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Selected Poems
176 pages, Paperback
Published December 1, 2025
3 people want to read
About the author
Natalie Clifford Barney
26 books113 followersNatalie Clifford Barney (31 October 1876 – 2 February 1972) was an American expatriate who lived, wrote and hosted a literary salon in Paris. She was a noted poet, memoirist and epigrammatist.
Barney's salon was held at her home on Paris's Left Bank for more than 60 years and brought together writers and artists from around the world, including many leading figures in French literature along with American and British Modernists of the Lost Generation. She worked to promote writing by women and formed a "Women's Academy" in response to the all-male French Academy while also giving support and inspiration to male writers from Remy de Gourmont to Truman Capote.
She was openly lesbian and began publishing love poems to women under her own name as early as 1900, considering scandal as "the best way of getting rid of nuisances". In her writings she supported feminism, paganism and pacifism. She opposed monogamy and had many overlapping, long and short-term relationships, including an on-and-off romance with poet Renée Vivien and a 50-year relationship with painter Romaine Brooks. Her life and love affairs served as inspiration for many novels, ranging from the salacious French bestseller Sapphic Idyll to The Well of Loneliness, arguably the most famous lesbian novel of the 20th century.[3]
Barney's salon was held at her home on Paris's Left Bank for more than 60 years and brought together writers and artists from around the world, including many leading figures in French literature along with American and British Modernists of the Lost Generation. She worked to promote writing by women and formed a "Women's Academy" in response to the all-male French Academy while also giving support and inspiration to male writers from Remy de Gourmont to Truman Capote.
She was openly lesbian and began publishing love poems to women under her own name as early as 1900, considering scandal as "the best way of getting rid of nuisances". In her writings she supported feminism, paganism and pacifism. She opposed monogamy and had many overlapping, long and short-term relationships, including an on-and-off romance with poet Renée Vivien and a 50-year relationship with painter Romaine Brooks. Her life and love affairs served as inspiration for many novels, ranging from the salacious French bestseller Sapphic Idyll to The Well of Loneliness, arguably the most famous lesbian novel of the 20th century.[3]
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 10, 2025
Gorgeous poetry & gorgeous translation.
Natalie Clifford Barney (1876-1972) was a lesbian poet who openly wrote about her affairs with women. She used her generous inheritance from her father to publish sapphic chapbooks & poetry collections that may have been lost to history without her philanthropy.
Barney hosted a weekly salon in Paris, where many iconic, queer authors congregated, such as Andre Gide and Djuna Barnes.
Barney is often overlooked in literary history; this first English translation of her work is absolutely groundbreaking for sapphic history & poetry lovers of all identities.
Thank you to the publisher for my gifted copy! Out now!!
Natalie Clifford Barney (1876-1972) was a lesbian poet who openly wrote about her affairs with women. She used her generous inheritance from her father to publish sapphic chapbooks & poetry collections that may have been lost to history without her philanthropy.
Barney hosted a weekly salon in Paris, where many iconic, queer authors congregated, such as Andre Gide and Djuna Barnes.
Barney is often overlooked in literary history; this first English translation of her work is absolutely groundbreaking for sapphic history & poetry lovers of all identities.
Thank you to the publisher for my gifted copy! Out now!!
March 11, 2026
Natalie Barney has a first class translator in Samantha Pious. A linguist and published poet who has also translated the verse of Renée Vivien, Pious resolves even the trickiest challenge posed by Barney’s metrical poems. The Headmistress edition gives us the French opposite the English. Nice essay as well.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews