"Arts, Faculty of"@en . "French, Hispanic, and Italian Studies, Department of"@en . "DSpace"@en . "UBCV"@en . "Strange , Derek Ernest"@en . "2011-04-12T17:31:33Z"@en . "1972"@en . "Master of Arts - MA"@en . "University of British Columbia"@en . "Throughout the work of Apollinaire are to be found references to mythological figures and incidents, drawn from many different areas of mythology and legend, both ancient and more modern. Apollinaire had a taste for somewhat bizarre and esoteric detail, such as these references. But they are clearly not interspersed throughout his writing in a gratuitous manner: it would seem that each one fits into a larger plan of the poet's inspiration and creation. The aim of this examination of myth in the work of Apollinaire is to try to trace a link between his interest in, and references to myths, and his own artistic expression. There appears to be a synthesis of the two elements of traditional mythology and personal expression, .which transforms both elements into a peculiarly Apollinairian form of myth. Personal inspiration draws upon mythology and, at the same time revitalizes the myths themselves, freeing them from the immobility, of tradition. For Apollinaire, myth becomes a constituent part of what he called \"1'esprit nouveau\", which was a new, free form of spiritual adventure.\r\nAfter attempting to define the areas of mythology and legend from which Apollinaire draws most often, we shall use these precisions in studying some aspects of Apollinaire's poetic imagery, to see how he incarnates and animates certain aspects of myth in his own way. In this is to be found an important aspect of Apollinaire's renovation of myth, in which myth merges with new, surprising images of the new kind of poetry that was being formed after the Symbolists. The solar myth, and other myths of fire, for example, are taken up by Apollinaire to the end of a personal poetic expression. Similarly, water, music or shadows are used to illustrate or dramatize Apollinaire's individual interpretations and transformations of myth.\r\nFinally, as a kind of cross-reference, we will turn to Apollinaire's biography in order to discuss the possible role played by mythology in his views and attitudes towards his own life and experiences. In some poems, for example, he likens himself to certain aspects of the figure or myth of Orpheus or Christ. His own life, and above all, his writing, bears this imprint of mythology, and, on the other hand, the myths that he uses bear the imprint of Apollinaire himself. From a reciprocal transformation such as this comes a new attitude to myth, which becomes part of the \"new spirit\", and also part of the vague legend of Apollinaire himself.\r\nApollinaire's treatment and use of myth thus appears, in the context of early 20th century poetry, as an overture to a new poetic vogue, the themes of which were to be embellished by the Surrealists. His poetic and mythological example shows that 20th century poetry had not entirely broken with the former spirit and tradition of poetic mythology, but had merely adapted it to reflect the spirit of its own creation"@en . "https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/33550?expand=metadata"@en . "MYTH IN THE WORK OF APOLLINAIRE by DEREK ERNEST STRANGE B.A. University of Warwick, England, 1971 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL-FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of French We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA September, 1972 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Br i t ish Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or by his representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of The University of Br i t ish Columbia Vancouver 8, Canada ABSTRACT Throughout the work of Apoll inaire are to be found references to mythological figures and incidents, drawn from many different areas of myth-ology and legend, both ancient and more modern. Apol l inaire had a taste for somewhat bizarre and esoteric d e t a i l , such as these references. But they are c lear ly not interspersed throughout his writing in a gratuitous manner: i t would seem that each one f i t s into a larger plan of the poet's inspiration and creation. The aim of this examination of myth in the work of Apoll inaire is to try to trace a l ink between his interest i n , and references to myths, and his own a r t i s t i c expression. There appears to be a synthesis of the two elements of traditional mythology and personal expression, .which transforms both elements into a peculiarly Apol l inair ian form of myth. Personal inspiration draws upon mythology and, at the same time revi ta l izes the myths themselves, freeing them from the immobility,of t rad i t ion . For Apol l ina ire , myth becomes a constituent part of what he c a l l e d\"1 ' e s p r i t nouveau\", which was a new, free form of spir i tual adventure. After attempting to define the areas of mythology and legend from which Apoll inaire draws most often, we shall use these precisions in studying some aspects of Apol l ina ire ' s poetic imagery, to see how he incarnates and animates certain aspects of myth in his own way. In this i s to be