José-Maria de Heredia (1842–1905)

The French poet with Caribbean roots is perhaps the most engaged advocate of l’art pour l’art, confession of the Parnassiens to a poetry without political or social issues. When he was chosen to the French Academy in 1894, his place (fauteuil 4) would have been due to Arthur Rimbaud, whose incredibly modern art of versification stood against the monotony and coldness of de Heredia’s works. But Rimbaud had already died three years before.