Influence of Walt Whitman on the Origin of the "Vers Libre" Author(s): P. M. Jones Source: The Modern Language Review, Vol. 11, No. 2 (Apr., 1916), pp. 186-194 Published by: Modern Humanities Research Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3712973 Accessed: 19-01-2016 11:41 UTC

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This content downloaded from 132.239.1.230 on Tue, 19 Jan 2016 11:41:51 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions INFLUENCE OF WALT WHITMAN ON THE ORIGIN OF THE 'VERS LIBRE.'

THEdifficult question of the origin of the vers libre, as yet unillumined by thorough investigation, has been made more obscure by a diversity of partial solutions. The free verse movement in France is generally dated from the appearance in 1887 of M. Gustave Kahn's Palais nomades. M. Kahn considers himself the author, and is undeniably the theoriser of the innovation: though it is held that he was preceded in this direction by his friend Jules Laforgue. In his Rapport sur le Mouvement poetique franfais, Catulle Mendes gives the names of some half dozen 'originators'; but his ironical remarks on the free verse movement, with which he was entirely out of sympathy, are not to be taken seriously. M. Robert de Souza, who has made a scientific study of French rhythm mainly from the standpoint of accentuation, traces the origin of the recent 'innovations' back to the mediaeval fountain- head of French versification, and has consequently little to say about the would-be originators of the eighties. While agreeing with this scientific explanation, many of the best verslibristes are content to cite, as the initial inspiration of their own free verse, the vers libe'ie of Paul Verlaine. In the important preface to Palais nomades, M. Kahn explains his own experiment as the culmination of the development of poetic prose from Chateaubriand to Baudelaire and of the prose- poem from Baudelaire to Mallarme. There is probably a large element of truth in all these points of view. But the question cannot be settled without taking into account another suggestion of a different character, namely that modern French free verse owes its origin partly, if not primarily, to foreign influence. This opinion owes something to the fact that a large percentage of the early verslibristes were of foreign extraction. 'Je remarque avec assez d'6tonnement,' said Josd-Maria de Heredia, 'que ce sont des Belges, des Suisses, des Grecs, des Anglais et des Americains qui veulent

This content downloaded from 132.239.1.230 on Tue, 19 Jan 2016 11:41:51 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions P. M. JONES 187 renouveler le vers frangaisk.' M. Viele-Griffin, one of the most prominent (and certainly the most consistent) of verslibristes, is an American by birth. Many of his comrades in the Symbolist campaign appreciated the freedom and flexibility of English and German versifications; and it has even been suggested that the free, line for line translations made from foreign poets in the early days of Symbolism gave an impulse to the new ventures in French prosody. In this connection Whitman's name has been brought forward. Though it happens that some of the Leaves of Grass were rendered into French about the time when the first free verses appeared, a direct influence in his case has never been seriously maintained. None of the principal studies of the Symbolist movement refers to Whitman; hence anyone conversant with the trend of French versification since Verlaine cannot but be surprised to find so recent and authoritative a publication as Les Poetes d'Aujourd'hui suggesting that Whitman's influence was a factor. 'M. Gustave Kahn,' we there read, 'est un poete du vers libre. I a meme pass6 a une certaine 6poque pour ]'avoir invente, et lui-meme n'est pas loin de le croire. On a pretendu d'autre part, que le merite de cette innovation revenait k Jules Laforgue. Arthur Rimbaud se l'est vue 6galement attribuer, et il n'est pas jusqu'a une poetesse montmartroise, Mme Marie Krysinska, qui n'ait rEclam6 cette gloire pour son propre compte. C'est 1a une question qui n'est pas encore bien tranch6e et le vers libre, en admettant qu'il n'ait pas toujours exist6 plus ou moins, n'a peut-etre 6t6 tout d'abord, sous sa forine actuelle, qu'un des resultats de l'influence de poetes etrangers, notamment du poete americain Walt Whitman, tres appr6cie des ecrivains symbolistes2.' Exceptional as this point of view now is, it has been held by other writers, one of whom is in the front rank of contemporary French critics. M. Remy de Gourmont writes: 'A qui doit-on le vers libre ?...surtout a Walt Whitman dont on commenqait alors k gofiter la licence majestueuse3'; and again: 'On traduisait egalement vers 1883 quelques poemes de Walt Whitman dont la libre rythmique ne fut pas sans influence sur le mouvement symboliste et la creation du vers libre4.' An American writer, Vance Thompson, in a book on the Symbolist poets says: 'And just as Poe created modern French prose, Whitman re-created modern French verse5.' 1 M. Huret, Enquete sur la litterature contemporaine, p. 293. Catulle Mendes made a similar remark, p. 307, ibid. 2 Van Bever and L6autaud, Poetes d'Aujourd'hui, vol. I, p. 203. 3 Promenades litteraires (1885-1886), p. 245. 4 Promenades litteraires (1904), see La littbrature anglaise en France, p. 304. 5 French Portraits, p. 103.