found an important aspect of Apol l ina ire ' s renovation of myth,, in which myth merges with new, sur prising images of the new kind of poetry that was being formed after the Symbolists. The solar myth, and other myths of f i r e , for example, are taken u by Apoll inaire to the end of a personal poetic expression. S imi lar ly , water, music or shadows are used to i l lu s t ra te or dramatize Apol l ina i re ' s individual i i i n t e r p r e t a t i o n s and transformations of myth. F i n a l l y , as a kind of cross-reference, we w i l l turn to A p o l l i n a i r e ' s biography in order to discuss the possible r o l e played by mythology in his views and a t t i t u d e s towards his own l i f e and experiences. In some poems, f o r example, he l i k e n s himself to c e r t a i n aspects of the f i g u r e or myth of Orpheus or C h r i s t . His own l i f e , and above a l l , his w r i t i n g , bears t h i s imprint of mythology, and, on the other hand, the myths that he uses bear the imprint of A p o l l i n a i r e himself. From a r e c i p r o c a l transformation such as t h i s comes a new a t t i t u d e to myth, which becomes part of the \"new s p i r i t \" , and also part of the vague legend of A p o l l i n a i r e himself. A p o l l i n a i r e ' s treatment and use of myth thus appears, i n the context of e a r l y 20th century poetry, as an overture to a new poetic vogue, the themes of which were to be embellished by the S u r r e a l i s t s . His poetic and mythological example shows that 20th century poetry had not e n t i r e l y broken with the former s p i r i t and t r a d i t i o n of poetic mythology, but had merely adapted i t to r e f l e c t the s p i r i t of i t s own c r e a t i o n . TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter I Page Introductory definitions of myth 1 Chapter II Ancient myths and mythological characters 14 Chapter III Myths of creative and destructive f i r e 39 Chapter IV \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Myths of death and rebirth in water, shadow, music and flowers 55 Chapter V Apol l ina ire : personal l i f e and myth 73 Chapter VI Conclusion: towards a new myth 95 Bibliography 103 Appendix 110 1 INTRODUCTORY DEFINITIONS OF \"MYTH\" A study of \"myth\" in the work of any writer must necessarily start from some general notions of what \"myth\" i s , and of i t s different constituent parts. It is therefore necessary to attempt to define and c l a r i fy the terms to be used, before embarking upon consideration of the work i t s e l f . For this reason, we have chosen to distinguish between five words which would appear to relate to f ive d i s t inct , yet sometimes overlapping aspects of \"myth\". These are: \"myth\" i t s e l f , the word which wi l l be used to encompass a l l the variety of facets to be discussed, but which has a significance peculiar to i t s e l f only; legend, which must be considered separately as one particular aspect of what is loosely called \"myth\"; symbol, archetype, and image or metaphor of a l l sorts, which are seen as further abstract aspects of \"myth\", as well as the \"plast ic\" manifestations, the material by which \"myth\" is often expressed and i l lus t ra ted . A l l of these are to be found in the work of Apol l ina ire , and they provide interesting landmarks in his work, and in the \"myth\" of his work, or his imagination. Some interesting definitions of the meaning of the words \"myth\" or \"mythology\" are to be found in the works of those who have specialized in the study of \"myth\". Professor C. Kerenyi collaborated with C.G. dung in the writing of Essays on a science of mythologyJ An attempt to establish a \"science of mythology\" seems perhaps unnecessarily technical , and risks destroying the essential beauty of mythological creation, though i t may shed an interesting 1 ight\" on- the- psychological processes of such a- creation. However, for- our purposes, part of the definit ion of Kerenyi wi l l serve as a good point of 2 departure: A particular kind of material determines the art of mythology, an immemorial and traditional body of material contained in tales about gods and god-like beings, heroic battles and journeys to the Underworld - \"mythologem\" is the best Greek word for them -tales already well known but not unamenable to further reshaping. Mythology is the movement of this material: i t is something s o l i d ? yet mobile, substantial yet not s ta t ic , capable of transformation. Kerenyi goes on to emphasize the creation of mythology as being an art : \"held fast as the mythologems are in the form of sacred tradi t ions , they are s t i l l in the nature of works of art\" . In these words Kerenyi points out one of the principal characteristics of the creation of myths, which is i t s sacred, or rel igious nature. The myth is a pattern for human behaviour within a society and c i v i l i s a t i o n . The creator or the re-shaper of myths, the a r t i s t , takes on something of this religious sanctity in the very act of creation, or re-creation. The ar t i s t is then, a founder who draws strength from, and builds upon the original source of myth. This is one of the pecul iar