Stéphane Mallarmé’s “Soupir” (“Sigh”), which appeared in the first collection of Parnasse contemporain in 1866, is a relatively early poem that already displays the poet’s fascinating use of language. This poem, consisting of only one sentence and ten lines, is peculiarly knotted. What’s “happening”? We can simplify the poem to its most basic “action” in the following way:
Dissecting a sigh
Dissecting a sigh
Dissecting a sigh
Stéphane Mallarmé’s “Soupir” (“Sigh”), which appeared in the first collection of Parnasse contemporain in 1866, is a relatively early poem that already displays the poet’s fascinating use of language. This poem, consisting of only one sentence and ten lines, is peculiarly knotted. What’s “happening”? We can simplify the poem to its most basic “action” in the following way: