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How did the death of Paul Verlaine’s mother affect his later life?
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Paul Verlaine
Paul Verlaine, detail from Un Coin de table, oil painting by Henri Fantin-Latour, 1872; in the Louvre, Paris.
The death of Paul Verlaine’s mother in January 1886, to whom he was tenderly attached, was a significant turning point in his life. Coming alongside the death of his favorite pupil, Lucien Létinois, and the failure of his attempts to reconcile with his wife, her passing caused his remaining will to maintain a sense of "respectability" to collapse. Following these losses, Verlaine relapsed into a life of drink and debauchery, spending his later years in a state of notoriety while struggling to earn a living through his writing.1