BIOGRAPHY AND PERSONALITY OF A FAMOUS ARIES: PAUL VERLAINE

Poet, born in Metz, France. Educated in Paris, he mixed with the leading Parnassian writers, and achieved success with his second book of poetry, Fêtes galantes (1869). In 1872 he left his wife to travel with the young poet Rimbaud. Having rediscovered his Catholic faith, he then taught French at a Catholic school in Bournemouth, England, where he wrote Sagesse (1881, Wisdom), which contains perhaps his finest lyrics. In 1877 he returned to France, where he wrote critical studies, notably Les Poètes maudits (1884, The Accursed Poets).