The present work, The Appreciation of Modern French Poetry, is a companion volume to An Anthology of Modern French Poetry. It is hoped that, together, these two volumes will provide a comprehensive and stimulating approach to a hundred of the richest years of French poetry, from 1850 to 1950.

In this volume our broad aim has been to invite the reader into a closer, more active reading, not only of French verse, but of poetry in general. The Introduction is a detailed illustration of some of the workings of poetic form and style: here, we have not attempted to list the rules of French versification or define all the technical aspects of prosody as they have developed throughout its history – this has been done at greater length by more competent critics – but simply to draw attention to the suggestive effects that certain formal features can create or enhance in particular contexts. It is important to recognize an enjambement, tell rimes croisées from rimes embrassées, and scan a pentasyllabic line. But this knowledge is virtually useless without the ability to appreciate the various poetic designs to which they can contribute when appropriately chosen and sensitively applied. There is no absolute key in this respect. One cannot say that octosyllables, by their very nature, have such and such a quality, that enjambement or regular rhythm will invariably produce this or that effect, or that the repetition of an ‘1’ sound always evokes a particular mood. All that one can venture is that, according to the poet's intentions or intuitions, these can be made to blend into, and lend their weight to, an infinity of different patterns and unities.