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Les Poètes maudits

work by Verlaine

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Les Poètes maudits (The Accursed Poets) is a collection of critical and biographical studies by French poet Paul Verlaine, first published in 1884. The term "poète maudit" describes a poet as an outcast of society, feared for their profound insights into spiritual emptiness. Verlaine applied this label to poets like Tristan Corbière, Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, Villiers de l’Isle-Adam, Stéphane Mallarmé, and Arthur Rimbaud, who were then not widely recognized. The concept carries the implication of a poet's diminished status from an ancient role of seer and prophet. Verlaine himself is considered a leader of the Symbolists and is associated with the Decadent movement.123

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