Albert Samain

Abstract

The study submitted under the title "Albert Samain" has as its object to give a general account of Samain's published writings, poetry and prose, to assess to the different parts of his work their relative merit, and in so doing to express an opinion upon the literary value of the poet's work. The study is divided into three sections, dealing respectively with the poems ("Au Jardin de l'Infante", "Aux Flancs du Vase", "Le Chariot d'r'" Poemes Inacheves); the "Contes"; and the two-act tragedy in verse, "Polypheme". A much more detailed examination lias been made of the "Contes" than of the other parts of Samainrs work, because they are relatively unknown, because little has been written about them, and because it seems to me that they constitute one of the finest parts of Samain's work. The section dealing with the poems is subdivided into a number of parts, in which Samain's various poetic styles are discussed (e.g., symbolist poems, elegiac love-poems, pseudo-Greek idylls) and in which some space is devoted to Samain's undoubted imitation of other writers; and the relative value of these poems written in various styles is indicated. The sections dealing with the "Contes" and "Polypheme" are subdivided alike under the headings Sources; Style; Psychology; Underlying Philosophy; and an effort has been made to show that in the two works the treatment of the subjects is essentially the same. In the course of the examination of the "Contes" I have endeavoured to justify my preference for them by concrete proofs of their beauties. In the short conclusion to the thesis, some judgment has been attempted upon the merits and the limitations of Samain's work considered as a whole.