Saint‐Amant's La Solitude

Abstract

The works of the major French libertin poets have most often been described as being a disorganized collection of impressions. A reading of Saint‐Amant's important ode La Solitude shows, however, patterns of imagery that contradict the notion of disorganization. The text is divided into three imaged sections, each of which is thematically parallel to the others. In each section, the poet's creation is shown to be based on an imagery of abolition, negation, or fragmentation of previous human presence or creation. The concluding dedication to the intended reader, brought forth as a conclusion to the series of reflexive myths, presents the whole text as a symbol of the poetic act and suggests an expressionistic and consciously rhetorical, rather than an impressionistic, interpretation.