Paul Valéry (1871-1945) is a key figure in 20th-century French poetry, an heir to Symbolism and a fervent artisan of a poetry of thought. His writing, demanding and deeply thoughtful, strives for absolute mastery of form and expression. Rejecting all spontaneity, Valéry conceived poetry as an exercise of the mind, where each word is weighed, each verse constructed according to rigorous logic. Works such as La Jeune Parque and Charmes illustrate this quest for a poetry that is both intellectual and musical, stretched between abstraction and formal beauty.