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Bestiary: or the Parade of Orpheus
Thirty short poems by Guillaume Apollinaire, with woodcuts by Raoul Dufy, of Dufy, that celebrate mammals, birds, fish, insects, and the mythical poet and prophet Orpheus--filled with surprising images, wit, formal mastery, and wry irony.
First published in 1911, and embellished with the graphically sophisticated woodcuts, this collection presents a voice that ranges from the colloquial to the impassioned, a brisk combination of lyric imagery and bawdy humor.
Apollinaire was an early and influential champion of Cubism, the friend of Braque, Picasso, Dufy, and Rousseau, and a seminal figure in the revolutionary art style known as "Surrealism," a term that he coined. This a rare treat for lovers of French literature, art, and culture.
First published in 1911, and embellished with the graphically sophisticated woodcuts, this collection presents a voice that ranges from the colloquial to the impassioned, a brisk combination of lyric imagery and bawdy humor.
Apollinaire was an early and influential champion of Cubism, the friend of Braque, Picasso, Dufy, and Rousseau, and a seminal figure in the revolutionary art style known as "Surrealism," a term that he coined. This a rare treat for lovers of French literature, art, and culture.
77 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1911
3 people are currently reading
316 people want to read
About the author
Guillaume Apollinaire
688 books478 followersItalian-French poet Guillaume Apollinaire, originally Wilhelm Apollinaris de Kostrowitzky, led figures in avant-garde literary and artistic circles.
A Polish mother bore Wilhelm Albert Włodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki, this known writer and critic.
People credit him among the foremost of the early 20th century with coining the word surrealism and with writing Les Mamelles de Tirésias (1917), the play of the earliest works, so described and later used as the basis for an opera in 1947.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillau...
A Polish mother bore Wilhelm Albert Włodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki, this known writer and critic.
People credit him among the foremost of the early 20th century with coining the word surrealism and with writing Les Mamelles de Tirésias (1917), the play of the earliest works, so described and later used as the basis for an opera in 1947.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillau...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
August 3, 2024
L’Araignée
O weaver of intricate patterns
With thread from the abdomen
Poetess who on flies fattens
Strike fear into the hearts of men!
June 9, 2020
Een creatief en kunstige dichtbundel. De afbeeldingen van Dirk Wiarda zijn erg geslaagd. Dat is voor mij al een hele goede reden voor de 4 sterren.
Het is leuk dat de originele Franse tekst altijd naast de Nederlandse vertaling staat.
De gedichten over de dieren zijn soms vrolijk van aard maar vaker een beetje duister.
Het is leuk dat de originele Franse tekst altijd naast de Nederlandse vertaling staat.
De gedichten over de dieren zijn soms vrolijk van aard maar vaker een beetje duister.
August 31, 2019
Free download available at Project Gutenberg
I made the proofing of this book for Free Literature and it will be published by Project Gutenberg.
I made the proofing of this book for Free Literature and it will be published by Project Gutenberg.
January 22, 2021
Zanimljivi bestijarij koji očito aludira na tradiciju srednjovjekovnog bestijarija, ali svako biće ima svoju pjesmu koja redovito nema nikakvu poruku već prije neku doskočicu. Zanimljivo djelo 20. stoljeća koje dokazuje da je srednji vijek vječni izvor inspiracije i preoblike.
March 12, 2023
Tacitas me ha apuntado a un par de libros chikitos de poesía en francés y se lo agradezco. “el ratón” y “el saltamontes” estaban equisde
June 28, 2020
Apollinaire es un maestro del surrealismo, especialmente me gustó su texto sobre el delfín. Les recomiendo la edición del círculo de ilustradores, que contiene dibujos bellísimos, acordes con la desmedida imaginación del autor francés
July 11, 2025
Una petita joia lírica que juga a ser faula, epigrama i conjur.
