''Hothouses'' (or ''Hot House Blooms'', ) (1889) is a book of
symbolist
Symbolism or symbolist may refer to:
*Symbol, any object or sign that represents an idea
Arts
*Artistic symbol, an element of a literary, visual, or other work of art that represents an idea
** Color symbolism, the use of colors within various c ...
poetry by the
Belgian Nobel laureate
The Nobel Prizes (, ) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make outstanding contributions in th ...
Maurice Maeterlinck
Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck (29 August 1862 – 6 May 1949), also known as Count/Comte Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who was Flemish but wrote in French. He was awarded the 1911 Nobel Prize in ...
. Most of the poems in this collection are written in
octosyllabic The octosyllable or octosyllabic verse is a line of verse with eight syllables. It is equivalent to tetrameter verse in trochees in languages with a stress accent. Its first occurrence is in a 10th-century Old French saint's legend, the '' Vie d ...
verse, but some are in
free verse
Free verse is an open form of poetry which does not use a prescribed or regular meter or rhyme and tends to follow the rhythm of natural or irregular speech. Free verse encompasses a large range of poetic form, and the distinction between free ...
.
Poems
#"Serre chaude"
#"Oraison (I)"
#"Serre d'ennui"
#"Tentations"
#"Cloches de verre"
#"Offrande obscure"
#"Feuillage du cœur"
#"Âme chaude"
#"Âme"
#"Lassitude"
#"Chasses lasses"
#"Fauves las"
#"Oraison (II)"
#"Heures ternes"
#"Ennui"
#"Hôpital"
#"Oraison nocturne"
#"Désirs d'hiver"
#"Ronde d'ennui"
#"Amen"
#"Cloche à plongeur"
#"Aquarium"
#"Verre ardent"
#"Reflets"
#"Visions"
#"Oraison (III)"
#"Regards"
#"Attente"
#"Après-midi"
#"Âme de serre"
#"Intentions"
#"Attouchements"
#"Âme de nuit"
English translations
''Serres chaudes'' has been translated into
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Culture, language and peoples
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
* ''English'', an Amish ter ...
by
Richard Howard
Richard Joseph Howard (October 13, 1929 – March 31, 2022), adopted as Richard Joseph Orwitz, was an American poet, literary critic, essayist, teacher, and translator. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and was a graduate of Columbia University, ...
. This edition, published by
Princeton University Press
Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large.
The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial ...
also contains a short prose work,
''The Massacre of the Innocents'', inspired by a
Brueghel painting of the same name, as well as illustrations by
George Minne
George (Georges) Minne (born ''Georgius Joannes Leonardus Minne''; 30 August 1866 – 18 February 1941) was a Belgians, Belgian artist and sculptor famous for his idealized depictions of man's inner spiritual conflicts, including the "Kneeling ...
that appeared in the original volume.
Musical adaptations
"Serre chaude," "Serre d'ennui," "Lassitude," "Fauves las," and "Oraison" were all set to music by French composer
Ernest Chausson
Amédée-Ernest Chausson (; 20 January 1855 – 10 June 1899) was a French Romantic composer.
Life
Born in Paris into an affluent bourgeois family, Chausson was the sole surviving child of a building contractor who made his fortune assisting Ba ...
. "Feuillage du cœur" was set to music by
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian and American composer, music theorist, teacher and writer. He was among the first Modernism (music), modernists who transformed the practice of harmony in 20th-centu ...
under the name ''Herzgewächse'' and by the Belgian composer
Serge Verstockt (original title).
References
*Maeterlinck, Maurice (2003). ''Hothouses: Poems 1889.'' Trans. Richard Howard. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press. , .
External links
Chapter II of Edward Thomas' ''Maurice Materlinck'', entitled "First Poems:''Serres Chaudes''"
{{Maurice Maeterlinck
Poetry by Maurice Maeterlinck
Poetry collections
1889 poems