i t ies of myth as d i s t inct from legend, symbol, archetype, and so on. \"It is no groundless generalization to say that mythology t e l l s of the 4 . origins or at least of what or ig ina l ly was,\" writes Kerenyi later on, and his \"generalization\" is supported by the theories of other myth-specialists. One other such special i s t of note is Mircea Eliade, who emphasizes the met-aphysical importance of myth in writ ing: Myth narrates a sacred history; i t relates an event that took place in primordial time, the fabled time of the ^beginnings\" The actors in myths are Supernatural Beings. Eliade goes on to give a point-by-point definit ion of myth which i t wi l l ~ be interesting to bear in mind when thinking of \"myth\" in the writings of Apol 1 i na i re: In general i t can-be said that myth, as experienced by archaic societ ies , (1) constitutes the History of the acts of the Supernaturals; (2) that this History is considered to be 3 absolutely true . . . and sacred; (3) that myth is always related to a \"creation\", i t t e l l s how something came into existence, or how a pattern of behaviour, an ins t i tu t ion , a manner of working were established . . . ; (4) that by knowing the myth one knows the \"or ig in\" of things and hence can control and manipulate them g at wi l l . . . ; (5) that in one way or another one \" l ives \" the myth . . . In the l i f e and \"mythology\" of Apoll inaire we wi l l f ind evidence of most of these aspects of the myth, as defined by Eliade, not least of which, i t s \"sacred\" aspect, with which Apol l inaire closely identif ies the poet, the a r t i s t , and himself. For Apol l ina i re , the a r t i s t , as creator, and \"founder\" in contact with the \" o r i g i n \" , is himself a d iv in i ty : Avant tout, les artistes sont des hommes qui veulent devenir inhumains. l i s cherchent peniblement les traces de 1'inhumanite, traces que I'on ne rencontre nulle part dans la nature. El les sont la^ve'rite et en dehors d 'e l les nous ne connaissons -. - aucune re*al i t e . What more clear confession of aspiration to d i v i n i t y , and of bel ief in the myth of the art is t? It is not contradictory to what has been said up to now, to say that myths are not necessarily about gods. They^are not necessarily sacred or re l ig ious . Indeed, the sort of myths to be found in the work of Apoll inaire are often of a secular type. :. They become divine part icular ly when associated with the personal aspirations of the poet towards the d iv in i ty of a creator. Poems such as \"Le Larron\" or \"Les Col l ines\" wi l l be discussed in this l ight in a later section. When speaking of the \"secular myth\", however, we encroach already upon the terr i tory of legend, which is the second thing that pure myth is not. Myths, specific though they may be in their depiction of character and setting, are usually set in a timeless past. Details of contemporary l i f e may appear in myth, but these are probably the complications of the influence of legend. Myths are not folktales , whereas legends often are. Philippe 4 Renaud, in his work on Apol l inaire , points out a further dist inct ion between myth and legend: . . . le mythe a pour protagonistes les dieux, la legende des mortels, qui sont bien souvent des heros dans I'acception antique du mot: des hommes cherchant \u00E2\u0080\u009E \u00C2\u00A3 t r e dieux, des fi demi-dieux de naissance. So the a r t i s t , as creator, in identifying himself with the sacred and with the \"or ig ina l \" is not himself mythical, however closely.he aligns himself with the examplary characters of myth. He becomes rather, as he presents himself in his l i f e or work, a case of legend. That i s , he can create around himself a hazy aura of mystery, which wi l l give r i se ' to legend. Rimbaud's l i f e in Africa has something of the legendary about i t , being mysterious and re lat ively undocumented. Alfred Jarry, in assuming the identity of his own Pere Ubu, intentionally became a l iv ing legend, a curiosity and a mystery. Apoll inaire too, created an a i r of legend around some of the facts of his own l i f e , probably to.emphasize his taste for the bizarre, which has i t s e l f become legendary. As these examples show, legend, as opposed to myth, relates to mortal men whose l ives offer material of interest to the imagination that wi l l elaborate them into legendary dimensions. The historical truth of events and personalities is re-shaped into legend just as the tales about gods were seen to be for the formation of myth. Symbol, as we have said, is one of the other constituents of myth. It is one of the devices used to i l lus t ra te the content of myth. In his book on Myths in.French l i terature , Pierre Albouy c l a r i f i e s what he sees as the role of symbol in the creation of myth: Aussi bien le symbole e s t - i l , plus que 1'al legorie, proche du mythe . . . Le symbole, en supprimant la dis t inct ion entre 1'image et la notion, rend plus d i f f i c i l e et plus incertain le raisonnement qui permet de traduire la s ignif icat ion de l'embl_me; II se revi le 5 susceptible d*interpretations variees . . . C'est ce qu'est ple in-ement le mythe; 