Amb El bestiari, Apollinaire ens ofereix una mena de zoologia poètica, breu i precisa com una esgarrapada de gat, però plena de capes de significat. Els animals —reals, mítics o simbòlics— esdevenen metàfores de passions, idees i estats de l’ànima.
Amb només un parell de versos per peça, el poeta captura l’essència d’un animal i alhora projecta sobre ell una mirada humana, irònica o tràgica, però sempre lúcida. El to és aparentment lleuger, com si jugara, però hi ha una mena de malenconia soterrada, una mirada aguda que dissecciona la realitat disfressant-la de paràbola.
Hi ha peces memorables, com la del bou, la del tifaó o el polp —tots amb un punt de sarcasme civilitzat—, i d'altres que passen de pressa però deixen rastre, com qui sent un animaló creuar per la vora del camp de visió.
No és un llibre per llegir d’una tirada, sinó per assaborir, rellegir i deixar que faci sediment. Té alguna cosa de llibre d’hores per esperits moderns.
Amb El bestiari, Apollinaire ens ofereix una mena de zoologia poètica, breu i precisa com una esgarrapada de gat, però plena de capes de significat. Els animals —reals, mítics o simbòlics— esdevenen metàfores de passions, idees i estats de l’ànima.
Amb només un parell de versos per peça, el poeta captura l’essència d’un animal i alhora projecta sobre ell una mirada humana, irònica o tràgica, però sempre lúcida. El to és aparentment lleuger, com si jugara, però hi ha una mena de malenconia soterrada, una mirada aguda que dissecciona la realitat disfressant-la de paràbola.
Hi ha peces memorables, com la del bou, la del tifaó o el polp —tots amb un punt de sarcasme civilitzat—, i d'altres que passen de pressa però deixen rastre, com qui sent un animaló creuar per la vora del camp de visió.
No és un llibre per llegir d’una tirada, sinó per assaborir, rellegir i deixar que faci sediment. Té alguna cosa de llibre d’hores per esperits moderns.
March 19, 2018
mostly v cute pretty lil animal poems and some dark ones. its a cozy lil book. here are my favs
Tortoise
O madness from magical Thrace!
My sure fingers fondle the lyre.
Beasts go by in time to my songs,
To the sound of my tortoise’s pace.
Housefly
Songs they’ve learned in Norway
Are the songs our houseflies know,
Taught them by wonder-working flies,
Divinities of snow.
Owl
My sad heart is a hoot owl nailed,
Torn loose and then again impaled.
Its blood and ardor end their days.
All those who love me, those I praise.
Tortoise
O madness from magical Thrace!
My sure fingers fondle the lyre.
Beasts go by in time to my songs,
To the sound of my tortoise’s pace.
Housefly
Songs they’ve learned in Norway
Are the songs our houseflies know,
Taught them by wonder-working flies,
Divinities of snow.
Owl
My sad heart is a hoot owl nailed,
Torn loose and then again impaled.
Its blood and ardor end their days.
All those who love me, those I praise.
August 27, 2019
Apollinaire’s debuutbundel uit 1911
March 17, 2020
A lovely little book with great art and translations. I strangely particularly loved the poems about bugs.
December 6, 2007
This is as close as I've found to a perfect book of poems. Each idea is short, thoughtful, and often humorously absurd. My copy has translations by Pepe Karmel, who lays the French verse underneath the English on the page, and who beautifully captures Apollinaire's succinctness and wit. One of my favorites:
The Dromedary
With his four dromedaries
Don Pedro D'Alfarubeyra
Traveled the world and marveled.
He did what I would do,
If I had four dromedaries.
The book also has woodcut illustrations by Raoul Dufy. It's really a gem. Go out and buy it right now.
The Dromedary
With his four dromedaries
Don Pedro D'Alfarubeyra
Traveled the world and marveled.
He did what I would do,
If I had four dromedaries.
The book also has woodcut illustrations by Raoul Dufy. It's really a gem. Go out and buy it right now.
