My Hospitals & My Prisons, by Paul Verlaine, were published in 1891/1893 respectively. Autobiographical in nature, but reading more like works of fiction, they are written in that rare, ephemeral, and nuanced style of prose that Paul Verlaine is famous for in his early poetry. They were published less than five years before his death in 1896. Enthusiasts of the Paris Commune and the Belle Epoque will be enthralled by these eye-witness accounts of events before, during and after – with brief cameos by Arthur Rimbaud, Victor Hugo, Léon Bloy, Leconte de Lisle. My Prisons provides important details surrounding the infamous shooting of poet and friend Arthur Rimbaud in Brussels, which landed Verlaine in Mons prison, where he subsequently converted to Catholicism and wrote many of the poems that were later included in Sagesse, Jadis & Naguère, and Parallèlement. In short, two documents of utmost importance and interest in the life and times of this “Prince of Poets.”

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