1'apologue, la parabole visent a la isser transpar-aftre un sens c l a i r ; le mythe se veut d i f f i c i l e , et , moins encore que le symbole, se laisse reduire a une explication unique. The meaning of any symbols to be found in the works of Apoll inaire w i l l , in accordance with the theory of Albouy, be seen to be open to numerous interpretations. The symbol can serve a multiple function also. The immediate poetic predecessors of Apol l inaire were, of course, the symbolists. Apoll inaire has often been said to show strong traces of their influence, part icular ly in his ear l ier works. Indeed, he wrote in La Phalange nouvelle: . . . Les symbolistes furent les premiers objets de nos enthous-iasmes, et tous ceux qui , depuis 1895, ont cree de la poesie , Q doivent de la reconnaissance aux martres aimes du symbolisme. The symbol would appear to offer the poet, be he symbolist or Apol l in-a ire , an expression of the unknown by analogies to the known, and also, in Jung's words, \"ignotum per ignotius\", the unknown through the even more unknown. Symbolic experience appears to go beyond rat ional izat ion, comprehension of i t being attained by means of image, rather than by abstract concepts alone. Jung saw some overlap in the roles and definitions of the symbol and the archetype - one of the psychological concepts with which he was part-icu lar ly concerned. Jung held that a l l human beings possess an inborn tendency to form some general symbols which are manifested in the mind through myths, dreams, fantasies and folk-tales . As evidence in support of this theory, Jung said that certain general symbols such as \"mother earth\", \"the sun\", \"the animus and the anima\", e t c . , do recur frequently in myths and dreams, as i f by ins t inct . We are verging now on a def init ion of the archetype, which can most simply be said to be a sort of \"static symbol\". The \"stat ic symbol\", or the archetype, cannot be reshaped i t s e l f , as ca.n,-thermyth5; the legend or aven: tha l i t arary\ syinbol : But a:n a^ch.2*yp.e;..i.s: -\u00E2\u0080\u00A2 6 nevertheless in i t s e l f a kind of symbol. In Renaud's book on Apol l inaire , we find Orpheus described as \"archetype et patron des poetes qui veulent forcer les limites de 1'humanite, decouvrir les mysteres et reveler un univers sacre . . . \" ^ Clearly Renaud wishes to emphasize the exemplary, pattern-l ike aspect of the figure of Orpheus for Apol l ina ire , this being one of the major characteristics of the archetype. However, the role and function of the archetype is more complex than just th i s . Without delving too far into the technical i t ies of psychology, i t is interesting to return to some of the ideas of Jung. Jung sees the archetype as being an inherited pattern of behaviour or scheme of functioning, which man expresses in the form of archetypal images and forms - such as the image of Orpheus as described by Renaud. In an interview with another psychologist, Jung described arche-types in this way: They are Instinctual images that are not in te l l ec tua l ly invented. They are always there and they produce certain processes in the \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 unconscious that one could best compare with myths. That's the or ig in o f mythology. Mythology is a pronouncing of a series of images that formulate the l i f e of archetypes. So the statements of every re l ig ion , of many poets, e t c . , are -jp statements about the inner mythological process . . . Myths and archetypes do have certain features in common, as Jung points out, and archetypes appear in myths, as for example, does the \"archetypal\" figure of Orpheus. But archetypes appear as involuntary manifestations of unconscious processes whose existence and meaning can only be guessed and interpreted, whereas myths deal with t radi t ional , thus more intentional forms of cultural history. Archetypal behaviour by the archetypal figure in an archetypal situation becomes an example within the context of myth, just as Renaud points out that Orpheus i s , in a sense, an example to the poet searching out a myster-ious and sacred universe. However, the archetype may be f i n a l l y only an image 7 that is held in the unconscious mind, to which some external r ea l i ty , be i t mythical or l i v i n g , must correspond before the archetype wi l l function as an a r t i s t i c or narrative device. A good example of a \"matching up\" or an application of archetypes to the end of a r t i s t i c analysis is to be found, for example, in Gaston Bachelard's book La Poetique de la reverie , where the writer adopts the Jungian dis t inct ion between the archetypes of \"animus\" and \"anima\" to use them in an evaluation of the mental state of poetic reverie that may precede poetic creation. The most commonly found of the components of myth in the work of Apoll inaire is the image, or the metaphor. Certain metaphors and groups of metaphors recur frequently in his writ ing, and they play an important part in the creation of an Apol l inair ian mythology, as we shall hope to show. Charles Mauron, a prominent figure in the f i e l d of l i t e rary psycho-criticism, has entit led one of his c r i t i c a l works Des Metaphores obsedantes au mythe personnel. Introduction a la psychocritique.