Chansons pour elle (Songs for Women) is the tenth poetic collection in verse by Paul Verlaine, published in 1891 by his regular publisher Léon Vanier. Composed of twenty-five medium-length poems, the collection was inspired by the poet’s liaisons with Philomène Boudin, also known as ‘Esther’, and with Eugenie Krantz, or ‘Mouton’.

Odes en son honneur (Odes in Their Honour), which is paired with Chansons pour elle in this edition, is a further set of twenty poems on similar themes which was published two years later in 1893.

With an erotic theme in the same vein as Parallalement (1889), but devoted to specific women, the language and symbolism of Chansons pour elle and Odes en son honneur marked Verlaine’s final abandonment of all hope of salvation through religious faith, freeing him to write about physical passion and desire without the accompanying guilt.

Bécat’s drypoints for this collection are some of his best later works, demonstrating his mastery of both the technique and his subject matter. His women are voluptuous, happy, and utterly believable.

The Bécat-illustrated Chansons pour elle was published by Les Heures Claires, in a limited, numbered and boxed edition of 499 copies.