Sign-In
Cart
April Harvest, Swans, and Joys
Paperback
Poetry CriticismGeneral Poetry
ISBN13: 9781955392853
Publisher: Sunny Lou Publishing
Published: Jan 1 2026
Pages: 244
Weight: 0.54
Height: 0.55 Width: 5.00 Depth: 8.00
Language: English
This is an English-language translation of the first, second, and fourth books of poetry by Francis Vielé-Griffin (AD 1864-1937): April Harvest (Cueille dʼavril, 1885), Swans (Les Cygnes, 1887), and Joys (Joies, 1889) from the early years of the French poetʼs life.
Francis Vielé-Griffin was an American by birth, having been born in Virginia. As a boy of seven or eight years old, he was sent to France to attend school; he remained. By 21 years old, and fully proficient in French, he was an adherent, and one of the principal and early practitioners, of the Symbolist movement in poetry, which grew out of the Decadent movement. A close friend of Stéphane Mallarmé, he was also a great believer in free verse.
In his own words, Griffin says this (from Joys): The verse is free verse; - which means nothing more than that the ʻoldʼ Alexandrine with one or more ʻc sura,ʼ with or without ʻrejetʼ or ʻenjambment,ʼ is abolished or done away with; but, more generally, [it means] that no fixed form is considered as the necessary mold anymore for the expression of all poetic thought; that from now on, consciously free this time, the Poet will obey the personal rhythm that must be, without M. de Banville or any other ʻlegislator of Parnassusʼ intervening; and, finally, that talent shall resplend in different ways than by the traditional or illusory ʻvanquished difficultiesʼ of rhetorical poetics: Art is not merely learnt, it recreates itself continually; it does not live by tradition, but by evolving.
In the appendix is an extant chapter (His Thought) from Francis Vielé-Griffin: Son Oeuvre, Son Pensée, Son Art, by Jean de Cours.
On the cover is Fontainbleau: Black Oaks of Bas-Bréau by Camille Corot, oil on paper, 1830s.
Also from
Vielé-Griffin, Francis
La Lumière de Grèce. Pindare. Sapho. La Légende Ailée de Bellérophon Hippalide
Vielé-Griffin, Francis
Paperback
Voix D'Ionie: Le Délire De Tantale, Pasiphaé, Galatíe, Les Noces D'Atalante [Et] La Sagesse D'Ulysse, Précédées De Quelques Poèmes
Vielé-Griffin, Francis
Paperback
Plus Loin, Poèmes: La Partenza; in Memoriam Stéphane Mallarmé; L'amour Sacré
Vielé-Griffin, Francis
Paperback
Also in
General Poetry
Dante's Vita Nuova, New Edition: A Translation and an Essay
Pitavy, Francois
Alighieri, Dante
Paperback
Sounding the Seasons Enlarged Edition: One Hundred and Ten Sonnets for the Christian Year
Guite, Malcolm
Paperback
They Bloom Because of You: Poems on the Infinite Love, Growth, and Magic of Motherhood
Urlichs, Jessica
Paperback
Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching: A Book about the Way and the Power of the Way
Le Guin, Ursula K.
Lao Tzu
Paperback