Paul Valéry 1871–1945
sète, france
V
aléry was a poet and essayist—a master of irony—who valued lucidity
and precision of thought above all. His work is defined by his convic-
tion that poetry was primarily a mental process. He was educated inthe French Mediterranean. After a night of moral and intellectual anguish in
October 1892, he renounced poetry for mathematics and the study of mental
processes, returning to poetry writing just before World War I. In 1894 he moved
to Paris and concentrated solely on notebooks that he wrote in the morning
before going to work at the French War Ministry. He was Mallarmé’s favorite
disciple and served as best man at Breton’s wedding. Considered an uno≈cial
poet laureate, he took Anatole France’s vacated seat in the Académie française in
1925 and was named professor of poetics at the Collège de France in 1937. His
poems are among the masterpieces of the twentieth century. Principal works: La
Jeune Parque, 1917; Le Cimetière marin, 1920; Charmes ou poèmes, 1922; Poésies,
1929; Amphion, Sémiramis, 1931, 1934; Paraboles, 1935; Cantate du Narcisse, 1939.
The Spinner
The spinner, seated near the window sash
that opens where a melodious garden sways,
drowses by an old snoring wheel.
Tired, drunk on azure blue, on guiding
Wheedling hairs that dodge her feeble hands,
She dreams. And now her tiny head is nodding.
A living spring, formed by leaves and air,
Rising in sunlight, sprinkles fresh water
Over her garden as she slumbers there.