\"^ Although we wi l l not attempt a psychocriticism of Apol l inaire ' s works in this study, i t wi l l s t i l l be interesting to approach not only his personal myth, but also his whole use of myth from the point of view of the \"metaphores obsedantes\" that can be most easily discerned and interpreted. Roland Barthes would doubtless ca l l such an analysis \"thematique\". The theme, for Barthes, is not only seen as part of the realm of ideas and ideology, but is seen as an object or a being that demonstrates a certain quality or sensation that recurs repeatedly, seemingly . expressing some sort of obsession - which brings us back to the ideas of Mauron. Alcools , for example, i s a subtle combination of external qualit ies and'sensations: f i r e , water, stars, inebriation, flowers, and\" so on, that appear frequently, and-of ideas of a cu l tura l , s p i r i t u a l , rel igious or mythol-ogical kind. The external images and sensations are often used to i l lu s t ra te 8 or to embroider upon some mythological or ideological framework. Thus, when an image is noticeably recurrent i t may well be that the underlying ideology or obsession also recurs. Images, as part of the l i t e rary fabric of the writ ing, can in this way offer indications of some possibly hidden significance of the ideas or of the mind of the writer. Baudelaire expressed the same idea in these words: La Nature est un temple ou de vivants p i l i e r s Laissent parfois sor t i r de confuses paroles; L'homme y passe a travers des forests de symbol es Qui 1'observent avec des regards familiers Comme de longs exhos qui de lo in se confondent Dans une t \u00C2\u00A3 n e b r e u s e et profonde unite And in his book on Apol l ina i re , Renaud points to the poss ib i l i ty of a similar \"correspondance\". Les donnees fondamentales d 'Alcools : mort, dispersion, regard, chant, remembrement, mythe orphique de la poesie ont des l iens necessaires avec des schemes dynamiques profonds . . . ; e l les en ont d.'autres, importants aussi, avec des formes de pensee -heritees de l a poesie et de la mythologie. Apol l inaire uses a. theme at various levels of consciousness, thus drawing fu l ly upon the psychological depths of the inspiration afforded by that theme. It is not amiss to speak of Apol l inaire ' s imagery with such strong reference to i t s possible psychological sources. The poet himself was beginning to be aware of the importance of the mind's processes in poetic creation when he spoke of \"1 'esprit nouveau\", and when he wrote \"Onirocrit ique\", but his immediate successors, the Surrealist poets based much of their work on an exploration of the mind's workings, of the imagination. Also, as Albouy says: \"L'etude du mythe est, en f a i t , inseparable de ce l le de 11 imagination et de 1' imaginaire\" . ^ Baudelaire had called the imagination \" la reine des facultes\" , and had already pointed towards the importance of the imagination in an exploration of new and marvellous worlds of experience: C'est 11 imagination qui a enseigne a I'homme le sens moral de la couleur, du contour, du son et du parfum. El 1e a cree, au comm-encement du monde, l 'analogie et la metaphore. El 1e decompose toute la creation, et, avec les mateViaux amasses et disposes suivant des regies dont on ne peut trouver I 'origine que dans le plus profond de I'cime, e l le cree un monde nouveau, e l l e produit la -,g sensation du neuf. L'imagination est la reine du v r a i , et le possible est une des 2 n provinces du v r a i . E l l e est positivement apparentee avec l ' i n f i n i . In these words Baudelaire seems to foresee the interest that Apoll inaire would have in the \"merveilleux\" of the a r t i s t i c imagination, of which he speaks often in his discourse on L 'Espr i t Nouveau and in his ar t ic les on Les Peintres Cubistes. Later on the Surrealists too were interested in the mystery and the \"merveilleux\" of the image and the imagination. Breton wrote: II faut rendre grace aux decouvertes de Freud L 1 imagination 2 i est sur le point de reprendre ses droi t s . and again, on the subject of the \"merveilleux\": . . . le merveilleux est toujours beau, n'importe quel merveilleux 2 2 est beau, . i l n'y a meme que le merveilleux qui soit beau. As we said ear l ie r , myth has a certain mystery-content, and a certain r e l -igious mysticism about i t . The imagination that gives birth to an image of the sort implied by the words of Breton certainly draws on the \"merveilleux\" and explores i t . In examining some of the images and patterns of images 5 in the writing of Apol l ina ire , i t is their content of \"merveilleux\" that may shed some l ight upon the mysteries of his myths, his legend, his symbolism and\" his mind. The strangeness of an image can point to* some myst'erfbus depth of consciousness, or to some magic inspiration that is part of the myth of his ar t , or of his mythical thought. 