Part of what allows this poem to fit into the idea of surrealism is that it sounds like a villanelle, but that format is actually much stricter than the one that Reed's poem follows. Apart from form, this poem also echos some of the key thematic elements of the surrealist movement.
]]>Henry Reed is a poet with whom the Birmingham Surrealists associated. He's best known for the series he wrote Lessons of War, but most specifically for Part 1: "Naming of Parts." "Naming of Parts" is an excellent link between surrealism as an art movement and the topic of war that was so prevelant in Europe during the first half of the 20th century. Although "Naming of Parts" is about WWII, I saw a connection between this poem and Rebecca West's Return of the Soldier because of the routine it implied. The women in West's novel live routine lives while they wait for their soldier to return, just as this soldier learns to use his weapon.
Part of what allows this poem to fit into the idea of surrealism is that it sounds like a villanelle, but that format is actually much stricter than the one that Reed's poem follows. Apart from form, this poem also echos some of the key thematic elements of the surrealist movement.
Here's some more about René Magritte, the painter of Giaconda, and one of the most influential surrealists of the 20th Century.
]]>Giaconda, 1953
Maybe you can guess, but the instant I saw this image, I thought of George Orwell's Coming Up for Air. While Orwell's novel actually came first, this painting shows the mundane life that George, the protagonist, was speaking of. The men in bowler hats could even be insurance salesmen. This image had to be added to show the relationship between art and writing going the other direction. Orwell predicted this painting, in a way.
Here's some more about René Magritte, the painter of Giaconda, and one of the most influential surrealists of the 20th Century.
Annette's mother was known for her undying beauty, which is also something addressed in Magritte's painting. Just as Annette was reduced to being a piece of something else, so was her mother. Her mother was only able to be viewed as an object, like this painting of Magritte's implies, which makes Annette's identity even mroe fragmented.
]]>Of the novels we read from the 20th Century in Europe, the most surrealist of them was Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. This painting of Magritte's reminded me of the book because of how fragmented an identity can become. First, Annette is a piece of her mother, then a piece of the convent in which she resides, then a piece of her marriage, then a piece of Rochester's English manor. Annette, though telling her story through the words of Rhys, is constantly in fragments of her own identity. She is always missing something that makes her uniquely herself.
Annette's mother was known for her undying beauty, which is also something addressed in Magritte's painting. Just as Annette was reduced to being a piece of something else, so was her mother. Her mother was only able to be viewed as an object, like this painting of Magritte's implies, which makes Annette's identity even mroe fragmented.