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Find out more about Mallarme

Stephane Mallarme

"A throw of the dice will never eliminate chance."

(1842�1898)Mallarm�s great importance is as the chief forebear of the symbolists; many poets and other writers of the mid-1880s drew inspiration at the Tuesday evening gatherings where Mallarm� expounded his theories. He held that the poet should express the ideas of a transcendental world, that poetry should evoke thoughts through suggestion rather than description, and that it should approach the abstraction of music. Mallarm�s language defies traditional syntax and is frequently so obscure that it must be read with commentary. His best-known poems are H�rodiade (1869), L�Apr�s-Midi d�un faune (1876; The Afternoon of a Faun), which inspired a composition by Debussy, and Un Coup de d�s jamais n�abolira le hasard (1897; A Throw of the Dice Will Never Eliminate Chance). Editions of Mallarm�s poetry were published in 1887 and 1899, and a selection of prose, Divagations, in 1897. Mallarm� earned his living by teaching English. The influence of his poetry was particularly felt by Val�ry.

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