Paul Verlaine Absinthe

In this occasional series, we are sharing literary tipples – the drinks enjoyed by our great writers. Today we share a drink with Paul Verlaine.

French poet Paul Verlaine drank himself to death, and in his last moments cursed the ‘green fairy’, the drink that had caused his ruin. But he was still sneaking kisses from the green fairy on his deathbed, even as he damned it.

The green fairy, more accurately known as absinthe, was created in Switzerland in the late 18th century. It rose to great popularity as an alcoholic drink in late 19th- and early 20th-century France, particularly among Parisian artists and writers. Notable imbibers included Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Lewis Carroll, Charles Baudelaire, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine.

Paul Verlaine is best remembered as a prominent 19th century symbolist poet whose work was revered for his distinctive and evocative style. His poetry often delved into themes of love, melancholy, and fleeting beauty, showcasing a delicate and musical quality that set him apart. His tumultuous personal life, marked by his complex relationship with fellow poet Arthur Rimbaud, further fuelled interest in him.

Verlaine’s last years saw his descent into drug addiction, alcoholism, and poverty. He lived in slums and public hospitals and spent his days drinking absinthe in Paris cafés as seen in the photograph above by Paul Marsan Dornac taken in the Café François 1er in 1892. He once wrote to a friend, “It was upon absinthe that I threw myself, absinthe day and night.” He felt uncultivated for drinking it and called it “that green and terrible drink”, but he could not stop. Verlaine’s drug dependence and alcoholism finally took his life, and he died in Paris at the age of 51 on 8 January 1896.

According to popular legend, absinthe began as an all-purpose remedy around 1792 and its popularity grew steadily when it was given to French troops as a malaria preventive. It became so popular in French bars, bistros, cafés, and cabarets by the 1860s that the hour of 5 pm was called l’heure verte (“the green hour”). Absinthe was favoured by all social classes, from the wealthy bourgeoisie to poor artists and ordinary working-class people. By the 1880s, mass production had dropped the price, and the French were drinking 36 million litres per year by 1910. By 1915, it had been banned in much of Europe. However, in the second half of the 20th century, the popularity of the green fairy faded, being replaced by cocktails, martinis and, in the 1960s, a panoply of mind-altering drugs.

From time to time absinthe has appeared in special marketing bottles bearing Verlaine’s name, but it doesn’t appear to be available locally at the moment.

Bans are no longer in place and today’s absinthe is a “tongue-numbing drink” that “sharpens the senses,” said Lance Winters, master distiller and proprietor at St George Spirits in a BBC interview. Absinthe has never been illegal to import or manufacture in Australia and is readily available in bottle shops.