Prévert, Jacques

(1900-1977)

   poet

   Born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Jacques Prévert was a poet who, under the influence of surrealism, sought to dismantle language, freeing it from its conventionality and bourgeois style. Faithful to the anachronistic spirit of the early 20th century, his nonconformism is a sincere expression of his ideals and views. Hostile to all forms of serial oppression, capable of irony and violence, but also charm and tenderness, his celebrated poetry reached a large public, with its themes of liberty, justice, and goodwill. In it, he achieved the height of play with words and phrases through skillful poetic techniques. one can find this also in the scenarios and dialogues that he wrote for some of the films of marcel carné: Drôle de drame (1937), Le Quai des brumes (1938), Le jour se lève (1939), Les Visiteurs du soir (1942), Les Enfants du paradis (1945), and Les Portes de la nuit (1946). Prévert's principal collections include: Paroles (1946), Histoires (1946), Spectacle (1951), Le Pluie et le Beau Temps (1955), Fatras (1965), Imaginaires (1970), Choses et autres (1972), Hebdomadaires (1972), and Arbres (1976).