Early Poetry
Early Poetry by Auguste de Villiers de lʼIsle-Adam (AD 1838-1889) was first published in 1859 (as Premi res po sies in French). It contains, as explained in the preface, Villiersʼ poetry written before his twentieth year: "The author of this volume is nineteen years old. - It is... with a certain modesty that he releases these first pages." He need not have been so modest. The poetry is mature in execution and thought, rich in feeling and imagery; Romantic by and large, it anticipates the Decadents; it is something that a more seasoned poet would have been proud of, with the sometimes added benefit of the enthusiasm of youth.
The poetry speaks for itself:
Muse, what an admirable and rare privilege
By instinct, she shrugged her shoulders white as snow
Before all that life offers with its impure ennuis;
Like a statue of sovereign forms, she accepted,
With a withering smile the human miseries
And sorrows of obscure days.
Anguish and terrors had rocked her before:
As for solitude, she was weary of it;
Our vain words, sorrows, sufferings, regrets,
Brushed her without leaving any more of a trace
Than a flight of vultures leaves on the surface
Of the Ocean with its dark secrets.
- From "Song the Third: Compassion," Hermosa
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