The book provides one of the first comprehensive studies of the underlying unity of Valery's poetry and thought.

This is one of the first studies to treat Valery's theory and practice of poetry together and is the first full-length study of his poetry in English. Discussion of his ideas on poetic composition leads to a detailed analysis of the principal poetry: the long term poem La Jeune Parque and all the poems in the main collection. While serving as a step-by-step introduction to Valery's poetic achievement, the argument is not merely neutral; it elicits and comments on his little-known concept of 'Voice', now seen increasingly to be central. This is not simply the acoustic or musical effect of one...