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Joys (Joies in French) is the fourth book of poetry written by Francis Viele-Griffin (1864-1937). It was first published in 1889, when Griffin was 25 years old. Griffin was American by birth, born in Virginia. As a boy of seven or eight years old, he was sent to France by his father to attend school; he remained.
Francis Viele-Griffin was an adherent, and one of the principal and early practitioners, of the Symbolist movement in poetry, which grew out of the Decadent movement of poetry. An intimate friend of Stephane Mallarme, Griffin was also a great believer in free verse.
In his own words, Griffin says this about Joys:
"The verse is free verse; - which means nothing more than that the ?old? Alexandrine with one or more ?caesura,? with or without ?rejet? or ?enjambment,? is abolished or put down; but - more generally - that no fixed form is considered as the necessary mold anymore for the expression of all poetic thought; that, from now on, but consciously free this time, the Poet will obey the personal rhythm that must be, without M. de Banville or any other ?legislator of Parnassus? intervening; and that talent shall resplend in different ways than by the traditional or illusory ?vanquished difficulties? of rhetorical poetics: - Art is not merely learnt, it recreates itself continually; it does not live by tradition, but by evolving."
