Paul-Marie Verlaine, 1844-1902

Verlaine sung the praises of absinthe in his youth, and damned absinthe on his deathbed. He consorted with prostitutes and men while drinking, to the dismay of his young wife, and for a time the younger poet Rimbaud was his constant companion, both platonically and sexually.

The stormy relationship with Rimbaud eventually led to the imprisonment of Verlaine after he had shot Rimbaud twice, once in the wrist. His last years his spent living in slums degrading in poverty, drug addicition and heavy alcoholism.

Paul-Marie Verlaine (30 March 1844 – 8 January 1896)

Verlaine had many vices and drinking was one of the first. A habit he nurtured from early years. Absinthe was one of the preferred drinks of his choice for good and bad. Writing of drunkenness in his last big work, Confessions (1895), he says :

"This absinthe! What horror, when I think of those days... and of time not so remote... I repeat in all shame I shall have later to tell of many absurdities (and worse) due to the abuse of this horrible drink; this abuse itself, source of folly and of crime, of idiocies and of shame. The governments should suppress this absinthe and why not?"