fact meant that the Parnassians recognized him. Then came the years of searching for new means of expressing one'spoetic individuality (1868-73). Mallarme wrote a fantastic tale in the late 1860s, which he called "Igitur, or the Madness of Elbenon". However, it was published only in 1926. In addition, he set to work on Herodias, a drama in verse. This work, unfortunately, remained unfinished. Its fragment was published in 1871 in the second issue of the collection "Modern Parnassus".

Mallarme - decadent, new works

In the early 1870s, Mallarme separated from the Parnassians and joined the decadents. In 1872 he wrote "The Funeral Toast", dedicated to the death of T. Gauthier. This work marked Stephen's transition to a new poetics. Acquaintance with A. Rimbaud refers to 1872, with E. Manet - to 1873, with Emile Zola - to 1874. Stefan Mallarme began cooperation with a magazine called "Artistic and Literary Renaissance". Here, in 1874, Stefan published a translation of E. Poe's poem "The Raven". The illustrations for it were made by E. Manet. Mallarmé also collaborated with the Journal of the New World. Here he published a number of articles and essays. In 1874, A. Lemerre's publishing house refused to accept Mallarmé's "Afternoon of a Faun" for publication. It was only published in 1876. In the same year, the poet wrote a sonnet en titled "The Tomb of Edgar Allan Poe". And in the next, 1877, a school textbook appeared, the author of which was Mallarme. It was called "English Words". A textbook on mythology was published in 1880 ("The Ancient Gods"). He imaginesis an adaptation of D. W. Cox.

"Literary Tuesdays", fame

Malarme began to organize his "literary Tuesdays" since 1880. They took place in his apartment, located on Rimskaya Street. Saint-Paul Roux, Gustave Kahn, Paul Claudel, Henri de Regnier, André Gide, Paul Valéry and Pierre Louis took part in the Literary Tuesdays. The French poet Stéphane Mallarme became famous in literary circles. This was greatly facilitated by P. Verlaine, who ranked him among the so-called "damned poets" (in 1884 Verlaine wrote an essay of the same name). Also the popularity of Mallarmé was promoted by J.-C. Huysmans. In his 1884 novel The Other Way around, the writer took a detailed look at Stéphane's early poems through Des Essintes, his protagonist.

Mallarme - head of the symbolists

By the mid-80s of the 19th century, Mallarme was considered the leader among the decadent poets, who in 1886 began to call themselves "symbolists". His collection en titled "Poems of Stefan Mallarmé" appeared in 1887, and in the next - translations of poems created by E. Poe. At the same time, along with the "dark" symbolist poems, Stefan created small and understandable poems on various occasions. They were only published in 1920 ("Poems on occasion").

Last years of life

BIn 1894, the author of interest to us published a collection of poems in prose and poetry. Then he left the service, deciding to devote his life entirely to poetry. Mallarme set out to create a perfect, universal book that would give a unique and comprehensive explanation of the world. After the death of Verlaine, which occurred in 1896, Stephen was elected "prince of poets." The publication of his experimental poem en titled "Fortune will never abolish chance" dates back to 1897. The work is in the form of one long phrase, there are no punctuation marks. It was printed with a ladder, using a font of different sizes. The poem was placed on a two-page spread. Then, in 1897, Mallarme published a series of articles ("Music and Literature", "Poetry Crisis", etc.). Their common name is "Brands". In these works, the author expressed his thoughts that literature is in decline, that it is necessary to restore its former sacred meaning. Mallarme Stefan, whose biography and work remains relevant, died on September 9, 1898 in Paris. Most of his texts, as well as correspondence, were published only after his death.

The meaning and features of Mallarme's work

It must be said that the poet Stéphane Mallarmé, whose photo you will find in this article, appeared in French literature at the time when the need for new poetic forms and the exhaustion of the old ones became obvious. He led the movement of symbolism, in which the new artistic thinking took shape theoretically, whichadvocated reforms of the language of poetry and paved the way for modern literature in France.

Mallarme radically rethought the question of the purpose of poetry. He believed that she should not teach or describe. There must be something super-real in it. According to Mallarme, poetry is the transmission of innermost meaning through human language. It gives authenticity to our lives. The poet is an intermediary between the world of people and the secrets contained in the universe. He can lift the veil that hides the transcendent through the use of symbolic words. It is behind them that another reality is guessed, which Stefan Mallarme so wanted to convey to us. His creativity testifies that he succeeded.