Terme de Glossaire

Accursed poets

A term which appeared, through the pen of Verlaine (1844-1896), in the review Lutèce in 1883, and then in an expanded volume the following year. It consists of an anthology-collection of poets termed ‘accursed’ – ‘absolute through the imagination, absolute in expression’ – because they live on the margins of their time and, through their writing, decisively break with former practices. On this list feature names such as Corbière (1847-1875), Mallarmé (1842-1898), Rimbaud (1854-1891), Villers de l'Isle-Adam (1838-1889) and Pauvre Lelian (Paul Verlaine himself). But this label has been widely adopted by literary history, beyond solely the 19th century, to designate rebel writers, more often than not transgressive, amongst whom feature notably Villon (before 1431-after 1463), Lautréamont (1846-1870), Sade (1740-1814), Gérard de Nerval (1808-1855) and Baudelaire (1821-1867).

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