Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880) is often remembered as one of the most influential French novelists of the 19th century. His name is almost always linked with prose masterpieces like Madame Bovary, Salammbô, and Sentimental Education. However, while Flaubert did not write much traditional verse, his literary influence on French poetry is deeper and more significant than many realize.
In his style, thought, and commitment to form, Flaubert embodied the soul of a 19th Century French Poet. He approached prose with the precision and music of poetry. Many poets of the same period admired him or were influenced by his ideas. His poetic language, rhythmic structure, and devotion to beauty shaped not only French prose but also French poetry. This article examines Flaubert’s life, work, and legacy as a 19th Century French Poet. It also compares his influence with other poets of the time and explores his continuing importance in the development of modern French literature.
Gustave Flaubert
Gustave Flaubert was born on December 12, 1821, in Rouen, in the Normandy region of France. His father was a respected doctor, and Flaubert grew up in a home that valued education, science, and culture. From a young age, Flaubert showed a deep love of literature. He began writing stories and plays as a teenager and kept this habit throughout his life.
He briefly studied law in Paris but found the legal world dull and depressing. He suffered from nervous disorders, possibly epilepsy, and returned to Normandy, where he chose to live a quiet life devoted to writing. He had no regular job, no interest in fame, and no desire for public honors. His entire energy went into the study of style and language.
Flaubert’s Writing Style: A Poetic Approach to Prose
Although Flaubert is rarely called a poet in the traditional sense, he deserves recognition as a 19th Century French Poet due to his unique approach to language. He sought beauty in every sentence and rhythm in every phrase. His well-known phrase le mot juste, or “the right word,” shows his obsession with precision and meaning.
He did not write poems with rhyme and meter, but his prose reads like poetry. He paid close attention to how a sentence sounded when read aloud. He would often spend hours rewriting a single paragraph to improve its flow and tone. For Flaubert, writing was not simply about storytelling—it was about creating music with language.
In this way, Flaubert resembled the French poets of his time. He believed in the power of words, the need for discipline in writing, and the sacred nature of beauty in art. His commitment to form was as serious as that of any poet.
Key Works and Their Poetic Qualities
Madame Bovary (1857)
Flaubert’s most famous novel, Madame Bovary, tells the tragic story of a young woman who dreams of romantic passion but finds only disappointment in her provincial life. On the surface, the book is a realistic story. But its style is lyrical and full of poetic detail.
Flaubert uses imagery to mirror Emma Bovary’s emotional state. Her surroundings, her dreams, and even the weather reflect her hopes and sorrows. This use of symbolic detail is similar to what many French poets, especially the Symbolists, would later explore.
Salammbô (1862)
Salammbô is a historical novel set in ancient Carthage. Here, Flaubert shows his ability to describe exotic landscapes and dramatic scenes in vivid, poetic language. The novel is rich in color, sound, and sensation. It feels like an epic poem written in prose.
This book also shows Flaubert’s interest in mythology and ritual—important themes in French poetry of the 19th century. Writers like Victor Hugo and Charles Baudelaire also drew on ancient symbols to explore modern emotions.
Sentimental Education (1869)
This novel presents the life of a young man during the revolution of 1848. It is less dramatic than Madame Bovary but just as poetic in style. Flaubert uses subtle shifts in tone and mood to express loss, failure, and the passage of time. His characters often feel isolated, unsure, and full of longing. These emotions are common in the works of other French poets of his era.
Comparison with Contemporary French Poets
To understand Flaubert’s place in 19th-century literature, it helps to compare him with some of the major French poets of the same time. Though their forms were different, their aims were often similar.
Charles Baudelaire
Baudelaire (1821–1867) was born in the same year as Flaubert. His famous collection Les Fleurs du mal explores beauty, death, and spiritual suffering. Like Flaubert, he used elegant language to express dark themes.
Both men disliked modern bourgeois society and the shallow values of their time. Both believed in art for art’s sake. Flaubert and Baudelaire were part of the shift from Romanticism to modernism. They opened the door for more personal, ironic, and experimental forms of expression.
Baudelaire admired Flaubert’s craft. In his reviews, he praised Flaubert for his detail, structure, and style.
Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo (1802–1885) was the dominant voice of early 19th-century French poetry. His poems were grand, emotional, and rich in moral purpose. While Flaubert preferred to remain neutral and detached, Hugo wrote with political fire and religious faith.
Still, both writers shared a love of language and a sense of tragedy. Hugo’s epic scale and Flaubert’s subtle depth each represent a poetic vision of life, though expressed in very different ways.
Paul Verlaine and Stéphane Mallarmé
In the later 19th century, Symbolist poets like Verlaine and Mallarmé emerged. They valued suggestion over clarity and music over logic. Their poems are often difficult, dreamy, and full of hidden meaning.
Flaubert did not share their taste for mystery, but he influenced them in form. His exact language, musical rhythm, and focus on style helped shape the Symbolist idea that the beauty of words matters more than plot or message.
Flaubert’s View on Poetry and Poets
Flaubert respected poets but had a critical eye. He saw some Romantic poets as too emotional and careless with form. He wanted writing to be more disciplined. In letters to friends, he often said that prose should be as beautiful as poetry. He dreamed of a book that would have no subject, only style—a “book about nothing” that would still be perfect and moving because of how it was written.
This idea was bold and modern. It rejected the old rules of moral teaching in literature. Instead, it pointed toward art as an experience, where words themselves could carry beauty and emotion. In this sense, Flaubert was a 19th Century French Poet in spirit and method, if not in form.
Flaubert’s Influence on Future Writers and French Poetry
Flaubert’s legacy continued well beyond his lifetime. Writers and poets of the 20th century praised his work. Marcel Proust, James Joyce, and Virginia Woolf saw him as a master of style. His attention to inner thought and rhythm influenced the modernist movement.
In French poetry, his impact is seen in the way poets began to care more about form and sound. His dream of “poetic prose” came true in many later writers. Even poets like Paul Valéry and Yves Bonnefoy, who came long after him, shared his passion for exact language and inner music.
The border between poetry and prose became less strict, thanks in part to Flaubert. Today, many prose poems and poetic novels owe something to his example.
Flaubert in the Broader Context of 19th Century French Poetry
The 19th century was a time of great change in French poetry. It began with the strong emotions of Romanticism, passed through the realism and naturalism of mid-century writers, and ended with the experiments of the Symbolists and early modernists.
Flaubert stood at the center of this movement. He did not write verse, but his prose shared the concerns of the best French poetry. He wrote about desire, loss, memory, and beauty. He used language not just to inform, but to enchant. He shaped how writers thought about form, content, and the role of the artist.
As a 19th Century French Poet in prose, he helped create the idea that style itself can be poetic. He showed that the way a story is told can be as important as what it says.
Conclusion
Gustave Flaubert was more than a novelist. He was a 19th Century French Poet in every sense but name. His work changed how people wrote and read. He taught that language should be treated with care, that beauty lies in structure and sound, and that literature must aim for artistic perfection.
His novels may be in prose, but they carry the spirit of French poetry. His influence can be found in the works of poets, novelists, and critics alike. Flaubert remains one of the great figures in literary history, a man whose devotion to style and truth continues to shape the future of writing.
In the tradition of French poetry, he stands as a quiet but powerful presence. His art is precise, his voice eternal, and his legacy secure. The 19th century gave us many great poets—but few were as committed to poetic form, even in prose, as Gustave Flaubert.
