Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918)
"The poet is he who discovers new joys, even if they are hard to bear. One can be a poet in any field; it is enough that one be adventuresome and pursue any new discovery." [1]
By 1909 Wilhelm-Apollinaris de Kostroitski adopted the name Guillaume Apollinaire. The elder of two children, Wilhem was born in Rome August 26, 1880. [2] His mother was a Polish noblewoman [3] who was known to frequent casinos. [4] His father was an Italian Army officer who did not recognize Wilhelm as his son. [5] Warren Ramsey writes of Apollinaire's formative years, "He sought to integrate the scattered strands of an unsettling experience by bouts of schoolboy piety, by huge doses of unsystematic reading, by febrile love affairs...and by much writing of verse." [6]
In Paris, Apollinaire befriended and collaborated with artists and poets whose visions were distinctly twentieth-century. His friends included Pablo Picasso, Gertrude Stein, Max Jacob, André Derain, Jean Cocteau, Erik Satie, Marc Chagall, and Marcel Duchamp. Apollinaire described the ethos of the new century in his treatise The New Spirit and the Poet (L'Esprit Nouveau et les Poëtes.) Apollinaire writes, "Do not believe that this new spirit is complicated, slack, artificial, and frozen. In keeping with the very order of nature, the poet puts aside any high-flown purpose. There is no longer any Wagnerianism in us, and the young authors have cast far away all the enchanted clothing of the mighty romanticism of Germany and Wagner, just as they have rejected the rustic tinsel of our early evaluations of Jean Jacques Rousseau." [7]
Apollinaire's secretary, Gery Pieret, was known to have stolen statuettes from the Louvre, and possibly because of this Apollinaire and Picasso were arrested on September 7, 1911 for suspicion of having stolen the Mona Lisa which had been swiped by thieves a week earlier. Picasso was released at once, but Apollinaire was held for a week and was not exonerated for months. [8] (see link below for full story.)
While serving during WWI, Apollinaire was wounded hit by shrapnel in the right temple. [9] He wrote L'Esprit Nouveau et les Poëtes while recuperating. [10]
Alcools was published in 1913 and is considered one of Apollinaire's important works. Warren Ramsey writes of Alcools, "Apollinaire invites his readers to be drunken- on the spiritual air of Nietzchean high places." [11]
Guillaume Apollinaire died of influenza November 9, during the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918
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Text of Poems
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(All poems read are translated by Anne Hyde Greet. When available, links below are to alternate translations for interest of comparison)
Mirabeau Bridge (translated by Donald Revell)
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/180364
Palace (translated by Donald Revell)
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/180367
Marizibill (English translation not available on line)
The Farewell (translated by A.S. Kline)
http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/French/Apollinaire.htm#_Toc24461584
Night Wind (English translation not available on line)
Autumn (English translation not available on line)
Rosemonde (translated by Derek Welton)
http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=30240
Clair de Lune (Moonlight translated by A.S. Kline)
http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/French/Apollinaire.htm#_Toc24461590
Sickly Autumn (translated by A.S. Kline)
http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/French/Apollinaire.htm#_Toc24461591
Hunting Horns (translated by A.S. Kline)
http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/French/Apollinaire.htm#_Toc24461593
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References & Notes
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[1] Guillaume Apollinaire, The new Spirit and the Poet, translated by Roger Shattuck, from Selected Writings of Guillaume Apollinaire, Roger Shattuck translation, New Directions Publishing, 1971, page 234
[2] Warren Ramsey, Foreword to Alcools, translated by Anne Hyde Greet, University of California Pres, 1965, page v
[3] Wikipedia: Guillaume Apollinaire, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillaume_Apollinaire
[4] [5] [6]Warren Ramsey, Forward, page vi
[7] Roger Shattuck translation, the New Spirit.... page 229
[8] Steve King, Apollinaire, Picasso, Mona Lisa, Today in Literature, September 7, 1911 http://www.todayinliterature.com/stories.asp?Event_Date=9/7/1911
[9] Catherine Moore, Laurence Campa, Mark Moore, le site officiel Guillaume Apollinaire, hosted by Western Illinois University http://www.wiu.edu/Apollinaire/Biographie.htm#Biographie_Chronologie
[10] Wikipedia: Guillaume Apollinaire
[11] Warren Ramsey, Forward, page xi
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Il pleut - Apollinaireby shakanyorai8214,875 views
I love the video. Impressive images. I could almost learn French from this.
Idlinfarm 7 months ago
One of my pilgrimages to Paris 30 years ago had me heading directly for Apollinaire's grave at Pere Lachaise, while everyone else headed for Jim's. Great to hear you reading again.
andrewnorris2 8 months ago
Great to see continental poetry at your page (but on an American note, Happy 4th of July weekend.)
HerAeolianHarp 8 months ago