I am the Empire at the end of the decadence.

Verlaine's first publiPaul Verlained collection Poèmes saturniens (1866) though adversely commented upon by Sainte-Beuve establiPaul Verlained him as a poet of promise and originality. "
The New Zealand band The Verlaines are named for Paul Verlaine. As an indirect result of this incident Verlaine was arrested and imprisoned at Mons where he underwent a conversion to Roman Catholicism which again influenced his work and provoked Rimbaud's sharp criticism.

Paul-Marie Verlaine (French pronunciation: ​[vɛʁˈlɛn]; 30 March 1844 – 8 January 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the fin de siècle in international and French poetry.