Person    | Male  Born 30/3/1844  Died 8/1/1896

Paul Verlaine

Categories: Poetry

Countries: Belgium, France

French poet. Born Metz, France. Has been described as an ugly, homicidal alcoholic. He effectively eloped from his own marriage to live with Rimbaud. Following his imprisonment for attempted murder of Rimbaud in Brussels (see BrusselsRemembers), he was released in January 1875. He returned to Britain, and ended up as a schoolmaster in Stickney, a village near Boston in Lincolnshire. No plaque, apparently, but Verlaine does appear in one of the school photographs. Relied on his mother for support much of his life. Returned to France where he had another homosexual affair. Thereafter mainly lived in Paris, under the shadow of his past scandals. Only late in his life was his poetry valued. Died Paris, aged 51.

Some of this information comes from the Verlaine Soho Mural podcast - worth a listen.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Paul Verlaine

Commemorated ati

Spirit of Soho Mural

Interesting that Coca Cola are specifically mentioned on the panel but not as...

Read More

Verlaine and Rimbaud

Chosen as our featured memorial in July 2004. The decadent relationship lived...

Read More

Verlaine birth

Dans cette maison, le poete Paul Verlaine est ne le 30 Mars 1844. (Translate...

Read More

Other Subjects

William Bell Scott

William Bell Scott

Born Edinburgh. Painter and poet, closely associated with the Pre-Raphaelites. His work was championed by the Rossettis, Christina and Dante Gabriel. He achieved fame when he was commissioned to do...

Person, Art, Poetry, Scotland

1 memorial
Louis MacNeice

Louis MacNeice

Poet. Born Belfast, Northern Ireland at 2 Brookhill Avenue. Joined the BBC in 1941 as scriptwriter and producer and it was with the BBC, checking out the sound effects down a mineshaft, that he c...

Person, Poetry, TV & Radio, Ireland

1 memorial
David Jones

David Jones

Painter and poet. Born Walter David Michael Jones.As a painter he worked chiefly in watercolour, painting portraits and animal, landscape, legendary and religious subjects. He was also a wood-engra...

Person, Art, Poetry

1 memorial
Milos Crnjanski

Milos Crnjanski

Poet, and diplomat. Born in Csongrád, Hungary. His family moved to Romania in 1896, where the Serbian heritage was instilled in him. In 1912 he went to study in Rijeka (in modern day Croatia) and V...

Person, Poetry, Politics & Administration, Austria, Balkans, Hungary, Romania, Serbia

1 memorial
Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Poet & painter. Born 38 Charlotte Street, son of an Italian political refugee and Professor of Italian (with a bit of a thing about Dante). Brother to Christina. Their mother was brother to Dr ...

Person, Art, Poetry

4 memorials

Previously viewed

E. J. Fairbrother

E. J. Fairbrother

Either lost his life, or gave distinguished service to the London Fire Brigade, and was buried in the Highgate Cemetery plot between 1884 and 1955.

Person, Emergency Services

1 memorial
People's Dispensary for Sick Animals

People's Dispensary for Sick Animals

Known as the PDSA, it was founded by Maria Dickin to provide free care for sick and injured animals of the poor. It operates throughout Great Britain in animal hospitals and practices, and is suppo...

Group, Animals, Medicine

2 memorials
Harry Potter

Harry Potter

Fictional boy wizard. Hero of seven novels by J. K. Rowling. They have all been filmed with Daniel Radcliffe playing the lead role. As at 2018, worldwide sales of the books exceed 500 million. 'Har...

Fiction, Fictional

1 memorial