Her work has recently received more attention due to a revival of interest in Sapphic verse. Many of her poems are autobiographical, pertaining mostly to Baudelarian themes of extreme romanticism and frequent despair. Apart from poetry, she wrote several works of prose, including L'Etre Double inspired by Coleridge's Christabel , and an unfinished biography of Anne Boleyn , which was published posthumously.
The plot failed, and Pauline was taken away from her mother to live as a ward of the court until she came of age. After her turbulent prior experience with Barney, Vivien found much-needed emotional support and stability in her relationship with Zuylen. In letters to her confidant, the French journalist and Classical scholar Jean Charles-Brun , Vivien wrote that she considered herself married to the Baroness.
The two launched a passionate correspondence, followed by brief clandestine encounters. In , Zuylen left Vivien for another woman, which left her shocked and humiliated. Vivien, terribly affected by these losses, turned increasingly to alcohol and drugs. The French writer Colette , who was Vivien's neighbour from to , immortalised this period in The Pure and the Impure , a collection of portraits showing the spectrum of homosexual behaviour. Written in the s and originally published in , its factual accuracy is questionable; Natalie Barney reportedly did not concur with Colette's characterization of Vivien.
Vivien was cultivated and very well travelled, especially for a woman of her era. Vivien became ill on the voyage. Her Paris home was a luxurious ground-floor apartment at 23, avenue du Bois de Boulogne now 23, Avenue Foch that opened onto a Japanese garden.
She purchased antique furnishings from London and exotic objets d'art from the Far East. She kept an abundant amount of fresh flowers and offerings of Lady Apples to her collection of shrines, statuettes, icons, and Buddhas. While visiting London in , Vivien tried to kill herself by drinking an excess of laudanum. As she waited to die, she stretched out on her divan with a bouquet of violets held over her heart.
