By Paul Claudel

Poetic Art is is a proclamation of poetic theory, Paul Claudel’s fiat to the magnificent vocation of deciphering the mysteries of reality through the practice of poetry. Despite its relatively lukewarm critical reception, Claudel counted Poetic Art among his most valuable writings—as it investigates the metaphysics of poetry and its unique power to reveal truths about God, man, and the cosmos.

A bold synthesis of insights about the power and limits of language and the nature of temporality, Poetic Art defines and displays the theory upon which Claudel based the practice of his craft. In the words of one scholar and critic, these pages “lift us into a region where, altogether apart from any poetic or literary purpose, we may breathe a pure and invigorating if rather rarefied air.”

The poet, master of all words, the poet, whose art it is to use them, is expert in stirring us to a state of harmonious and intense, precise and strong intelligence, by a clever disposition of the objects they represent. (Paul Claudel)

Paul Claudel (1868–1955) was a French poet, dramatist, and essayist, and a convert to the Roman Catholic faith. Nominated six times for the Nobel Prize in Literature, Claudel achieved prominence in twentieth-century French literature for his unique prose style and powerful verse dramas. His other works include A Poet Before the Cross and The Satin Slipper, which is widely recognized as his masterpiece.

Paperback: 138pp.

ISBN: 978-1950970674