Tristan Corbière
Tristan Corbière (18 July 1845 – 1 March 1875), born Édouard-Joachim Corbière, was a French poet born in Coat-Congar, Ploujean (now part of Morlaix) in Brittany, where he lived most of his life before dying of tuberculosis at the age of 29. He was a French poet, close to Symbolism, and a figure of the "cursed poet". He is the author of a single collection of poetry, Les Amours jaunes, and of a few prose pieces.
Also recorded as Tristan Corbiere
Tristan Corbière

Luque · book · Public domain
- Name
- Tristan Corbière
- Birth Name
- Édouard-Joachim Corbière
- Born
- 18 July 1845
- Birthplace
- Morlaix, Brittany, France
- Died
- 1 March 1875
- Occupation
- Poet
- Movement
- Symbolism
- Full name
- Édouard-Joachim Corbière.
- Nationality
- France
- Education
- lycée Georges-Clemenceau
- Languages
- French
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Documentary summary
Tristan Corbière (18 July 1845 – 1 March 1875), born Édouard-Joachim Corbière, was a French poet born in Coat-Congar, Ploujean (now part of Morlaix) in Brittany, where he lived most of his life before dying of tuberculosis at the age of 29. He was a French poet, close to Symbolism, and a figure of the "cursed poet". He is the author of a single collection of poetry, Les Amours jaunes, and of a few prose pieces.
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Authority files
wikidata · Q316536 · wikipedia · Tristan Corbière
In this article
Biography
Biography
He led a mostly marginal and miserable life, nourished by two major failures due to his bone disease and his "ugliness" which he enjoyed accusing: the first is his sentimental life (he only loved one woman, called "Marcelle" in his work), and the second being his passion for the sea (he dreamt of becoming a sailor, like his father, Édouard Corbière). His poetry carries these two great wounds which led him to adopt a very cynical and incisive style, towards himself as much towards the life and world around him. He died at the age of 29, possibly from tuberculosis, a childless bachelor with no work, entrenched in his old Breton manor, misunderstood by his contemporaries, and his innovative poetry was not recognised until well after his death.

Studio Portrait of Tristan Corbière, ca. 1865, unknown, photomechanical reproduction from frontispiece of Tristan
State Library of New South Wales, T0104445
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Tristan Corbière • Birth Name — Édouard-Joachim Corbière • Born — 18 July 1845 • Birthplace — Morlaix, Brittany, France • Died — 1 March 1875 • Place of death — Morlaix, Brittany, France • Occupation — Poet • Genre — Poetry • Movement — Symbolism • Notable Works — Les Amours jaunes
Family and schooling
Family and schooling
His mother, Marie-Angélique-Aspasie Puyo, was 19 years old at the time of his birth, and belonged to one of the most prominent families of the local bourgeoisie. His father was Antoine-Édouard Corbière, mariner and writer known for his best-selling novel Le Négrier. A cousin, Constant Puyo, was a well-known Pictorialist photographer. During his schooling at the Imperial Lycée of Saint-Brieuc where he studied from 1858 until 1860, he fell prey to a deep depression, and, over several freezing winters, contracted the severe rheumatism which was to disfigure him. He blamed his parents for having placed him there, far from his family's care and affection. Difficulties in adapting to the harsh discipline of the college's noble débris (distinguished relics, i.e., teachers) gradually developed those characteristics of anarchic disdain and sarcasm which were to give much of his verse their distinctive voice.
Poetry
Poetry
Corbière first used the pseudonym Tristan as early as 1865, and at latest in 1867, when he signed a poem, La Balancelle, as Édouard Tristan Corbière. The allusion is perhaps to the Tristan of legend. If so, Corbière's life and work would gain a bathos lent to it by reference to a hero of tragedy. Corbière's only published verse in his lifetime appeared in Les amours jaunes, 1873, a volume that went almost unnoticed until Paul Verlaine included him in his gallery of poètes maudits (accursed poets). Thereafter Verlaine's recommendation was enough to establish him as one of the masters acknowledged by the Symbolists, and he was subsequently rediscovered and treated as a predecessor by the surrealists. Close-packed, linked to the ocean and his Breton roots, and tinged with disdain for Romantic sentimentalism, his work is also characterised by its idiomatic play and exceptional modernity. He was praised by both Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot (whose work he had a great influence on). Eliot used his self-description as "Mélange adultère de tout" as the title for one of his own (French) poems. Many subsequent modernist poets have also studied him, and he has often been translated into English. His complete poems appear in two volumes with translations by the English poet Christopher Pilling. A very precise commented version of Les Amours jaunes was published in 1993 by Elisabeth Aragon and Claude Bonnin for the Presses universitaires de l'université de Toulouse-Le Mirail. It is now on open and free access: https: new-pum.univ-tlse2.fr/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Les_amours_jaunes.pdf
Identity and origins
Identity and origins
Tristan Corbière was recorded at birth as Édouard-Joachim Corbière. The authorities additionally record the heading Tristan Corbiere. His recorded language was French. He was the child of Édouard Corbière. Other recorded relations include Jules E.
Identity
Identity
Tristan Corbière is recorded as poet and writer.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1845
Tristan Corbière was born in 1845 at Morlaix.
1875
Tristan Corbière died in 1875 at Morlaix.
Catalogued output
Catalogued works
Tristan Corbière; un essai.
Literature
Literature
Literature
Tristan Corbière, ou les voix de la corbière, 1997
Les voix de la corbière, Tristan Corbière, ou les voix de la corbière, 1997
Secuelas literarias de un carácter: Tristan Corbière iconoclasta
Scholarly footprint
Literature
Scholarly footprint
A count of publications is evidence of attention, not of standing, and is given here only as a measure.
Citations
References
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reference work
Partially resolvedreference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q316536: Tristan CorbièreWikimedia Foundation
Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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