The representation of nature in the early poetry by Théophile Gautier

aesthetic reconfigurations

Abstract

Théophile Gautier (1811–1872) was a versatile writer, recognized as a journalist, art critic, essayist, playwright, short story writer, novelist, and poet. It was through poetry that he began his literary production, within the framework of Romanticism, having Victor Hugo, Alphonse de Lamartine, and Alfred de Vigny as his masters. From his very first verses, however, he sought to distinguish himself from the generation that preceded him. In this paper, we present an analysis of a selection of poems from Albertus, ou L’âme et le péché: légende théologique (1833), the volume that gathers the author’s earliest poetry. In the preface to the work, Gautier proposes ruptures with the prevailing trends in the poetry of his time, initiating a reflection that would, decades later, be praised and confirmed by Charles Baudelaire in the dedication of Les Fleurs du mal (1857). To understand Gautier’s aesthetic reconfigurations, we highlight the importance of the representation of natural space in the Romantic lyric of the 1820s, examining how the young poet distances himself from his models. This article also seeks to bring to light Gautier’s early poetic production, long neglected by literary studies in France, a tendency that extended to other countries, including Brazil.