"... il y a en vous cette gravité que connait seul l'homme qui sait sourire..."

Autograph letter signed by Francis Viélé-Griffin (37 lines in black ink from La Roche à Guet in Vienne) addressed to Edouard Ducoté, poet, bibliophile and director of the review l'Ermitage since 1895.
Fold marks inherent to postal delivery.
He compliments his fellow poet Edouard Ducoté on his latest work which approaches perfection: "... on y trouve l'expression, bien proche d'être complète, de l'être d'intelligence et de sensibilité qu'est le poète..." ["... one finds therein the expression, very nearly complete, of the being of intelligence and sensitivity that is the poet..."]
Beyond the fact that they share the same vision of poetry, Francis Viélé-Griffin sees in Edouard Ducoté: "... l'allure, à la fois légère et solide, la démarche droite sans raideur, sans brusquerie de votre pensée : votre poésie en prend l'autorité de la raison et votre émotion en est plus émouvante..." ["... the bearing, both light and solid, the straight gait without stiffness, without abruptness of your thought: your poetry takes from it the authority of reason and your emotion is all the more moving..."] as a worthy descendant of the trouvères: "... il y a en vous cette gravité que connait seul l'homme qui sait sourire..."["... there is in you that gravity which only the man who knows how to smile possesses..."]
Close friend of Stéphane Mallarmé, friend of André Gide, Paul Valéry, Francis Jammes, Emile Verhaeren, Francis Viélé-Griffin was an American Symbolist poet writing in French. He became, with Gustave Kahn, one of the principal theorists of free verse.