The Rhetoric of Valéry's Prose Aubades

While Paul Valéry's lyric poetry, as well as his dialogues, dramatic work, and critical prose, have preoccupied his critics, his prose poems have been virtually ignored and his position in the tradition of the genre has remained unacknowledged. This study demonstrates the significance of Valéry as a prose poet and of the form and its evolution in the poet's oeuvre. The close textual reading and analysis concentrate on Valéry's prose aubades – the prose poems, poetic prose fragments, and sequence