Mid-century poetics : the poetry in prose and verse of Nerval and Baudelaire

Abstract

This thesis explores the Janus-like dynamic of the prose and verse writings of Nerval and Baudelaire, by analysing the ways in which they 'stretch' the boundaries of existing forms and subgenres as part of a mid-century investigation into the possibilities of poetry and, ultimately, of language itself. I argue that each poet exploits the possibilities of a sophisticated prosodic and cultural tradition, while simultaneously calling that heritage into question. Both poets are best known for their verse collections - Nerval's Les Chimeres and Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du Mai - but their practice in prose, and its relationship with their verse poetry, is also crucial to any understanding of their aesthetic. Through their expansion of the boundaries of different generic categories - in both verse and prose - and the confrontation of different systems within their texts, they open up new poetic and critical possibilities which foreshadow the work of poets such as Rimbaud and Mallarme.