This content downloaded from 132.239.1.230 on Tue, 19 Jan 2016 11:41:51 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 188 Influence of Watlt Whitman on the ' Vers Libre'

A study of the origins of the Symbolist movement and interviews with its most prominent survivors have convinced me that there is no serious foundation for these assertions; on this point I am in complete accord with Mr F. S. Flint's opinion, expressed in the Poetry Review (August, 1912): 'It has been said that the introduction of vers libre was due to the influence of Walt Whitman and of German poetry. I agree with M. Florian-Parmentier that in the question of purely French technique, the names of foreign poets cannot be invoked'.' In the first place, the idea of Whitman's influence having acted on the vers libre, put forward in Poetes d'Aujourd'hui, was explained away in an interview with the joint compiler of the anthology. A con- temporary of the whole imovement and a scholar of repute, M. Van Bever ridiculed the notion as soon as it was mentioned, and was consequently astonished when shown the passage in question. Jocularly pointing out a 'peut-etre' in the paragraph, he professed ignorance of its existence and confessed that, though he was responsible for the notices prefixed to the. selections in the anthology, it was his colleague, M. Paul Leautaud, who had given them their final form, from notes furnished by him. The other statements already quoted appear, on closer examination, to be no less unsubstantial. At best they are but isolated assertions unsupported by any explanation or proof. M. Remy de Gourmont himself referred me to M. Viele-Griffin as most likely to furnish the true solution of the question. As has been said, the vers libre virtually dates from the publication of M. Gustave Kahn's Palais nomades (1887). But if the discovery of the desired medium is due to M. Kahn, equal credit must be given to M. Francis Viele-Griffin for establishing on a firm and recognised basis the new versification to which his life-work is an important contribution. Moreover, he and Laforgue2, who shares with M. Kahn the honour of being the originator of verslibrisme, were the first translators of

1 See article on 'Contemporary French Poetry,' p. 358. In the same article Mr Flint speaks of M. Tancrede de Visan as the 'theorist of Symbolisme.' In answer to an inquiry about the passage already quoted, M. de Visan made the followiug interesting reply: 'Le passage auquel vous faites allusion des Poetes d'aujourd'hui me semble absolument faux. La verit6 est que le Symbolisme comme toute ecole, apres coup, s'est cherche des ancetres ou des maitres. II a declare qu'il avait puise dans la lecture de Whitman l'id6e du vers libre, alors que le poete am6ricain n'a pas et6 connu en France-ou presque- avant 1895. Jules Laforgue, Gustave Kahn, Moreas, ont fait du vers libre sans connaitre Whitman. Seul Viele-Griffin, peut-etre, a pu emprunter a l'auteur des Brins d'herbe quelques rythmes polymorphes. Pour ma part je crois que le vers libre fratnais ne doit rien ou presque rien a l'etranger. Il fut chez nous une creation spontanee et s'il faut lui trouver des ancetres, c'est plutot dans nos chansons du Moyen Age qu'on les puiserait.' 2 To M. Griffin Laforgue owed his acquaintance with Leaves of Grass.

