Reading Apollinaire’s Calligrammes examines Guillaume Apollinaire’s second major collection of poetry. Composed between 1913 and 1918, the nineteen poems examined here fall into two main groups: the experimental poetry and the war poetry. They also provide glimpses of the poet’s personal history, from his affair with Louise de Coligny-Châtillon to his engagement to Madeleine Pagès and his marriage with Jacqueline Kolb. Each section examines all of the previous scholarship for the work in question, provides a detailed analysis, and, in many cases, offers a new interpretation. Each poem is subjected to a meticulous line-by-line analysis in the light of current knowledge.

Reading Apollinaire’s Calligrammes examines Guillaume Apollinaire’s second major collection of poetry. Composed between 1913 and 1918, the nineteen poems examined here fall into two main groups: the experimental poetry and the war poetry. They also provide glimpses of the poet’s personal history, from his affair with Louise de Coligny-Châtillon to his engagement to Madeleine Pagès and his marriage with Jacqueline Kolb. Each section examines all of the previous scholarship for the work in question, provides a detailed analysis, and, in many cases, offers a new interpretation. Each poem is subjected to a meticulous line-by-line analysis in the light of current knowledge.