Let's hear the music first and foremost, And that means no … - Paul Verlaine

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Let's hear the music first and foremost,
And that means no more one-two-one-twos…
Something more vague instead, something lighter
Dissolving in air, weightless as air.
When you choose your words, no need to search
In strict dictionaries for pinpoint
Definitions. Better the subtle
And heady Songs of Imprecision.

Paul Verlaine

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About Paul Verlaine

Paul-Marie Verlaine (March 30 1844 – January 8 1896) was a French Symbolist poet. He is often characterized as a poète maudit and an example of fin-de-siècle decadence in literature.

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Alternative Names: Paul-Marie Verlaine

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Originators like Paul Verlaine:

Edna St. Vincent Millay William Butler Yeats Anna Akhmatova Paul Simon Leonard Cohen

Additional quotes by Paul Verlaine

You must let your poems ride their luck
On the back of the sharp morning air
Touched with the fragrance of mint and thyme…
And everything else is LIT-RIT-CHER.

What have you done, you standing there
In floods of tears?
Tell me what you have done
With your young life?

De la musique avant toute chose,
Et pour cela préfère l'Impair
Plus vague et plus soluble dans l'air
Sans rien en lui qui pèse ou qui pose.
Il faut aussi que tu n'ailles point
Choisir tes mots sans quelque méprise:
Rien de plus cher que la chanson grise
Où l'Indécis au Précis se joint.

Let's hear the music first and foremost, And that means no more one-two-one-twos… Something more vague instead, something lighter Dissolving in air, … - Paul Verlaine

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