10 So, the image provides some guide into the imagination of the poet, where the creation, and possibly also the significance, of myth, legend, symbol or archetype are to be encountered. For this reason, an examination of the themes and images that are used to express the myth and i t s many contributory forms wil l occupy a major part of this study. * * * * * The intention of this study of Myth in the work of Apol l inaire i s , therefore, to try to trace some link between mythological references as they are formulated in the poet's mind, and his own poetical creation. Out of the synthesis of these two factors wi l l emerge some idea of Apol l ina ire ' s ' l i t e r a r y myth', which is defined in this way by Albouy: Le mythe TitteYaire est constitue par (le) re'cit, que l 'auteur t r a i t e et modifie avec une grande l iber te , et par les s ig- 23 nifications' nouvelles qui y sont alors ajoutees. The synthesis is that of the two basic ingredients of personal inspir-ation and cu l tura l , mythological heritage, which at the same time links and transforms both elements. Personal inspiration draws upon myth and draws closer to a mythical rea l i ty in so doing, and myth i t s e l f is liberated from the immobility of history in becoming more personal and more a l i ve . In the case of Apol l ina i re , myth can become part of the expression of \"1 'esprit nouveau\", for example. We wi l l f i r s t l y try to distinguish some of the areas of c lass ical mythology and legend in which Apoll inaire is most interested, and from which he draws most in the mythological references to be found in his writ ing. Certain mythical characters would appear to be more s ignif icant to him than 11 others, as we shall see. Secondly, we shall attempt an analysis of some of the most important aspects of Apol l ina ire ' s imagery in the l ight of the discoveries made about his mythological preferences. \"Myths\" of f i r e constitute a large part of his imagery, and a certain l ink with a mythological framework would seem to underlie them: the Sun and the solar myth, in part icular , interest Apol l ina ire . S imi lar ly , underlying the images of water, shadow, flowers and music, as they are used by Apol l ina ire , would appear to be some reference to mythology, which make these images part of Apol l ina ire ' s own universe of \"myth\": these images, as he uses them, echo and i l lu s t ra te or animate certain mythical incidents. . In the last section, we shall deal more spec i f ica l ly with the possible role played by mythology in Apol l ina ire ' s own l i f e , and in the formation of his personality. Certain aspects of his personal l i f e bear interesting s imi lar i t ies to mythology, of which he was certainly aware, and which, as we shall show, he exploited in certain of his poems. He relates himself to Christ or Orpheus, for example, or his unhappy love-affairs are likened to the effects of the sirens' song. F ina l ly , out of these references to direct personal association with some myths, arises the legend of Apoll inaire himself. As he portrays himself in his writing, 1 he himself offers at least one example of a fusion of myth and l iv ing r ea l i ty , which in the tradit ion of myth, as we defined i t ear l ier in this chapter, can offer an example to posterity, as Apoll inaire did to his poetic successors. 12 NOTES A l l page-references for poems and plays by Apoll inaire wi l l throughout be indicated in brackets immediately following the quotation. The page number given is that of the \"Pleiade\" edition of the Oeuvres poetiques of Apol l ina i re , as l i s ted in the Bibliography. References to writings by Apoll inaire other than poetry or plays, such as his prose works or art c r i t i c i sm, are indicated by individual footnotes. * * * * * 1 Jung, C.G. and Kerenyi, C. Essays on a science of mythology. trans. R .F .C. Hul l . Bollingen Series 22. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969. 2 i b i d . p. 2. 3 i b i d . p. 3. 4 i b i d . p. 7. 5 Eliade, M. Myth and rea l i ty , trans. W.R. Trask. World Perspective Series 31. New York: Harper and Row, 1963. 6 i b i d . pp. 18-19. 7 Apol l ina i re . Meditations esthetiques, p. 48. Oeuvres completes. Paris: Ball and et Lecat, 1966. \u00E2\u0080\u00A28 Renaud, P. Lecture d 'Apol l inaire . Lausanne: L'Age d'homme, 1969. p. 73. 9 Albouy, P. Mythes et mythologies dans la l i t terature francaise. Paris: Col in , 1969. p. 8. ~ 10 quoted by Renaud, Lecture, p. 75. 11 i b i d . p. 73. 12 Evans, R.I. Conversations with Carl Jung and reactions from Ernest Jones. Princeton: D. van Nostrand Company, 1964. p. 48. 13 13 Bachelard, G. La Poetique de la reverie. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1960. 14 Mauron, C. Des Metaphores obsedantes au mythe personnel. Introduction a la psychocritique. Paris: C o r t i , 1963. 15 Baudelaire, C. \"Correspondances\". Les Fleurs du Mai. Paris: Gamier Freres, 1961. p. 13. 16 Renaud. Lecture, pp. 21-22. 17 Albouy. Mythes... p. 13. 18 Baudelaire, C. \"La Reine des facultes\". Curiosites Esthetiques. Paris: Louis Conard, 1923. p. 272. 19 ib id . p. 274. 20 ib id . p. 275. 21 Breton, A. Manifestes du surrealisme. Collection \"Idees\". Paris : Gallimard, 1969. p. 19. 22 ~ i b id . p. 24, 23 Albouy. Mythes... p. 9. 