Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"Tomb (Of Paul Verlaine)" by Stephane Mallarme serves as a touching epitaph for his contemporary and friend, the French poet Paul Verlaine. Much like Mallarmé's elegy for Edgar Allan Poe, this poem navigates the complex interplay between mortality and artistic legacy, transforming Verlaine's tomb into a symbol of both loss and enduring influence. While Mallarmé's poem for Poe was a communion between poets separated by geographical and temporal distances, his words for Verlaine come from a place of closer personal connection and shared artistic sensibilities.

The poem begins with a description of a "dark rock," a metaphor for the tomb, stirred by winds yet resistant to be "stilled" even under devout, pious hands. This opening image embodies Verlaine's own complex character, a man of turbulent emotions and a life filled with scandal and strife, who also contributed deeply to the spiritual and aesthetic realms through his poetry. The rock "groping its resemblance to human woes" serves to humanize the abstracted concept of death and aligns it with the human suffering that often punctuates creative genius.

Mallarmé uses the mournful call of a dove as an emblem of sorrow, layering it with a celestial image of a star meant to "besilver the crowd" in the future. The star, perhaps symbolic of Verlaine's poetic legacy, is rendered distant and slightly dimmed by the grief that shrouds it. Nevertheless, its destiny is to shine brilliantly, much like Verlaine's contributions to literature.

Verlaine is described as "vagabond," a term capturing the restless, wandering nature of the man who led a life of both scandal and brilliance. His solitude in death is contrasted with the fame and notoriety that marked his life, echoing the tensions that often define the lives of artistic figures. The tomb becomes a sanctuary where Verlaine is hidden "amid the grass," in a space that is simultaneously humble and eternal.

Finally, the poem culminates in the juxtaposition of a "stream not very deep" with the heavy notion of "calumniated death." This contrast encapsulates the multifaceted experience of Verlaine's life and the conflicted emotions that surrounded his passing. Here, death is described as shallow and misunderstood, perhaps a commentary on how public perception often fails to grasp the complexities that shape an artist's life and legacy.

Overall, Mallarmé's elegy for Verlaine is a nuanced blend of sorrow, admiration, and philosophical pondering on the lasting resonance of an artist's work beyond the confines of mortality. It serves not just as a memorial for a lost friend, but as a reflection on the complexities and paradoxes that often characterize the lives of those who contribute enduringly to the realm of art and thought

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