The influential French poet, Symbolist leader, and Decadent Paul Verlaine (1844-1896) was recognized as a groundbreaking writer even in his own lifetime--his stylistic innovations brought a new musicality to French poetry and paved the way for free verse and other twentieth-century techniques and experiments. This selection of poems, with the French text en face, provides a comprehensive selection of Verlaine's verse together with a lucid introduction illuminating his life and works.