From Premonition to `Réminiscence': A Prose Poem by Stéphane Mallarmé

"Réminiscene," a late piece of Mallarmé's prose poem cycle, Anecdotes ou Poèmes of Divagations, constitutes a transformation of his early prose poem, "L'Orphelin." The young poet's obsessive theme of orphanhood has become in "Réminiscence" the anecdote of a symbolist piece celebrating the Hamlet-Igitur theme. The poem further marks a decisive stage in the evolution of the poet-persona in the prose-poem cycle, that of the Poet as Showman. At the same time the piece reflects Mallarmé's notions on the theater, the ideal theater that is ritualistic and takes on the spiritual function of the dying Church. (UF)