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Whitman into Frenchl. Probably both were interested as much in the robust originality of Whitman's thought as in the novelty of his form. Les Joies, M. Viele-Griffin's first volume of free verse, came out in 1889. Three years later he writes of the form '6 absolument libre, du poete des Brins d'herbe2.' In 1896 a French writer hails M. Viele- Griffii as 'le petit-fils de Walt-Whitman3';-though it is hard to con- ceive that any idea of such indebtedness as these words imply could survive a comparison of the works of the two poets. M. Viele-Griffin himself not only denies any debt to Whitman, but rejects the suggestion that Whitman had any influence whatever on the origin of French free verse, which, he maintains, was a native development, having its true source in the vers libere of Verlaine. Until lately, he says, Whitman has had no influence on poets of the French tongue except perhaps on MM. Maeterlinck and Paul Claudel. The case of M. Maeterlinck will be considered further on. With respect to M. Claudel, although Whitman's influence is frequently invoked to explain a singular similarity of forn, it may be said here that the French poet considers his verse a personal creation, the outcome of years of experiment. As for Jules Laforgue, he read and translated Whitman whom he introduced to the readers of La Vogue as 'l'etonnant poete americain.' But his own poetry-one of intellectual subtleties and refined ironical sentiment-shows no trace of Whitman's virile thought, vast outlook and multitudinous sympathies. Laforgue's verse was, at first, free only in the sense that Verlaine's is: both poets excelled in playing skilful and daring variations on the old metrical themes. But at a certain period in his career, Laforgue took to writing vers libre. His acquaint- ance with M. Kahn's metrical theories has been mentioned in connexion with this change; but it has never, apparently, been associated with his introduction to Whitman's poetry. I am inclined to regard this also as a case of personal development, and some support for this view will be folundin Laforgue's private notes4, which go to prove his quest for a highly individualistic meedium of expression;. There is no good reason, later, for agreeing with M. F. Strowski when he writes of

1 Casual relderings of Whitman's verse were made in French articles on the American poet as early as 1878; but these are negligible as translations. 2 In Entretieis politiqules et litteraires, Avril, 1892: Autobiograplelie de Valt W1hitman. MIaurice le Blond, Essai sur la Naturisme (1896). 4 Eutretiens politiques et litteraires, 2i1lneannie, vol. III, no. 18. 5 What he was aiming at at this time (1885-1886) seems to have been the prose poem, though as early as 1886 he published a poem in vers libre (A zole djfuhlt.r) in L'Independante (Nouvelle serie, vol. i, no. 1). His first translation from Whlitman appeared in thie tenth number of La Vogue, dated June 25 to July 5, 1886.

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Laforgue as having 'appris de l'Americain, Walt Whitman, ce qu'une oreille naturellement musicale avait enseigne a Marie Krysinskal.' In short, had not fragments of Whitman's poetry been translated about the time when the first vers libres were being written, probably no attempt would have been made to forge a link connecting the two phenomena. That the amorphous rhapsodies of the American are much more unbridled than the freest French verses of that time is uncon- sciously demonstrated in the pages of the Revue Independante for 1888, where somle of the earliest vers libres are printed side by side with renderings of Leaves of Grass. The best argument against the theory that the vers libre derives from Whitman is advanced by Mr Jethro Bithell and supported by all French authorities. Although translations from Whitllan during the vers libre period were fairly numerous 'they had not attracted the least notice and no one betrayed the slightest interest for the technique of the American poet. As a matter of fact few people knew anything about Whitman beside the two poets of American birth, Francis Viele-Griffin and Stuart Merrill; and both at that time, although of course their manner was new, were writing as far asform is concerned, regular verse2.' Mr Bithell then points out the connexion between Whitman and the Belgian poets; and this brings us to the first definite case of Whitman's influence on French literature: 'Another of the first poets to write free verse, the Walloon poet, Albert Mockel, was not un- acquainted with Whitman: he had read American Poevms,selected by William M. Rossetti. Now Mockel, as editor of La Wallonie, which he had founded to defend the new style, was connected with the whole group of symbolists and "verslibristes," all of whom, practically, were regular contributors to the review....But as it happened, Mockel was not in the least inspired by the selections from Whitman in Rossetti's collection; they made the impression on him of being Bible verses rather than real verses. One poet Whitman's lawless line did directly influence; (and this s s Maeterlisck whose rhymeless verses in "Serres Clhaudes" were written under the inspiration of" Leaves of Grass." But Serres Chaudes did not appear till 1889 and even then the majority of the poems in the volume were rhymed and regular; so that it could hardly be claimed that Maeterlinck was the originator of the vers libre.' An examination of certain poems in Serres Chaudes will show the nature of the influence. Most of the poems in this volume are in 1 Litte.raturefranl(aise dl XIXe siecle, p. 458. 2 J. Bithell, Maurice Maeterlinck, p. 15.

