A poet of undeniable stature, the Comtesse de Noailles was respected and beloved by France's literary and lay population alike, counting among her admirers Proust, Cocteau, and Collete. She was the only female poet of her time in France to receives the highest public recognitions, including the first woman to become a Commander of the Legion of Honor. Noailles contructed an original poetic world view, drawing inspiration from Greek paganism and in Nietzsche's radical thought. Her work is often described as ecstatic, sensual, erotic, sometimes violent, and usually marked by a tragic undercurrent. The only anthology of her works in English.