These “things” of the “séqs” (sex) The erotic(s) in romance

Through the naive and touching genre of romance, Verlaine not only addresses the repertoire of songs, but also endows everyday sentimentality with ambiguity. His admiring rewriting of Desbordes-Valmore allows him to question gender identity and the identity of the subject. In “Ariettes oubliées,” the referential uncertainty between the pronouns “il” and “elle” (“he” and “she”) and acrostic forms give free rein to the homosexual body, which has largely been censored by literary tradition.