July 11, 2012
A very handsome little book, illustrated with strong and beautiful woodcuts by Raoul Dufy - often the woodcuts seem more significant than the whimsical poem it accompanies. The original text is given with the English translation in these brief poems, making for a pleasant way to review some French. Pepe Karmel, the translator, has given a short and very interesting note documenting his approach to the translation. Several poems reveal a religious side to Apollinaire I had not expected.
September 11, 2007
A lucid, though sometimes self-indulgent, portrait of a young artist's life. Or so I think...
August 18, 2018
My favorite from the Bestiary:
L' écrevisse
Incertitude, ô mes délices
Vous et moi nous nous en allons
Comme s’en vont les écrevisses,
À reculons, à reculons.
Crawfish
Incertitude, my secret joy,
To travel you and I
Do as does the craw
And withdraw and withdraw
Earmarked a few of these charming quatrains (Le Dromedaire, La Sauterelle, Le Poulpe) for future reference or to use as epigrams, and loved the effort of the compilers of this edition; the introduction, the inclusion of anthological material, the choice of paper, font and cover art, and the reproduction of the original woodcuts by Raoul Dufy. I'm also going to take the liberty of humbly submitting my own translated version of my favorite quatrain in the book, L' écrevisse, to both English and Spanish below:
Crawfish
Incertitude, my delight
You and I travel along
As is the wont of crawfish
Backwards, backwards
El Cangrejo:
Incertitud, mi delicia
Tú y yo, caminamos juntos
Como andan los cangrejos,
A retirada, a retirada
Perhaps I should try my hand at my own translated edition of the Bestiary? Pity, Je n'ai pas le temps maintenant
L' écrevisse
Incertitude, ô mes délices
Vous et moi nous nous en allons
Comme s’en vont les écrevisses,
À reculons, à reculons.
Crawfish
Incertitude, my secret joy,
To travel you and I
Do as does the craw
And withdraw and withdraw
Earmarked a few of these charming quatrains (Le Dromedaire, La Sauterelle, Le Poulpe) for future reference or to use as epigrams, and loved the effort of the compilers of this edition; the introduction, the inclusion of anthological material, the choice of paper, font and cover art, and the reproduction of the original woodcuts by Raoul Dufy. I'm also going to take the liberty of humbly submitting my own translated version of my favorite quatrain in the book, L' écrevisse, to both English and Spanish below:
Crawfish
Incertitude, my delight
You and I travel along
As is the wont of crawfish
Backwards, backwards
El Cangrejo:
Incertitud, mi delicia
Tú y yo, caminamos juntos
Como andan los cangrejos,
A retirada, a retirada
Perhaps I should try my hand at my own translated edition of the Bestiary? Pity, Je n'ai pas le temps maintenant
January 30, 2018
Whimsical and often cute and wholesome poetry about different animals. Greek mythology and Biblical references aren't uncommon (a few different poems all called Orpheus). Wonderful woodcuts for each poem by Raoul Dufy. Here are a couple of my favorite poems from Bestiary:
Cat
I hope I may have in my house
A sensible right-minded spouse,
A cat stepping over the books,
Loyal friends always about
Whom I couldn’t live without.
Elephant
As an elephant his ivory,
My own mouth sprouts its treasure.
Dignified death!...I’ll buy my fame
With words in rhyme and measure.
Caterpillar
Toil leads to wealth. Poor poets,
Let’s toil on! By and by
The worm that keeps on striving turns
To a monarch butterfly
and one of my favorite poems in general:
Peacock
When opening his fanlike tail
This bird whose plumes behind him trail
Looks lovelier than when it’s shut,
But he reveals his naked butt
Cat
I hope I may have in my house
A sensible right-minded spouse,
A cat stepping over the books,
Loyal friends always about
Whom I couldn’t live without.
Elephant
As an elephant his ivory,
My own mouth sprouts its treasure.
Dignified death!...I’ll buy my fame
With words in rhyme and measure.
