He published his first collection of verse before the age of twenty. He was one of the leaders of the Parnassian school. He was admired and imitated by a whole generation of young poets in the second half of the 19th century. He published seventeen collections of lyric poems, but his poetic output is much broader. It includes not only the many poems that appeared in the press at the time, but also several plays written in verse.Autograph letter signed Paris, 24.10 “Je m'empresse de vous envoyer l'autorisation que vous me demandez pour jouer La Pomme..."; Autograph letter signed Paris, 14.01. :"... c'est avec un grand empressement que je vous abandonne mes droits d'auteur".