Stéphane Mallarmé, Le Vierge, le vivace et le bel aujourd'hui

Liesl Yamaguchi (University of California, Berkeley)

Ed. by Jennifer Yee, University of Oxford
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.5.2.05: French Writing and Culture: The Nineteenth-Century , 1800-1900.
Vol. editors: David Elwyn Evans (University of St Andrews), Edward Forman (University of Bristol), Elisabeth Gerwin (University of Lethbridge), Nigel Harkness (University of Newcastle upon Tyne), Tim Unwin (University of Bristol), David Williams (University of Sheffield), Jennifer Yee (University of Oxford)

Dates

First circulation or publication Mar 1885

Places

France (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Poetry (any)

Resources

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The untitled sonnet known by its incipit “Le vierge, le vivace et le bel aujourd’hui” [The virgin, the vivacious, and the beautiful today] was first published in the March 1885 issue of the

Revue indépendante

. Its date of composition is unknown, but its affinity with the author’s longer poem

Hérodiade

has long led scholars to propose 1865-75 as the most likely period of composition. More recent scholarship on the evolution of the sonnet form in Mallarmé’s œuvre supports privileging the later end of this date range, as the poem’s rhyme scheme (abba abba ccd ede) conforms to the exceptionally rigorous requirements set out in Théodore de Banville’s 1872

Petit traité de poésie française

, which Mallarmé appears to have adopted in his poetic practice sometime between 1872…

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2087 words

Citation: Yamaguchi, Liesl. "Le Vierge, le vivace et le bel aujourd'hui". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 24 February 2018 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=11325, accessed 26 April 2024.]

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