Caterpillar
Toil leads to wealth. Poor poets,
Let’s toil on! By and by
The worm that keeps on striving turns
To a monarch butterfly
and one of my favorite poems in general:
Peacock
When opening his fanlike tail
This bird whose plumes behind him trail
Looks lovelier than when it’s shut,
But he reveals his naked butt
December 3, 2023
A nice addition to any bookshelf. It's interesting to compare the English translations and the original poems in French. At first, I found the poems short but realized they made sense that way - brief, witty, and charming. The woodcuts in the edition I have also added a lot of atmosphere to each poem.
May 26, 2025
Bought this on a whim. Each page has a poem by Guillaume Apollinaire written in the original French, and then with a translation into English. Unfortunately, the poems are fairly forgettable and lack much depth. It could be the translation or the original—hard for me to judge.
On the plus side, the woodcut prints that go along with each poem are very nice!
On the plus side, the woodcut prints that go along with each poem are very nice!
March 15, 2022
brilliant for french speaking readers and learners of the language too, with a good translation sacrificing cleverly as must be done with translations. Apollinaire has a very interesting story too, with a brief couple pages on just that as an introduction.
April 29, 2024
What a... mediocre oeuvre. What must one think of Apollinaire, when every animal gives him inspiration but for four sad verses? Besides being equivocal in regards to Orpheus as a greek mythical figure, for he seems to transpose him into Christianism. A book that time has well forgotten.
September 6, 2017
Beautifully illustrated, bi-lingual edition.
September 28, 2019
No illustrations!
Very, very annoying. This is sold as Apollinaire’s poems illustrated by Raoul Dufy, great artist. But the illustrations don’t open.
Very, very annoying. This is sold as Apollinaire’s poems illustrated by Raoul Dufy, great artist. But the illustrations don’t open.
June 9, 2022
30 poems with only four lines each, all accompanied by beautiful woodcuts. They were all ok, but only few stuck in my mind. More like poetic fastfood, but that doesn't have to be a bad thing, right?
July 31, 2022
Witzige Gedichte mit Verve und erfrischender Leichtigkeit, die durchaus nicht die ernsteren Momente scheuen
August 20, 2017
I have been aware of Guillaume Apollinaire for a long time, but I never devoted time to his writing. But what better way to access a poet than through his first book of poems?
(Apollinaire was also a journalist and a champion of contemporaneous movements in visual art, including Cubism, Fauvism, and Futurism. He coined the term "surrealism" and was close with Pablo Picasso.)
This a an interesting play on the medieval Bestiaries, books about animals (real and mythic). As in the bestiaries of the Middle Ages, Apollinaire draws parallels between the human world and that of the animal with observations that range from the creative to the spiritual to the romantic to the mundane.
I read the 2011 bilingual edition translated by X. J. Kennedy and published by Johns Hopkins University Press. There's a nice, succinct essay by the translator that precedes the text as well as following notes by the poet himself and supplemented by Kennedy. Four unpublished poems and the woodprints from the 1911 edition are also included in this edition.
The translation was quite well done, but (even given my limited French), the original scanned even better. Apollinaire was almost thirty when he penned these so they deserve a more careful read than the juvenilia of other poets.
I rather liked them though they do feel a tad ephemeral. The slim but well-presented edition as well as the subtler truths in the writing pushed my review from three to four stars.
It was a nice find in a used bookstore, which goes to prove that there are many beautiful things lying around us unobserved. I'm glad I found this one.
(Apollinaire was also a journalist and a champion of contemporaneous movements in visual art, including Cubism, Fauvism, and Futurism. He coined the term "surrealism" and was close with Pablo Picasso.)
This a an interesting play on the medieval Bestiaries, books about animals (real and mythic). As in the bestiaries of the Middle Ages, Apollinaire draws parallels between the human world and that of the animal with observations that range from the creative to the spiritual to the romantic to the mundane.
