The Poetics of French Verse

This book explores in depth the expressive resources peculiar to French verse, first through formal discussion of its poetics and then through thirteen detailed readings of texts from the seventeenth century to the present, including La Fontaine, Chnier, Vigny, Baudelaire, Mallarm, Apollinaire, luard, and Csaire. At the same time, it offers a reassessment of the nature of the reading process itself, especially as it relates to verse.