Paul Valéry, (born Oct. 30, 1871, Sète, France—died July 20, 1945, Paris), French poet, essayist, and critic. A student of law, Valéry wrote many poems during 1888–91, some published in magazines of the Symbolist movement. After 1894 he wrote daily in his notebooks, later published as the famous Cahiers. He revised his early work to create his greatest poem, La Jeune Parque (1917). It was followed by Album de vers anciens, 1890–1900 (1920) and Charmes ou poèmes (1922), containing “Le Cimetière marin,” which established him as the outstanding French poet of his time. His works are typically variations on the theme of the tension within the human consciousness between the desire for contemplation and the will to action. He later became a prominent public personage, writing many essays and occasional papers on literary topics and taking a great interest in science and political problems.
Paul Valéry Article
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essay Summary
Essay, an analytic, interpretative, or critical literary composition usually much shorter and less systematic and formal than a dissertation or thesis and usually dealing with its subject from a limited and often personal point of view. Some early treatises—such as those of Cicero on the
poetry Summary
Poetry, literature that evokes a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience or a specific emotional response through language chosen and arranged for its meaning, sound, and rhythm. (Read Britannica’s biography of this author, Howard Nemerov.) Poetry is a vast subject, as old as history and