This article begins with the analysis of an anonymous review of a new book published in Paris in 1885: “Les Complaintes par Monsieur Jules Laforgue”: in fact, the first poetical collection by Laforgue. The anonymous reviewer is indeed the poet himself, whose first aim is to distinguish his work from the grotesque collection "Les Déliquescences" d’Adoré Floupette, edited at the same time by the same Parisian publisher: Léon Vanier. Why does Laforgue insist on using the word humour? Isn’t he the first French Poet who introduces this English word not only in his prose writings but also in his poems, what’s more in a collection of complaints? Why has he changed the title of his ancient poem “Litanies de mon triste coeur” in “Complainte-litanies de mon Sacré-Coeur”? Is it only a question of humour? Here are some of the questions answered in the present article.
