Emaux et Camées

Description

As early as 1840, Théophile Gautier began work on some of the pieces in Émaux et camées, his final collection. The first edition, published in 1852, included 18 poems, to which the poet added in successive editions until the final edition in 1872, which contained 53 poems. With the exception of the Preface and La bonne soirée, all the poems are regular octosyllabic quatrains. Admired by Baudelaire and Zola alike, this collection inaugurated Parnassian poetry, of which Gautier was to be considered the master. It is also emblematic of 'art for art's sake'. At the opening of the collection, the 'Preface', written four years after the 1848 Revolution and one year after Louis Napoléon Bonaparte's coup d'état, proclaims the poet's indifference to the events of his time:

'Heedless of the hurricane

That whipped my windows shut,

I made enamels and cameos.'