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Which English writers did Paul Verlaine study during his years in England?
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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.
During his time in England, Paul Verlaine engaged with several English writers. While serving a prison sentence in 1874, he undertook an admiring study of William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens.1
Following his release, while living and teaching in Lincolnshire and Hampshire, he gained a broader appreciation for English authors, including Alfred Lord Tennyson, Algernon Charles Swinburne, and various Anglican hymn writers. Additionally, his later work, specifically his lament for Lucien Létinois, was intended to emulate Tennyson’s In Memoriam.1