Poems Under Saturn

Karl Kirchwey is professor of the arts and director of the Creative Writing Program at Bryn Mawr College, and, from 2010-2013, the Andrew Heiskell Arts Director at the American Academy in Rome. For many years he was director of the 92nd Street Y Unterberg Poetry Center in New York City. His six books of poetry include "The Happiness of This World" and "Mount Lebanon".

• *FrontMatter, pg. i*Contents, pg. v*Acknowledgments, pg. vii*Introduction, pg. ix*Les Sages d'autrefois / The ancient Sages, pg. 2*Prologue, pg. 5*Melancholia / Melancholia, pg. 15*Eaux-fortes / Etchings, pg. 33*Paysages tristes / Sad Landscapes, pg. 49*Caprices / Caprices, pg. 67*Autres poemes / Other Poems, pg. 81*Epilogue / Epilogue, pg. 135*Notes, pg. 145

"Although this line occurred in Verlaine's third book, Rimbaud may well have also have been familiar with the first, 'Poemes saturniens,' or 'Poems Under Saturn,' which was published in 1866 and has recently appeared in a deftly rhymed and metered new translation by Karl Kirchwey that offers it for the first time in English as an integral volume."--Lydia Davis, New York Times Book Review "Karl Kirchwey achieves some masterful effects in his translation of Verlaine's large collection Poems Under Saturn... Kirchwey can be wonderfully accurate in rendering the meaning of Verlaine's words and is very sensitive to the rhythm of the lines. His translation of the final stanza of 'Evening Star' is remarkable: The barn owls awaken and, silent/Oar the black air with their heavy wings/And the zenith fills with dull glimmerings./Pale Venus rises, and it is night. Using 'oar' as a verb is a touch of genius and enlivens the verse."--New York Review of Books