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French poet and philosopher Paul Valéry was born, October 30, 1871, 150 years ago today.

"A poem is never finished, only abandoned."

The French polymath Paul Valéry was born on October 30, 1871, in Sète. In addition to being a poet, essayist, and critic, Paul Valéry was also known to be a distinguished philosopher. His diverse writings range from dramas, dialogues, poetry to aphorisms on topics of current events, music, diatribes, history, and human nature.

Ambroise-Paul-Toussaint-Jules Valéry was the son of Barthelmy Valéry, a Corsican customs officer at the sea port of Sète. His mother, Fanny Grassi belonged to Venetian nobility. After an initial catholic education, Valéry studied law at the University of Montpellier, obtaining his license in 1892. For most of his life after graduation, Valéry lived in Paris. Valéry had developed the habit of writing since a young age. His earliest publications date back to his mid-twenties. However, he did not take up writing as a full-time activity until 1920.

In Paris, Valéry became a regular visitor to Stéphane Mallarmé’s literary Tuesday evenings. His passion for writing remained in his personal notebooks in which most of the writings of this period were inspired by Leonrdo da Vinci. The notebooks were published posthumously in 1957-1960. Valéry went through the phase of a personal crisis after a passionate infatuation with a young Spanish girl. After the episode, Valéry decided to free himself from the falsehoods of sentiments and literature. The change he called revolution of mind came into his life on a stormy night in Genoa. He took away from writing poetry and instead devoted himself to maximum knowledge and control of his intellect. However, Valéry produced two prose works during his silent years as a poet. These works were Introduction De La Methode De Leonard Da Vinci (1894) and La Soiree Avec Monsieur Teste (1896).

In 1896, Valéry began working for the British South Africa Company in London followed by three years in the artillery ammunition bureau of the French Army. In 1900, Paul Valéry stepped into marriage with Jeannie Gobillard and was also employed at the Havas news agency where he worked as a private secretary to Edouard Lebey, an important executive suffering from Parkinson’s disease. For 20 years, Valéry stayed at the position.

Being left unemployed after Lebey’s death, Valéry was forced to publish his writing to support himself. Breaking the 20 years silence, Valéry contributed to periodicals, magazines and wrote prefaces for both historical and modern works. In 1925, Paul Valéry was elected to the Académie française. He became a distinguished intellectual figure as well as public speaker in the French society. In addition to representing France on cultural matters at the League of Nations, Valéry also served on several of its committees. In addition to Académie française, Valéry was also a member of the Academy of Sciences of Lisbon, and of the front national des Ecrivains.

Paul Valéry died in Paris on July 20, 1945. His last principal work was the Faust fragments on which he began to work in 1940.

Le Sylphe.

Ni vu ni connu

Je suis le parfum

Vivant et défunt

Dans le vent venu !

Ni vu ni connu

Hasard ou génie ?

À peine venu

La tâche est finie !

Ni lu ni compris ?

Aux meilleurs esprits

Que d’erreurs promises !

Ni vu ni connu,

Le temps d’un sein nu

Entre deux chemises !

The Sylph

Unseen unknown

I am perfume

Born on the wind,

Faded, alive!

Unseen unknown,

Genius or chance?

No sooner come

The task is done!

Unread ungrasped,

The finest minds

Will stumble there!

Unseen unknown,

Glimpse of a breast

Through loosened shirts!

Translated from the French by Nathaniel Rudavsky-Brody

Hélène

Azur ! c’est moi… Je viens des grottes de la mort

Entendre l’onde se rompre aux degrés sonores,

Et je revois les galères dans les aurores

Ressusciter de l’ombre au fil des rames d’or.

Mes solitaires mains appellent les monarques

Dont la barbe de sel amusait mes doigts purs ;

Je pleurais. Ils chantaient leurs triomphes obscurs

Et les golfes enfuis aux poupes de leurs barques.

J’entends les conques profondes et les clairons

Militaires rythmer le vol des avirons ;

Le chant clair des rameurs enchaîne le tumulte,

Et les Dieux, à la proue héroïque exaltés

Dans leur sourire antique et que l’écume insulte,

Tendent vers moi leurs bras indulgents et sculptés.

Helena

¡Azul! Soy yo. Regreso de lúgubres canteras

a ver el mar lanzando sus escalas sonoras,

y al filo de los remos de oro, en las auroras,

zarpando de su rada nocturna las galeras.

Mis manos solitarias invocan los monarcas

-yo hundía entre su barba de sal mis dedos puros-.

Llorando he visto, al eco de sus himnos oscuros,

huir los golfos ante la popa de sus barcas.

Oigo las caracolas hondas, los helicones

marciales en las rítmicas alas de los timones;

claros cantos remeros encadenan rugidos.

Y en las heroicas proas, los dioses exaltados,

con sus plácidos rostros de la espuma azotados,

me tienden indulgentes sus brazos esculpidos.

Versión de Carlos López Narváez