During his second affair with Louise Colet, while he was working on Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert gave his mistress a great deal of advice concerning her poetry and plays. Here we focus on La Colonie de Mettray, La Paysanne—probably the only poem by “la Muse” that Flaubert really liked—, and lastly, La Servante. Although he did not write verse himself, he made precise remarks about the style of and images in her works, which he read with care.
