Twentieth-Century French Poetry

Hugues Azerad is Fellow in French at Magdalene College, Cambridge. Peter Collier is Emeritus Fellow in French at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.

'If the poet, in the words of Edouard Glissant, is a 'visionnaire du concret', this volume of close readings explores poetry as utterance situated between dream and reality without ascribing a mission to the poet or attempting to unearth hidden subtexts. These marvellously read poems follow the major currents of twentieth century French and Francophone literature and go a long way to fulfilling the editors' desires to forge a new alliance between readers and poets.' J. Michael Dash, New York University

• Foreword: 'Ending the mission, inaugurating the pact' Yves Bonnefoy; Preface; Acknowledgments; General introduction Hugues Azérad; Part I. Traditions and Modernisms: 1. Paul Valéry, 'Le Cantique des colonnes' (1922) Peter Collier; 2. Victor Segalen, 'Aux dix mille années' (1912) Charles Forsdick; 3. Guillaume Apollinaire, 'Lettre-Océan' (1916) Timothy Mathews; 4. Marie Noël, 'Attente' (1920) Alison Finch; 5. Blaise Cendrars, 'Me too buggy' (1919) Clive Scott; 6. Saint-John Perse, 'Écrits sur la porte' (1911) Mary Gallagher; 7. Léopold Sédar Senghor, 'À New York' (1956) Roger Little; Part II. Avant-Gardes: 8. Pierre Reverdy, 'L'Esprit du dehors' (1915), 'L'Esprit dehors' (1960) Stephen Romer; 9. Paul Éluard, 'La courbe de ton coeur…' (1926) Richard Stamelman; 10. André Breton, 'Vigilance' (1932) Elza Adamowicz; 11. Aragon, 'Elsa je t'aime' (1941) Tom Conley; 12. Henri Michaux, 'Iniji' (1973) Margaret Rigaud-Drayton; 13. Aimé Césaire, Cahier d'un retour au pays natal (1939) Jean Khalfa; 14. Francis Ponge, 'Le Volet suivi de sa scholie' (1946) Philippe Met; Part III. Poetics of Presence: 15. René Char, 'Gravité' (1938) Roger Cardinal; 16. Yves Bonnefoy, 'Rue traversière' (1987) Victoria Best; 17. André du Bouchet, 'Accidents' (1961) Emma Wagstaff; 18. Jacques Dupin, 'Commencer' (1969) Mary Ann Caws; 19. Philippe Jaccottet, 'L'ignorant' (1958) Jean-Michel Maulpoix; 20. Édouard Glissant, 'Pour Mycéa' (1985) Jean-Pascal Pouzet; Part IV. New Voices, New Visions: 21. Michel Deguy, 'Le Métronome' (1993) Béatrice Bonhomme; 22. Bernard Heidsieck, 'Poème-partition B2B3' (1965) Jean-Pierre Bobillot; 23. Jacques Réda, 'L'Incorrigible' (1995) Susan Harrow; 24. Bernard Noël, 'États de l'air' (1983) Andrew Rothwell; 25. Jacques Roubaud, 'Dès que je me lève' (1986) Meryl Tyers; 26. Marie-Claire Bancquart, 'Essentiel' (1986) Shirley Jordan; 27. Nguyên Hoàng Bào Viêt, 'Anne Frank' (1980) Thanh-Vân Ton-That; 28. Claude Esteban, 'Ils sont riches…' (1999) Robert W. Greene; 29. Gérard Titus-Carmel, 'Or battant...' (2006) Michael Bishop; 30. Jean-Michel Maulpoix, 'Bleu ne fait pas de bruit' (1992) Laure Helms; 31. Amina Saïd, 'Trois continents dérivent' (1988) Rosemary Lloyd; 32. Pierre Alferi, 'Une défense de la poésie' (1997) Michael Sheringham; Afterword: reading twentieth-century French verse Clive Scott; Biographies of the poets; Glossary; Select bibliography; Index.