Named in memory of the well-known French poet-symbolist Paul Verlaine (1844–1896). He was born in the grey and rainy Ardennes, a landscape that would never be far from his sad life. In his early work he declared himself as doomed, a “poète maudit”, torn between a mystic search for pureness and demonic sensuality. Alcohol ruined his health and mind, during a libertine and bohemian existence with his friend, the poet Arthur Rimbaud {see planet  (4635)}. Verlaine will be remembered for his splendid verse: “Il pleure dans mon coeur/ comme il pleut sur la ville./ Quelle est cette langueur/ qui pénétre mon coeur?”. (M 27129; M 27147) _ _.