The aim of this article is to question the place of the eternal return in Nerval’s work, starting from the sonnet “Delfica” and the earlier versions of this poem. By deploying a cyclical conception of time, inherited in part from Pythagoreanism, the poet predicts the return of the gods. Everything indicates that this return remains in suspense: in a very Hölderlinian imaginary, the sleep of the “ancient seed” refers to the sleep of paganism, whose power can be awakened by the poet.
CLIL theme: 4027 -- SCIENCES HUMAINES ET SOCIALES, LETTRES -- Lettres et Sciences du langage -- Lettres -- Etudes littéraires générales et thématiques