Who were the DAMNED POETS and the most important FEATURES

Surely more than once you have heard about the cursed poets but... Who were they really? It was a movement that took place in 19th century France and brought together a group of poets who promoted a totally groundbreaking and out-of-rule type of art and lifestyle. They are the French bohemians, the misunderstood artists who saw beauty where no one saw it and who wanted to experiment to the fullest with life regardless of morality or conventions social. In this lesson from a TEACHER we are going to discover you who were the cursed poets and the most important characteristics of this movement that was baptized like "malditismo".

Index

1. Why are they called cursed poets
2. The Cursed French Poets: History in Brief
3. Characteristics of the cursed poets

Before going fully into knowing who the cursed poets are, it is important that we better understand the causes of this peculiar name. And is that this

The accursed poets cultivated a kind of poetry that exuded a certain gothic air and where there was a strongly destructive attitude. A careful poetry full of a sinister beauty that was slightly separated from the romantic tradition to offer a darker, more suggestive and devastating literature.

Due to their stylistic proposal, the cursed poets were misunderstood among society of the time since they bet on a type of poetry that was totally out of reason and logic. They were criticized both for their poetry and for their personality or their way of life since they were totally far from the prevailing morality in the Puritan society of the time. They voluntarily shunned the public scene of French society.

These poets left the Christian "moral" life to enter that other dark world, of vice and pleasure, starring the drugs, sex and gambling. And this is the setting where many of his poems were created, something that could not be well received by the France of Romanticism.

The name of this generation comes from the publication of Paul Verlaine, "The Damned Poets", an essay in which the author spoke about the type of life and literature carried out by 6 poets (he included), a path that led them to have a "cursed" life, that is, a life full of torments and incomprehension.

Over time, the term coined by Verlaine became generalized and, today, we call "malditismo" to a artistic condition that points to those creators who leave the established norm and who move away from the society. The rebellious and misunderstood artists.

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Now that we have known in more detail what we mean when we talk about the cursed poets, it is important to know some of the most prominent authors of this generation. We have already said that they are originally from France and emerged to show that good poetry and literature although the social patterns stipulated by the most aristocratic.

The cursed French poets who most marked in the history of world literature are the following:

Charles Pierre Baudelaire (1821-1867)

Baudelaire has been one of the best known cursed poets internationally. He wrote a great deal of writing in genres as varied as essays, art criticism, etc., but his great talent was found in poetry. He always had a rebellious personality and was part of the bohemian circles of France at the time.

His influence in the world of letters is highlighted by the exquisite use of symbolism and, indeed, his work caused a great change in French symbolism by promoting a new way of making poetry. The flowers of EvilIt is one of his great poetic works and this collection of poems is considered a "modern" collection of poems that has a great influence from the aesthetics of Edgar Allan Poe.

Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (1854 –1891)

Another of the most important cursed poets of 19th century France was Rimbaud. His change in attitude and way of life came when he left the comfort of Europe to travel to Africa and discover other ways of living. This experience marked a before and after in her literary career, causing her to cultivate a type of poetry with a very extravagant and personal vision. For Rimbaud, a good artist had to challenge his senses and turn them around to really see the true face of the world.

Paul-Marie Verlaine (1844 - 1896)

This is one of the most prominent poets of French poetry because with his contribution he managed to create a new way of writing poetry. He had a very turbulent life that was totally marked by misfortunes and bad decisions. The decadent movement is the one that best fits with this author who has a surprising biography among which we highlight an unusual fact: he shot his friend Rimbaud in the wrist and, therefore, was imprisoned. His period in his prison would profoundly mark his life and he ended his days by converting to Christianity and professing the faith.

Stéphane Mallarmé (1842 - 1898)

Mallarmé also worked as both an artistic and literary critic, as did Baudelaire. However, he also stood out in the world of poetry creating symbolist poems that achieved unsurpassed excellence. In fact, it is considered that with Mallarmé it was possible to reach the climax of literary symbolism and his work was the precedent for the literary avant-garde to appear. Influenced by Baudelaire, this author managed to create works with a great deal of detail and in which there was a great desire for creative freedom.

Tristan Corbière

And we finished talking about who the cursed poets were to mention, now, the most unknown author of the group. Cobière only wrote one book but his lyrics are loaded with "damn" and with a sarcastic and very powerful tone. His work appeared as a satire of French society of which he did not feel he was a part.

We conclude this lesson on the cursed poets to bring together, here, some of the most prominent style characteristics of the members of this generation. In addition to the fact that all of them had a rebellious attitude towards life and were out of the commercial artistic circuit and recognized, the type of poetry they cultivated also fulfilled some distinctive traits such as following:

• Pessimistic sentiment: the texts they write are plagued with a pessimistic vision of life since they do not feel accepted or understood in a reality from which they are very disconnected.
• Dark texts: the tone and the atmosphere that are recreated in his poems are always bathed in a dark and mysterious tone. They want to reflect that other way of living that goes beyond the morality imposed by the Christian society of the time.
• Liberal ideology: in his poems there is also a strong trace of the liberal mentality since these poets promulgated for a much freer life, without so many moralistic prejudices.
• Rebellious attitude: cursed poets do not accept the reality of which they are part and, therefore, their attitude is to rebel against it
• Alternative beauty: Faced with the most classic and conventional beauty topics, these poets saw beauty in many other planes of life, even in death. In the dark, in the tears, in the night... The beauty of the dark and the different is a great sign of curse
• Metaphysical poetry: with poetry they were looking for a different meaning to life, therefore, their compositions have a more transcendental air and their objective was to know the mystery of life
• Language architects: Another characteristic of the cursed poets is that they took great care of the language they used in their poetry. Of the rhetorical figures that they used the most, we highlight metaphor and symbolism.

If you want to read more articles similar to Who were the cursed poets and characteristics, we recommend that you enter our category of History of Literature.

• Verlaine, P., & Bacarisse, M. (1921). The accursed poets (Vol. 2). Editions "Mvndo latino".
• del Valle, L. T. G. (2002). The canonization of the devil: Baudelaire and modern aesthetics in Spain. Editorial Verbum.
• Ferreres, R. (1972). Introduction of Paul Verlaine in Spain.