This content downloaded from 132.239.1.230 on Tue, 19 Jan 2016 11:41:51 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions P. M. JONES 191 octosyllabic quatrains. But, interspersed, are seven pieces without rhyme or any appreciable rhythm. In this they are at once ahead of the freest vers libres of that day, and.abreast of Whitman's emanci- pated lines, to which they bear a more striking resemblance. Whitman's mode of writing has been dubbed the 'catalogue style.' Frequently a series of sketches are penned in rapid succession so as to drive home the full force of an idea or impart the peculiar flavour or nuance of an emotion by means of a long string of minutely appropriate images. This method is discernible in the 'free' poems of Serres Chaudes where it is employed for still subtler purposes. In these poems, M. Maeterlinck attempts to arrest the flight of a transitory fancy, to communicate an indescribable etat d'dme, to give the suggestion of the purely abstract or abstruse, by a series of concrete symbolsl. The result is an abundance, if not an excess, of enumeration and ejaculations such as we find else- where only in Whitman; so that certain poems of both writers present the singular appearance of an unusual number of consecutive lines beginning with the same words and ending with notes of exclamation. The most striking example of M. Maeterlinck's use of these devices, pre-emlinently characteristic of Whitman, occurs in the poem entitled Regards, which, curiously enough, M. Tancrede de Visan enthrones as the true type of the Symbolist method of poetic expression.

0 ces regards pauvres et las! Et les v tres et les miens! Et cesux qui ne sont plus et ceux qui vont venir ! Et ceeux qui i'arriveront jamais et qui existent cependant ! IIy ein a qui semnblent visiter des pauvres un dimanche; I y en a commle des malades sans maisoll; II y ein a conmme des agneaux dans une prairie couverte de linges. Et ces regardes insolites! II y en a sous la voCite dcesquels on assiste a l'execution d'une vierge dans uue salle close, Et ceux qui font songer a des tristesses ignorees ! A des paysans aux fenttres de l'usine, A un jardinier devenu tisserand, A une apres-midi d'ete dans un nmusee de cires, Aux idees d'une reine qui regarde un malade dans le jardin, A une odeur de carnphre dans la foret, A enfernler une princesse dans une tour, un jour de fete, A naviguer toute une semaine sur un canal tibde. Ayez piti6 de ceux qui sortent h petits pas comme des convalescents dans la moisson ! Ayez piti6 de ceux qui ont l'air d'enfants egares a l'heure du repas !

' Nous le voyons dans les Serres Chaudes entasser a dessein les images pour mieux nous faire penetrer son impression subtile' (T. de Visan, L'Attitude du lyrisme con7temporain,p. 120). Se,rresChaudes, p. 71.

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Ayez pitie des regards du blesse vers le chirurgien ! Pareils i des tentes sous l'orage! Ayez pitie des regards de la vierge tente ! (Oh ! des fleuves de lait vont fuir dans les tenbbres! Et les cygnes sont morts au milieu des serpents!) Et de ceux de la vierge qui succombe! Princesses abandonnees ell des marecages sais issues! Et ces yeux oh s'6loignent a pleines voiles de navires illumines dans la tempete ! Et le pitoyable de tons ces regards qui souffrent de n'6tre pas ailleurs ! Et tant de souffrances presque indistinctes et si diverses cependant! Et ceux que nul ne comprendrajamais ! Et ceux pauvres regards presque inuets ! Et ces pauvres regards qui chuchotent! Et ces pauvres regards etouffes !... With this may be compared almost any of the longer poems from Leaves of Grass, particularly-for its initial repetitions and ejaculations -Salut atu Mlonde! But perhaps nothing Whitman has written resembles the above poem more closely in idea and expression than the composition entitled Faces. Sauntering the pavement or riding the country by-road, lo such faces! Faces of friendship, precision, caution, suavity, ideality, The spiritual-prescient face, the always welcome common benevolent face, The face of the singing of rusic, the grand faces of natural lawyers and judges, broad at the back-top, The faces of hunters and fishers bulged at the brows, the shaved blanch'd faces of orthodox citizens, The pure extravagant, yeaIrning,questioning artist's face, The ugly face of somiebeautiful soul, the handsome detested or despised face, The sacred faces of infants, the illuminated face of the mother of many children, The face of an anmour,the face of veneration, The faces of a dream, the face of an inmmobilerock, The face withdrawn of its good and bad, a castrated face, A wild hawk, his wringsclipp'd by the clipper, A stallioni that yielded at last to the thongs and knife of the gelder. Sauntering the pavelments thus, or crossing the ceaseless ferry, faces and faces and faces...

