Selected Poems

1995. Every effort has been made to trace copyright ownership and to obtain permission for reproduction. If you believe you are the copyright owner of an item on this site, and we have not requested your permission, please contact us at special.collections@otago.ac.nz

Special Collections PQ 2601 P6 A24 1995

Brighton: Snake River Press

Guillaume Apollinaire (1880–1918), the early 20th century French poet famously credited with coining the terms ‘cubism’ and ‘surrealism’, created Calligrammes (1918), a series of poems that incorporated words, letters and phrases into complex visual collages, like concrete poetry. Subtitled ‘Poems of Peace and War 1913-1916’, many of them – like his ‘Letter to André Billy, 9th April 1915’ - reflected his experiences while an infantryman during WWI. ‘Harden Old Heart’ was not published in his lifetime. The poet who wrote ‘I love art so much, I have joined the artillery’ died on 9 November 1918, the day the Armistice ending the War was announced.