14 ANCIENT MYTHS AND MYTHOLOGICAL CHARACTERS References to ancient myths and mythological characters in the work of Apol l inaire are evidently drawn from a r ich fund of erudite detail in the poet's mind. He uses certain myths recurrently to i l lu s t r a te some of his pet ideas, in fact, to i l lus t ra te parts of his own \"myth\". And he uses certain aspects of these myths often in a symbolic manner, in order to obtain a universal significance for his particular example. This , as we saw in the previous chapter, is one of the main reasons that many Greek or Roman myths were created - in order to serve as generally applicable examples. Before any attempt to define and examine the use of ancient myths by Apol l inaire can be made, we must f i r s t distinguish the main areas of myth-ology and legend from which he draws. In the play enti t led Couleur du Temps, is to be found a long enumeration of deities and myths from many areas of human history: . . .Les dieux de Babylone et tous les dieux d'Assur Voici Melquarth le nautonier et le moloch L'affame' qui toujours nourrit son ventre ardent Baal au nom multiple adore sur les cStes Ce tdurbillonnement Belzebuth Dieu des mouches Et des champs de batai l ie ecoutez ecoutez Tanit vient en criant et L i l i t h se lamente Et sur un trone fa i t de flammes etagees D'anges epouvantes et de betes celestes Terr ib le et magnifique entourl d 'a i les d'or De cercles lumineux a la lueur mouvante Jehovah le jaloux dont le nom \u00C2\u00A3pouvante Arrive fulgurant in f in i adorable Voici des dieux toujours des dieux toujours des dieux Toujours les antiques dieux venus des pyramijdes Les sphinx les dieux d'Egypte aux tetes d'animaux Les nomes Osir i s et les dieux de la Grece Les muses les trois soeurs Hermes les Dioscures Jupiter Apollon tous les dieux de Vi rg i l e Et la tragique croix d'ou le sang coule a f lots Par le front ecorche par les cinq plaies divines 15 Domine le so le i l qui-1'adore en tremulant Voila\" les manitous les dieux americains Les esprits de la neige et leurs mouches ganiques Le Teutat^s gaulois les walkyries nordiques Les temples indiens se sont aussi vides Tous les dieux assembles pleurent de voir les hommes y S'entretuer sous le so le i l qui pleure aussi. (p. 949-950) The appearance of such a diversity of gods and mythological figures is perhaps more characterist ic of the poems of a Parnassian poet such as Leconte de L i s l e , for example. In the works of Apol l inaire , the range is somewhat more limited than this long speech by Nyctor, the poet-hero of Couleur du Temps, would seem to imply. But most, i f not a l l of the types of mythology commonly used by Apol l inaire do appear here': Greek myths, figuring characters such as Orpheus, Icarus or Ixion; Roman myths, used more sparsely by Apol l ina ire ; old German myths, used pr incipal ly in the two series of \"Rhenanes\" - one of Alcools and the other of Le Guetteur Melancolique; and what we wil l ca l l B ib l ica l \"myths\", or legends, which play a c learly important part throughout the poetry and prose works of Apol l ina ire . In addition, the figures of some of the women that fascinate Apoll inaire appear here: the Muses, the sphinx, and L i l i t h . Ancient Anglo-Saxon legend appears on several occasions in Apol l ina i re ' s verse, in references to \"Rosemonde\", who is one of the legend-ary women who interests the poet especial ly. Nordic myth is limited to two or three references to the \"mouches ganiques\", but otherwise seems to play no part in the index of mythological references of Apol l ina ire . S imilar ly , Oriental mythology and legend play no apparent part in his work. In this study of Apol l inaire ' s use of mythological reference, and its significance for his own writing (with which we wi l l deal mainly in later chapters) the approach taken wil l f a l l mid-way between that of Philippe Renaud, author of Lecture d'Apollinaire^ and that of Scott Bates, author of 16 2 Guillaume Apol l ina ire . Renaud's discussion of Apol l ina ire ' s work is based largely on the medieval and semi-biblical myths associated with the figure of Merl in, the \"enchanteur\". The importance of these myths for the structure of Renaud's study can be seen in chapter-headings, such as \"Alcools , ou Mer l in\" , \"Ondes, ou Lancelot\" (part of the Authurian legend) or \"L'enserr-ement de Guillaume\", which ressembles the \"enserrement\" of Merlin, who also becomes L'enchanteur pourrissant. Renaud uses these myths as the main framework for his discussion of the work of Apoll inaire - he also, of course, uses many other areas and types of mythology in his excellent and detailed study. The book by Scott Bates on Apoll inaire takes a somewhat different l ine of approach, in that i t does not use a mythological context as a point of departure for i t s analysis, as does Renaud, but rather uses mythological detail as a point of reference in i t s discussion of themes, sexual and other-wise. A combination of these two approaches, such as we shall attempt in this chapter, presents clear advantages. References to ancient myths and mythological characters, such as are to be found in the works of Apol l ina ire , provide some indication of the interests of the writer, and of the tra i t s to be found not only in his