VALÉRY (Paul) Lot n° 99 Bis

Canticle of the Columns. Autograph poem signed, [1918-early 1919], 2 pages in-4 (258 x 205 mm), in purple ink, in modern black half-maroquin folder. After the success of La Jeune ParqueValéry celebrates the form and the musicality of the ancient column. On the insistence of André Breton, Valéry gave to the new magazine Littérature his poem Cantique des colonnes, which appeared in the n° 1 (March 1919), dedicated to the poet Léon-Paul Fargue. Admired by the young Dadaists, he will see himself, the following month, celebrated in the bookshop of Adrienne Monnier by Breton and Gide. After La Jeune Parque (1917), Cantique des colonnes constitutes the poetic return of Valéry. In 18 stanzas of a sustained classical rhythm, he develops a lyricism at the same time intellectual and sensual:... Servants without knees Smiles without figures The beautiful one in front of us Feels the pure legs. Our ancient youths Matt flesh and clear shadows Are proud of the finesses Which are born by the numbers... Written in violet ink, the text is divided into two columns, evoking the title, on the first page. The manuscript gives the text of this first version, which includes various variants of punctuation, and two variants of words (see Œuvres, Pléiade, t. I, p. 116-118, and p. 1650-51). After its publication in Littérature, the poem will be taken again, with some corrections, in the collection Charmes (1922).