The Year in Poetry 2014: Light and Shade

This article surveys recently published French-language poetry, with emphasis on a spectrum of verbal and tonal nuances, genres and sub-genres, and questions and preoccupations. Initial commentary foregrounds Aksinia Mihaylova, Philippe Beck, Marie-Claire Bancquart, Esther Tellermann, Jacques Roubaud, and Jacques Réda, as well as two volumes of critical prose, from Bénédicte Gorrillot and Alain Lescart, and Béatrice Bonneville-Humann and Yves Humann, respectively. Along with condensed reviews and analysis of other critical volumes, these reflections reveal the cultural and philosophical riches available amid the uncertainties and points of slippage inherent in poetic theory and practice today.