These two quotations illustrate the sole case we have found of Whitman's influence on the Symbolists. . Bazalgette's complete translation of Leaves of Grass has, since 1909, given an impetus to the study and influence of Whitman in France. But it is beyond my present purpose to trace the Whitman strain through the devious ramifications of contemporary French poetry. I must be content with a retrospective glance at the general position. The vers libre is an emancipated form of versification relying for its effects on subtler harmonies and concordances than those of regular

1 In this poem of 226 lines, 83 begin with the words I see,' 39 with 'You,' 18 with I hear.'

This content downloaded from 132.239.1.230 on Tue, 19 Jan 2016 11:41:51 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions P. M. JONES 193 verse. While it usually employs rhythm and rhyme or assonance, it avoids anything like a metric.al scheme of balanced verses and identical stanzas. Its principles are now acknowledged as innate in French versification from the earliest times; but as a fully recognised form of lyrical expression, it dates only from the later eighties, when a natural reaction set in against the limitations imposed upon verse by the bronze and marble ideals of Parnassian prosody. Some of the more revolutionary poets felt that the intricacies and niceties of modern thought and feeling could not be adequately expressed by any pre- arranged system of rigid metres; but required a medium as unrestricted and varied as the succession of fugitive ideas and emotions themselves. In an age characterized by the interpenetration and coordination of the arts, the new poets made music not sculpture their extra-literary model; and consequently set about adapting old forms and inventing others to suit their purpose. So far, the movement was of purely French origin. Its development, however, may have been moulded to some slight extent by extraneous influence. A knowledge of foreign poetry was undoubtedly possessed by many of the innovators, and, possibly, models were sought in literatures where less rigorous versifications prevail. Such models would not only guide the innovator, but, in a way, legitimatize his venture. He would feel a certain moral support in claiming kinship with another who had successfully accomplished something similar to what he himself was aiming at. Moreover, this would furnish a strong argument against the critics at home. He might even fall into the error of attaching an exaggerated importance to his foreign master. In this way not a few poets have gained abroad reputations disproportionate to their importance in their native literature. Edgar Allen Poe and Whitman have not escaped this sort of literary lionizing in France. Undoubtedly the greater part of French free verse has been a spontaneous production, uninfluenced by foreign examples. But of all extraneous influences that of Whitman has been most frequently suggested. It happened that he himself was in a somewhat similar position to that of the early verslibristes. He, too, had adopted a novel and personal form, unfettered by rhyme or metre; he too was suffering for the uncompromising boldness of his innovation at the hands of disconcerted critics reared in the old school. By 1877, the date of the publication of AM.Kahn's first volume of vers libres, Whitlman had already accomplished about twenty-two years' work. Leaves of Grass was in its sixth edition. Young French poets, struggling to attain

This content downloaded from 132.239.1.230 on Tue, 19 Jan 2016 11:41:51 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 194 Influence of Walt Whitman oz the ' Vers Libre' a personal medium, would naturally be interested in hearing of one who was winning in just such a campaign as their own. From America, where Whitman was slowly gaining recognition, had come MM. Stuart Merrill and Francis Viele-Griffin. Both these poets were interested in, though not influenced by, their compatriot's experiment in verse-writing. Both can now claim a place in the forefront of the Symbolist movement, and their influence must have been considerable. We have seen some- thing of what M. Viele-Griffin did to make Whitman known in France. Since their early efforts, Whitman's reputation has grown in that country, till it can boast a complete translation of his poetry and a deep enthusiasm for Whitman as a poet of the people which is bearing fruit in 'new' poetry of a mnoregenerous and democratic appeal. Yet we must be careful not to exaggerate Whitman's importance in France at too early a date. Perhaps it would be safest to say that in the days when the first vers libres were being written', the poets who knew Whitman-and they were few, though important-were attracted mainly through the appeal made by his brusque originality to their pronounced taste for literary novelties. They may even have regarded him as a foreign master who had accomplished a revolution in poetical art similar to that which they were attempting, but never as a magician who would initiate them into the mysteries of some startling metrical innovation. P. M. JONES. OXFORD.

l M. Maeterlinck's case need not be considered here. He probably came across Whitman more or less by chance, while exploring the wide field of foreign literatures. But his imitations of Whitman appeared when the vers libre movement was well started and do not seem to have inspired subsequent imitators.

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