Éloges suivi de Gloire des Rois, Anabase, Exil

by Saint-John Perse

«Palmes... !
Alors on te baignait dans l'eau-de-feuilles-vertes ; et l'eau encore était du soleil vert ; et les servantes de ta mère, grandes filles luisantes, remuaient leurs jambes chaudes près de toi qui tremblais...
(Je parle d'une haute condition, alors, entre les robes, au règne de tournantes clartés.)
Palmes ! et la douceur
d'une vieillesse des racines... ! La terre
alors souhaita d'être plus sourde, et le ciel plus profond, où des arbres trop grands, las d'un obscur dessein, nouaient un pacte inextricable...
(J'ai fait ce songe, dans l'estime : un sûr séjour entre les toiles enthousiastes.)»
(extrait de Pour fêter une enfance).

Genres: Poetry

221 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1953

About the author

Works of French poet and diplomat Alexis Saint-Léger Léger under pen name of Saint-John Perse include Anabase (1924) and Chronique (1960); he won the Nobel Prize of 1960 for literature.

He came from an old Bourguignon family, which settled in the Antilles in the 17th century and returned at the end of the 19th century.

Perse studied law at Bordeaux and, after private studies in political science, went into the service in 1914. A brilliant career ensued. He served first in the embassy at Peking. People published his work chiefly under the pseudonyms. After various reflections on the impressions of his childhood, he wrote in China. An epic puzzled many critics and gave rise to the suggestion that an Asian ably understands it better than by a westerner.

He later in the foreign office held top positions under Aristide Briand as its administrative head.

He left for the United States in 1940, and the regime at Vichy deprived him of his citizenship and possessions. From 1941 to 1945, he served as adviser to the Library of Congress. After the war, he resumed not his career and in 1950 retired officially with the title of ambassador. He made the United States his permanent residence.

After he settled in the United States, he wrote much of his work. Exil (Exile) (1942) fully masters man, merge, imagery, and diction.
* Poème l'Etrangère (Poem to a Foreign Lady), 1943;
* Pluies (Rains) (1943);
* Neiges (Snows) (1944);
* Vents (Winds) (1946) of war and peace blow well within and outside man;
* In Amers (Seamarks) (1957), the sea redounds as an image of the timelessness of man.
His abstract epic followed.

People awarded him "for the soaring flight and the evocative imagery of his poetry which in a visionary fashion reflects the conditions of our time."

Reviews

[Luís · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is difficult for me to criticize poetry and even more of that of the 20th century. Where the poetry of previous centuries was girding by rules intended to create magic under constraint, modern poets free themselves from the shackles of feet, verse and rhyme, seeking musicality, the way to touch the reader or to express emotions. Therefore, poetry is such an intimate matter, knowing if it awakens images in us, not necessarily those that the author would like but those buried in us.

While understanding the general meaning of the collection (nostalgia, return to childhood, praise of nature in opposition to civilization), I did not feel carried away by the poetry of Saint-John Perse. On the contrary, I was even sometimes bothered by images of the old world of masters delighted with what nature offered them and the care provided by their servants (their labourers?).

The poems about Crusoe are the ones that carried me away with the nostalgic recovery of several of the stories' elements, taken up again after the time's passage and the loss of all the charm that the adventure had brought to them.

[ninon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ce mec n est ni saint ni perse c est juste un gros mytho si vous le croisez dans la ligne 7 ne lui parlez pas svp c est une fraude de A a Z

[Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Toujours aussi choquée de l'écureuil sur la véranda

[Dagogo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Éternellement sublime.

[Mathias Chouvier · Rating 5 out of 5]

J’ai sûrement rien compris mais c’est tout simplement magnifique.

[gabriel · Rating 4 out of 5]

« voici que j’ai dessein d’errer parmi les plus vieilles couches du langage, parmi les plus hautes tranches phonétiques : jusqu’à des langues très lointaines, jusqu’à des langues très entières et très parcimonieuses, »

le langage s’exile vers un au-delà, une altérité qui s’ouvre depuis ses tréfonds et fait entrevoir l’abîme métaphysique sous les mots.

[GeekTheGirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

À voix plus basse pour les morts, à voix plus basse dans le jour. Tant de douceur au cœur de l’homme, se peut-il qu’elle faille à trouver sa mesure ? « Je vous parle, mon âme ! — mon âme tout enténébrée d’un parfum de cheval ! »

[Louis · Rating 4 out of 5]

On croit comprendre, on comprend, on ne comprend rien... mais c'est magnifique.

[Richard Deneault · Rating 2 out of 5]

incompréhensible pour la plupart

[Mélanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rien compris

[Mina Gavra · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Berat Erbaş · Rating 2 out of 5]

Niyeyse öyle çok beğenemedim. Fazla mı geleneksel hissettirdi acaba? Bilemiyorum.

[Elisa 🦊 · Rating 3 out of 5]

le mec est déprimé ok, le prof qui m’enseigne le bouquin est déprimé, et maintenant jsuis déprimée ok

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this many years ago, and I didn’t like it, or better said; I didn’t understand it. But recently, I picked up a rather new translation of the pjece in Persian, Eliot has written about it, plus the explanation of the translator about the poem,… Reading Anabaz again, I found it different and I liked it very much…
با تشکر از دوستی که ترجمه ی سپانلو از "آناباز" را برای من فرستاده که چهار پنج سالی پیش در ایران چاپ و منتشر شده است. مقدمه ی سپانلو بر این شعر بلند، و توضیحاتش در مورد آنچه الیوت در باره ی این شعر گفته و نظرات سپانلو در این موارد، کمک شایانی کرد تا آناباز را بفهمم و دوست بدارم، .