Early Poetry

<p><em>Early Poetry</em> by Auguste de Villiers de lʼIsle-Adam (AD 1838-1889) was first published in 1859 (as <em>Premières poésies</em> in French). It contains as explained in the preface Villiersʼ poetry written before his twentieth year: The author of this volume is nineteen years old. - It is... with a certain modesty that he releases these first pages. He need not have been so modest. The poetry is mature in execution and thought rich in feeling and imagery; Romantic by and large it anticipates the Decadents; it is something that a more seasoned poet would have been proud of with the sometimes added benefit of the enthusiasm of youth.</p><p><br></p><p>The poetry speaks for itself:</p><p><br></p><p><em>Muse what an admirable and rare privilege!</em></p><p><em>By instinct she shrugged her shoulders white as snow</em></p><p><em>Before all that life offers with its impure </em>ennuis<em>;</em></p><p><em>Like a statue of sovereign forms she accepted </em></p><p><em>With a withering smile the human miseries</em></p><p><em>And sorrows of obscure days.</em></p><p><br></p><p><em>Anguish and terrors had rocked her before:</em></p><p><em>As for solitude she was weary of it;</em></p><p><em>Our vain words sorrows sufferings regrets</em></p><p><em>Brushed her without leaving any more of a trace</em></p><p><em>Than a flight of vultures leaves on the surface</em></p><p><em>Of the Ocean with its dark secrets.</em></p><p><br></p><p>- From Song the Third: Compassion Hermosa</p><p><br></p>