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Why did Paul Verlaine leave his wife and son in 1872?
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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.
Paul Verlaine abandoned his wife, Mathilde Mauté, and their infant son, Georges, in July 1872 primarily due to his intense and volatile infatuation with the younger poet Arthur Rimbaud.12
Following their initial meeting in September 1871, the two men entered into a passionate homosexual relationship that caused significant scandal and strained Verlaine’s marriage. Although Verlaine had previously attempted a reconciliation with his wife, he ultimately decided he could not live without Rimbaud and chose to flee with him to northern France and Belgium. This departure allowed the pair to travel together and provided Verlaine with the environment to write his collection Romances sans paroles.21