I read the 2011 bilingual edition translated by X. J. Kennedy and published by Johns Hopkins University Press. There's a nice, succinct essay by the translator that precedes the text as well as following notes by the poet himself and supplemented by Kennedy. Four unpublished poems and the woodprints from the 1911 edition are also included in this edition.
The translation was quite well done, but (even given my limited French), the original scanned even better. Apollinaire was almost thirty when he penned these so they deserve a more careful read than the juvenilia of other poets.
I rather liked them though they do feel a tad ephemeral. The slim but well-presented edition as well as the subtler truths in the writing pushed my review from three to four stars.
It was a nice find in a used bookstore, which goes to prove that there are many beautiful things lying around us unobserved. I'm glad I found this one.
October 30, 2011
Guillaume Apollinaire who coined the term "Surrealism" and influenced absurdist writer Alfred Jarry makes merry here of Orpheus's inclination towards wooing animals and other living creatures - although Sirens are included amongst the bestiary, which Orpheus makes analogous to his own 'curse' of continuous song. The poems are mostly four or five lined poems about various animals and insects such as the Fly, Elephant, Ox, Crayfish, Owl, Ibis et cetera, and through-out several observational lyricisms by Orpheus admiring the lousy life around him. Rather than read too much into each poem I settled back and enjoyed the nuances of Apollinaire's text, and took to them all in the spirit of Guillaume's poem on the Peacock who in dragging plumage on the grass, showing its beauty, is also baring its arse.
July 12, 2013
Heather Hartley (Paris Editor): So far, it’s been an Apollinaire kind of week, and in these past days it’s been his Bestiary: Or the Parade of Orpheus published just over a century ago, with stunning, sharp woodcuts by Raoul Dufy to accompany each short poem (with two poems dedicated to Orpheus, whose parade it is anyway.) In the menagerie, there’s The Tortoise, The Rabbit and The Elephant, among others, including The Cat, who throughout fine French poetry often slinks through verses and makes a quiet appearance here: “In my house I want: / A reasonable woman, / A cat passing among the books, / And friends in every season, / Whom I cannot live without.”
March 2, 2016
Pepe Karmel, in his forward, says it is impossible to recapture the charm of these short poems as they sound in the original French. And it's true, only a few stood out for me. But they work well with the art.
And Raoul Dufy's woodcuts need no translations. They are as fresh as they were in 1911 when first published.
There is definitely an aura of melancholy hovering nearby; WWI was immanent, and Apollinaire himself was to know trouble and upheaval throughout his life.
Dolphins, you play in the sea
But the waves are always bitter.
Do I sometimes laugh with joy?
Life is still cruel.
And Raoul Dufy's woodcuts need no translations. They are as fresh as they were in 1911 when first published.
There is definitely an aura of melancholy hovering nearby; WWI was immanent, and Apollinaire himself was to know trouble and upheaval throughout his life.
Dolphins, you play in the sea
But the waves are always bitter.
Do I sometimes laugh with joy?
Life is still cruel.
July 28, 2011
I really enjoy returning to these poems. They are poems on animals, and they are short, pithy, whimsical, and surprising. Some are ironic, some are funny and charming, some are bitter, some are joyful, some are wistful. There's a wonderful diversity here, and one never knows quite what to expect.
As a side note, this edition has the poems in the original French on one page and in English on the next, so it's a good exercise if you read any French at all.
As a side note, this edition has the poems in the original French on one page and in English on the next, so it's a good exercise if you read any French at all.
November 5, 2011
Not 'the greatest' Apollinaire but witty, sharp, even 'cute.' Balance out the canonical Apollinaire with this, enjoy the woodcut illustrations, just have a good time for once in your miserable life. I read this while eating beignets at the Magnolia Grill, having a cup of coffee and doing a little (shoddy) translation. Life can be a lot of fun, everybody. I don't know. Goodreads makes me a little melancholy.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews