Surrealism in Poetry
Surrealist poetry was founded by André Breton, following the publication of his first Le Manifeste du Surréalisme (Manifesto of Surrealism) (1924). Breton highlighted the importance of the “disinterested play of thought” and the “omnipotence of dreams”, placing emphasis on the power of unconscious thought over reason and logic.
Surrealist poets used games to break traditional thought patterns, allowing thoughts to be more random and ideas to flow more freely. These included:
- ‘Exquisite corpse’ - Leader of the Surrealist movement, André Breton, developed the game with his friends, in which they wrote, “The exquisite corpse will drink the young wine.” One person writes words on a piece of paper, then folds it and hands it to the next person, who continues the writing. [Those of us in Session 2 played with this technique - here were our resulting poems!]
- Automatism - or automatic writing, which is writing without controlling one's conscious thoughts. Poets should not filter, edit or shape the resulting writing, in order to keep it as fresh and free as possible. [In this way, it is quite like the free writing we have been practising in all our sessions.] See Breton's automatic writing, below.
- Palindrome - like Quinn's, below.
- Echo - like Chappell and Niedzwiecki's, below.
- Cut-up - taking a body of text and cutting it apart to rearrange words and phrases.
Take a look at the Surrealist poems below, and see if you can identify what they are expressing, and note some of the ways in which they are expressing these thoughts.
Soluble Fish, André Breton
The ground beneath my feet is nothing but an enormous unfolded newspaper. Sometimes a photograph comes by; it is a nondescript curiosity, and from the flowers there uniformly rises the smell, the good smell, of printer’s ink. I heard it said in my youth that the smell of hot bread is intolerable to sick people, but I repeat that the flowers smell of printer’s ink. …
Narcissus and Echo, Fred Chappell and John Niedzwiecki
Shall the water not remember Ember
my hand’s slow gesture, tracing above of
its mirror my half-imaginary airy
portrait? My only belonging longing
is my beauty, which I take ache
away and then return, as love of
of teasing playfully the one being unbeing.
whose gratitude I treasure Is your
moves me. I live apart heart
from myself, yet cannot not
live apart. In the water’s tone, stone?
that brilliant silence, a flower Hour,
whispers my name with such slight light
moment, it seems filament of air, fare
the world become cloudswell. well.
Unseen Travelers, Jerry P. Quinn
Spoken Breath
Creating flesh and spirit
Souls stirring divine dances
Leaping, joyful with life
Entertaining harmony and grace
Angels of myriads and myriads
Sentinel watchers
Merging unseen
~Travelers~
Unseen merging
Watchers, Sentinel
Myriads and myriads of angels
Grace and harmony entertaining
Life with joyful leaping
Dances divine, stirring souls
Spirit and flesh creating
Breath spoken.
Exercise 1: This Isn't A...
This game can be done alone, in a pair, but works best in a group. Sit around in a circle, looking in at a central table. On this table place one, fairly simple, everyday object - a red scarf, for example. Players come into the centre at random, pick up the item, declaring: 'This isn't a scarf, it's a...'. Using their imaginations, they must declare different natures/uses for the item (eg: 'a red carpet for a Barbie'). They can move and manipulate the object to enact out their scenario (eg: laying it down straight on the ground). They then sit down, and another player comes forward. After a good number of suggestions have been made, replace the item and begin again.
In the session, we used a red scarf, a green drinking straw, and a coiled black Ethernet cable.
Exercise 2: Bisset's Museum
In the Birmingham History gallery here at BMAG, there is a small display case which tells us about the museum of curiosities James Bisset founded on New Street in 1808. Of the unusual objects displayed, the true natures or uses were not always known - using their knowledge of the Bible and folk tales, the museum came up with some rather imaginative suggestions for what these items were.
When exploring the museum, find an object or piece of art that strikes you as unusual or surreal. Begin to push your imaginative thinking (as you did in Exercise 1) to consider what this object might be. Think about how you would view this item if you were from the past, or future; if you were from a different culture; if you were a child. Conduct a free write, and if you feel you can push yourself, create a palindrome or echo poem from your material.
Exercise 3: Absurdism
Turning from the Surrealists, we're now going to look at how a similar style of 'play of thought' is present in modern poetry. Take a look at the following poems by poets writing today, who are sometimes categorised as 'absurdist' poets. See if you can pick up on what they are getting across, and the ways in which they are expressing these thoughts.
Children Are The Orgasm of the World, Hera Lindsay Bird
Children are the Orgasm of the World
This morning on the bus there was a woman carrying a bag with inspirational sayings and positive affirmations which I was reading because I’m a fan of inspirational sayings and positive affirmations. I also like clothing that gives you advice. What’s kinder than the glittered baseball cap of a stranger telling you what to strive for? It’s like living in a world of endless therapists. The inspirational bag of the woman on the bus said a bunch of stuff like ‘live in the moment’ and ‘remember to breathe,’ but it also said ‘children are the orgasm of the world.’ Are children the orgasm of the world like orgasms are the orgasms of sex? Are children the orgasm of anything? Children are the orgasm of the world like hovercraft are the orgasm of the future or silence is the orgasm of the telephone, or shit is the orgasm of the lasagne. You could even say sheep are the orgasm of lonely pastures, which are the orgasm of modern farming practices which are the orgasm of the industrial revolution. And then I thought why not? I like comparing stuff to other stuff too. Like sometimes when we’re having sex and you look like a helicopter in a low budget movie, disappearing behind a cloud to explode. Or an athlete winning a prestigious international sporting tournament at the exact same moment he discovers his wife has just been kidnapped. For the most part, orgasms are the orgasms of the world. Like slam dunking a glass basketball. Or executing a perfect dive into a swimming pool full of oh my god. Or travelling into the past to forgive yourself and creating a time paradox so beautiful it forces all of human history to reboot, stranding you naked on some distant and rocky outcrop, looking up at the sunset from a world so new looking up hasn’t even been invented yet.
CBSO, Jenna Clake
No Wait Come Back I Want to Tell You About, Luke Kennard
this DDoS attack on my heart
this giant gravel bag
this constant, gentle renunciation of love
this rain on the cliff face
this roll of the eyes
this instant decaf
this dead pigeon
I Want, Kevin Mclean
Take one of the following prompts, and use this to begin a free write (or a session of automatic writing). See if you can then work your material into a poem, deviating as little or as far from the above poems as you like.
- 'Poets are the....' (à la Bird)
- 'BMAG' (à la Clake, using the initials of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery)
- 'I want to tell you about this...' (à la Kennard)
- 'I want...' (à la Mclean)
Below are links to some of the interesting tangents which came up during group discussions:
- The O'Toole poetry plagiarism scandal
- An effective palindrome poem, 'Refugees' by Brian Bilston
- The 'Golden Shovel' poetic form, developed by Terrance Hayes
- 'Metamorphosis of Narcissus', a surrealist painting by Salvador Dali
Gosh" all this sounds really fascinating. Only wish I could have been there too.
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