La « divine transposition » et quelques évocations de l’apothéose Réception, réinterprétation et symbolisation de Banville par Mallarmé

How can an outdated and unfashionable poet like Banville be a role model for Mallarmé, the representative par excellence of ‘­modernity’ ? What is the relationship between the ‘­obscure’ language of the latter and the ‘­clear’, even ‘­easy’, language of his elder ? These are the questions which this article seeks to answer, re-examining the reputation of Banville in the nineteenth century and the way in which Mallarmé reinterpreted his work as he formulated his own aesthetic.