I Capture the Castle guests describe each other in terms of famous artists. Topaz is called a work by William Blake, Rose is said to resemble Emma, Lady Hamilton, the muse of the painter George Romney, Simon says that Cassandra is like "Girl with a Mousetrap," a painting by Joshua Reynolds, and Mrs Fox-Cotton is said to be a work by Salvador Dalí "with snakes coming out of her ears". Simon introduces Cassandra to the works of Claude Debussy: "Clair de lune", "La cathédrale engloutie", "La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune". She also listens to J. S. Bach's "Sheep May Safely Graze"
Paul Verlaine Vasnier"; he also made another setting of Clair de lune, and the poem inspired his Suite bergamasque. Reynaldo Hahn set several of Verlaine's poems as did the Belgian-British composer Poldowski (daughter of Henryk Wieniawski). His drug dependence and alcoholism caught up with him and took a toll on his life. Paul Verlaine died in Paris at the age of 51 on 8 January 1896; he was buried in the Cimetière des Batignolles (he was first buried in the 20th division, but his grave was moved to the 11th division—on the roundabout, a much better location—when the Boulevard Périphérique was built).