From what I recall of my studies of Eluard, this was originally
intended as a love poem (to Gala, perhaps?). Interesting how the simple
substitution of a personal name with the abstraction of freedom can
produce something capable of being parachuted in to resistance fighters...
Martin
Frederick Pollack wrote:
> [snip] The choral movement of Beethoven's Ninth, words by Schiller, is
> a march.
>
> And if you want to avoid the following, or the spirit that gave rise
> to it (in 1942), you're welcome to. But I think an aesthetic that
> can't strike this note, or can't imagine striking it under certain
> circumstances, is lacking something.
>
> Liberté
>
> Sur mes cahiers d'écolier
> Sur mon pupitre et les arbres
> Sur le sable sur la neige
> J'écris ton nom
>
>
> Sur toutes les pages lues
> Sur toutes les pages blanches
> Pierre sang papier ou cendre
> J'écris ton nom
>
> [snip]
>
> Liberté.
> Paul Eluard
> in Poésies et vérités 1942
> Ed. de Minuit, 1942
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