must somehow seize us before we can claim fu11 knowledge of this
very great mind. The involutions and obscurity of his language
were the intricacies and temper of a delicate instrument increasingly
refined by the artist as the most suitable means to his visionary end.
But that instrument belongs inalienably to the French language. In
English, another and necessarily imperfect means must be found;
for we too have our refusals.

In observance of my principle, I have razed some of the mag-
nificent syntactical structures of Mallarmé's prose, disintegrated long
periods with a view to clarity, supplied verbs which he preferred
merely to imagine, strengthened adjectives weak-seeming but
strongly intended, ignored his delightful, sometimes meaningful, but
usually grotesque punctuation--and still hoped to find in Eng-
lish some miniature structure reminiscent of those destroyed, some
abstractness correspondent with his, some tone of pride to match
his pride, some insight into his original and distant worlds; still
hoped that, in the midst of sacrilege, some essence of the man re-
mained or, like his Hamlet, some "jewel intact in the midst of
chaos."

In explanation of the choice of texts, I would first express my
hope that the prose-poems will be read as illustrations of Mallarmean
esthetic theory as well as for themselves alone. Autumn Complaint
--like the omitted Phenomenon of the Future, The Pipe, Poor
Pale Child, or Winter Shudderings--comes from the years when,
though still undelivered from the Baudelairian influence, Mallarmé
was nonetheless absorbing it into his own originatity. The Demon
of Analogy looks into the creative process and remains a highly origi-
nal work. Glory combines the humorous and meditative in one
of Mallarmé's last and most appealing attempts in this genre. The
White Water-Lily is, in my opinion, the most beautiful prose-poem
in the French language, Despite the excellence and amused preciosity
of certain of its passages, the extreme complexity and diffuseness
of Declaration at the Fair led me to omit it. Together with Remi-
niscence and An Interrupted Performance, it treats the circus or
histrio theme explicit in The Punished Clown, implicit in Hamlet.

With the exception of Conflict, Displays, and Limited Action--
uneven works, although at their best (especially in the last-named)
they are first-rate Mallarmé--I have translated all the important
essays on literature and poetics. The only main sections entirely
omitted (save for occasional reference in the notes) are the so-
called Offices and Grands Faits Divers. However interesting these
pieces may be to scholars (exposition of Mallarmé's theories on re-

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