Amal-Kiran - Poet and Critic

Sethna on Mallarmé's Symbolist poetry

MALLARMÉ, the founder of the Symbolist Movement, presented poetry as different from ordinary reportage. He preferred to clothe his verses in deliberate shadow, never alluding to any object by mere words. It is no wonder that such a poet attracted Sri Aurobindo's comment and appreciation.

Sethna's research in Mallarmé's symbolist poetry entitled The Obscure and the Mysterious deserves our attention by his painstaking analyses, commentaries and translations which recommend Mallarmé not only to non-French foreign readers but to Indian readers as well. His interesting in-depth analysis of this obscure and mysterious poet must have certainly encouraged scholars to make a comparative study of Mallarmé's works and Sri Aurobindo in the light of the dhvani technique.

In the first part of his book, Sethna introduces Mallarmé as a man and a poet. Then, he proceeds to translate some of his poems¹ and comments on a few of them. These inspiring and enlightening commentaries are based on the observations of Sri Aurobindo. The author also draws parallels from the works of Sri Aurobindo. Mallarmé's ideas are often compared with those of Valèry and others. Such a comparison with different authors helps the reader to better appreciate the poems of Mallarmé. Sethna has succeeded in helping the reader to grasp the essential significance and technique of Mallarmé.

Mallarmé the Man: Sethna portrays Mallarmé as a "man with a disciplined quest of genuine secrecies; for the depths and heights of some Mystery beyond the intellect, by an exquisite or forceful metamorphosing of both the objective world and the subjective as usually known". This objective and subjective really is seen reflected in his career as Professor. That is, two clear-cut worlds

1. It is unfortunate that somehow these got left out from the Collected Poems of Sethna. - Editors

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can be seen in his life: one, as Professor in the Lycèe; the other, as lover of the arts when he reveals himself to his writer friends. Throughout his literary career which began when he was appointed in Tournon, Mallarmé treated the unique theme of ‘poet versus poetry’. His poems reveal his true heart which, as Sethna puts it, proves his serious practice of symbolism. Such a devotion to Symbolism can be left at the Tuesday-Soirèes on the fourth floor of 89 rue de Rome where friends and disciples assembled: Maurice Barrès. Rènè Ghil, Henri de Regnier, Francis Vièlè Griffin, Gustave Kahn, Jules Laforgue, Paul Claudel, Pièrre Louys, Andres Gide, Paul Valèry...etc. No doubt, these friends enjoyed an intense inwardness in which symbolism was lived out by a religious devotion to it. After the burial of his poet-friend Mallarmé, Rodin summed up the feelings of his friends in these words: "How long would it take for nature to develop such a genius!" (Combien de temps faudra-t-il à la nature pour refaire un cerveau pareil!)

Mallarmé the Archetypal poet (le type absolu du poète): Advocating the path of symbolism in poetry, Mallarmé rejects easier means of conception and composition. He opts for writing "only the ultimately quintessential, the ideal utterance of secrecies' ". He is not only a Maitre for his disciples but also a real creative innovator." Mallarmé turned the whole current of French poetry (one might say, of all modernist poetry) into a new channel, of which his poems were an opening.... The French language was too clear and limited to express mystic truth, so he had to wrestle with it and turn it this way and that to arrive at a mystic speech," says Sri Aurobindo. And Mallarmé prefers "to give the purest meaning of ordinary words (donner le sens le plus pur aux mots de la tribu)" and never attempted to perpetrate reportage. His poems are, therefore, more than an intellectual rendering of his vision. Maybe it is difficult to follow him with a surface understanding but he opens up like a flower little by little. The fragrance never quits the reader once he succeeds in getting to the core of his symbolism. And the obscurity disappears leaving the place to mysticism as in the case of La Chevelure Vol d'une Flamme

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in which, according to Sethna, "the mysticism is in relation to the beauty of woman and the desire-soul, two problems almost inseparable from the artistic life". In fact a sublimation of life-energy takes the poet from the material world to the realm of Art and Mysticism.

Thus, like a motif on a tapestry the symbolism of Mallarmé suggests his inner mood. Whether it is the exotic nature or a concrete object, Mallarmé’s portrayal of the world is as vivid as an aquarelle.

