The Yale Anthology of Twentieth-Century French Poetry

VALÉRY LARBAUD

After the Deluge

The moon is waning, September sublime.
The mountains lie stilled in their light
Shadows are quicker to darken and subtle golds
Repose within the green. Yesterday
The final warmth died out as a wall of darkness
That night dispelled with the clarity of stars,
With winds and ready silence, a presentiment of death.
—lee fahnestock

Valéry Larbaud 1881–1957

vichy, france

A

poet, essayist, novelist, translator, and world traveler—thanks to his

personal fortune—Larbaud aspired to be a man of letters from an early

age. He spoke six languages and was responsible for introducing many

previously unknown foreign works to the French public. Larbaud’s first written

work was a translation of Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. He went

on to do first translations of works by Joseph Conrad, Thomas Hardy, Samuel

Butler, and Walt Whitman. He also translated James Joyce’s Ulysses. His own

work often took Europe as its subject, and he was most noted for his creation of

the character A. O. Barnabooth, to whom several of his works were attributed.

He helped found Sylvia Beach’s bookstore, Shakespeare and Company, and in

1952 was awarded the Prix National des Lettres. Principal works: Les Portiques,

1896; Poèmes par un riche amateur, ou œuvres françaises de M. Barnabooth, 1908;

reprinted in A. O. Barnabooth, ses œuvres complètes, 1913.