The Essential Significance of Mallarmé: Mallarmé considers writing poetry as an adventurous mission. It is like a voyage on the seas in rough weather. Les Fleurs (Flowers) voices the wish of every artist. It is a narrative of the poetic creation of the universe. If Mallarmé wants very often to reach the Azure, seduced by exotic nature — if he chooses to enjoy the sea-breeze - it is because of his innate desire to break loose from the momentary handicap of not writing poetry.  It is from this voyage that he hopes to regain the lost nerve - un renouveau d'inspiration. But the departure is not definite; no sooner than he expressed his desire to travel over the seas, he indicates his urge to come back to make a Don du Poème. Does he not refer to the mystic birth of his vocation in Hèrodiade ?

Through the fragile smile of a woman, Mallarmé conveys the quintessence of a love imperishable! The au-delà, the 'face', the 'beloved landscape' and even some 'words used in daily life' form the symbolic content of the poems of Mallarmé.  He considers everything as figurative of the sublime, but he has no personal God or religion. To him, Art is religion. He hopes to see all men assembled together in the communion of Beauty and Beauty alone. But what does he consider as Beauty? It is again Art.

Sethna has skillfully pointed out through his translation and commentaries the subtle way of expressing the meaning of life. And we can see how Mallarmé excels both as a poet and as a creator of values; for, he is bothered not about Truth but Reality.  Poetry is a source of revelation for Mallarmé. It is an eye-opener; it wakes him up from deep slumber. It penetrates and illuminates.

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"Love and luxury are still for the poet a means, not the goal" - it is a means to know and understand the essence of life.

Like many other Symbolist poets, Mallarmé is attracted by exotic nature which compels him to reject all that holds him back from the Azure, (L'Azur). The Azure reminds the poet of his inability to accomplish his mission. This vast stretch of blue creates a sense of resentment in him for not accomplishing the bounden duty of a poet. Nevertheless, the poet is haunted by the Azure - Je suis hanté. L'Azur! L'Azur! L'Azur! L'Azur! The same mood forms the significance of Le Cygne (le vierge, le vivace et le bel aujourd'hui) which Sri Aurobindo appreciated as "one of the finest sonnets 1 have ever read". The Swan imprisoned in the frozen lake is none other than the poet himself who, incapacitated by the unaccomplished dreams, feels the urge to fulfil his desire to create. The contrast here is not between the whiteness of the Swan and the icicles as in Spenser's Prothalomion; but, it is between the ici-has (the Swan in the frozen lake) and the là-bas (the Azure). These contradictory themes also find expression in L'Après midi d'un Faune and in Hérodiade, respectively.

The Ennui (Boredom - Spleen of Baudelaire) which Mallarmé mentions in most of his poems [Brise Marine, Renouveau, for example) is nothing but momentary inability to write poetry. Mallarmé never succumbs to the feelings of inertia; on the contrary, he wants to take wings and soar up high in the sky. It is this vernal Azure, as pointed out by Sethna, that Mallarmé envies and resents very often. In Sethna's opinion, this incomprehensible anguish forms the ruling motif of the sonnet Renouveau (Springtide). The study of the 'hair-theme’ by Sethna enables the reader to get at the essence of Mallarmé's Symbolism and psychology.

The Essential Technique of Mallarmé: Being the founder of the Symbolist movement Mallarmé uses symbols to convey his thought, to speak out his inner mystery. According to Sethna, Mallarmé takes the reader "beyond the suggestive semi-clarity that on occasion rises out of the keenly explored founts of poetic inspiration".

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The dhvani of the poems of Mallarmé unfolds the binary categories such as the 'self’ and the 'non-self’, the 'individual’ and the 'universe', the 'thought' and the 'action'. Sethna justifies this by pointing out that "Symbolism subdues the inwardly perceived to the outwardly conceived". With ample examples from Valery, Pierre Emmanuel and Wallace Stevens, Sethna beautifully brings out the dhvani technique of Mallarmé. The commentaries of Sethna, apart from drawing out the wheel-within-wheel significance, demonstrate the technique that makes the reader feel the subject-matter through a mere symbol. The technique is prominent in marking the sound-system (as in the case of Le Cygne) where "a tingling, chilling, piercing impression is created, and the various phases and nuances of the poem's mood are driven together and its manifold of pang and poise and profundity is crystallised into oneness'' through the persistence of a single alliteration.

Sethna's translations enhance the merit of Mallarmé for us. Though he admits having taken the help of Roger Fry's almost literal unrhymed version, Sethna takes care to retain the essential Mallarmé; successfully avoids over-interpretation; and renders the inexplicit original in the English language with the same suggestive touch and tone.

In short, Sethna, keeping in view Mallarmé the artist as well as Mallarmé the poet, preserves Mallarmé's mystery-in-obscurite even in the English language.

JEYARAJ DANIEL

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