works, but also, as we shall see later , in his personal l i f e . What are the gods or demi-gods that appear most often in his writ ing, and to what end are the significant characteristics of these figures used by Apollinaire? What are the predominant features of the exploits of Apol l ina ire ' s legendary figures, that appear to interest the poet most? In a poem entit led \"A Jean Cocteau\", Apoll inaire says: Nous parlerons . . : . . . de tous les dieux nos sujets A nous rois de la poesie. (p. 834) 17 Just how important are these \"sujets\" for the main outlines, as well as for the deta i l s , of Apol l inaire ' s work? It is possible that they provide some interesting landmarks in the tracts of his poetry and in the labyrinths of his unconscious mind. Le Bestiaire, the f i r s t published poetic work of Apol l ina i re , is sub-t i t l e d Cortege d'Orphee. It seems therefore appropriate to turn f i r s t to the figure of Orpheus, who i s , indeed, the central figure of this early work. Orpheus, the mythical tale of his adventures, and the symbolical significance that he represents, provides a frequent source of material for Apol l ina ire . He is mentioned several times by name in the most famous col lect ion of poems by Apol l ina ire , Alcools , and the tale of his death, for example, undoubtedly forms the basis of the death of the poet Croniamantal in Le Poete assassine, the prose work published in 1916. In a dictionary of Greek mythology we read: \"Le mythe d'Orphee est 1'un des plus obscurs et les plus charges de symbolisme que connaisse la mythologie h e l l e n i q u e \" B e f o r e seeing what use Apoll inaire makes of the myth of Orpheus, i t is useful to recal l some of the principal events in the myth, and some of the mythical, symbolic meaning of Orpheus himself. Orpheus is the son of Cal l iope, one of the nine Muses. He i s , f i r s t and foremost, a singer, a musician and a poet, who plays his lute and \"cithare\" so beautifully that he can overcome the enchantment of the Sirens' song, and can charm even the infernal gods of the Underworld into submission to his wishes. He saved the mariners of the \"Argonaut\", in search of the Golden Fleece, from death-by-enchantment by the voices of the Sirens, and, in a more famous exploit of his l i f e , he descended into the Underworld in search of his beloved Eurydice. By reason of his being insuf f ic ient ly 18 constant, he fa i led to return Eurydice to l i f e , and from that time to the time of his death, he wandered the earth, inconsolable. Orpheus met his death at the hands of hordes of jealous Thracian women, who possibly ressemble the frenzied Tristouse Ballerinette of Le Poete assassine, who tore him into pieces. His head is supposed to have continued to sing with unmatchable beauty, long after his death. Certain aspects of this myth can be interpreted with interesting results relevant to the work of Apol l inaire . Paul D i e l , in a study of symbolism in Greek mythology, writes the following of the myth of Orpheus: \"Toute son histoire le montre hesitant entre le sublime et le pervers, entre Apollon et Dionysos. Symbole de la splendeur de I 'art et de 1'inconstance de 1 'art iste , Orphie. accompagne son chant a la lyre d'Apollon, et la puissance de ses accords entraine apres lu i jusqu'aux arbres et aux rochers de T'Olympe; mais i l est aussi le charmeur de fauves, 1'enchanteur de la per-versfte\" .^ A s imilar dichotomy of the \"sublime\" and the \"pervers\", the Apoll inian and the Dionysian modes of a r t i s t i c creation, can be traced far into Apol l ina i re ' s writings, as we shall see. Orpheus i s , above a l l , the arche-typal figure of the poet, aspiring to l y r i c a l harmonies in his work, and who would also be an enchanter. \"Certes, tout art iste dote d'une vision authentique depasse le niveau de 1'artiste-Centaure et part ic ipe, dans un degre, plus ou moins accentue, a la nature d'Orphee\", writes D ie l^ , and he continues: \"Le chant d'Orphee et sa vie sont 1 ' i l lu s t ra t ion du conf l i t ess-entiel qui ravage la vie humaine, et qui , manifestation evoluee de la discorde i n i t i a l e , se trouve figuree dans tous les mythes par le combat entre le divin et le demoniaque\".^ Direct ly or indirect ly , Apoll inaire uses most aspects of the myth of Orpheus at one time or another. The notes to Le Bestiaire provide the most 19 expl ic i t indication of what Apol l inaire ' s conception of the character of Orpheus i s : \" . . . Quand Orphee jouait en chantant, les animaux sauvages eux-memes venaient ecouter son cantique. Orphee inventa toutes les sciences, tous les arts. Fond\u00C2\u00A3 dans la magie, i l connut l ' avenir et predit chretiennement Vavenement du SAUVEUR\" ' (p. 33) The l ink of Orpheus with Christ ianity is part icularly interesting and wi l l be discussed further on. For the moment, the magical power noticed by Apol l in-7 aire in Orpheus i s of note, since, as Renaud points out , the tradit ion of the Orphic myth upholds and affirms the power of man over nature, a power which derives from a knowledge of the secrets of the Gods, such as that gained by Orpheus during his descent'to the Underworld. The poet, in emulating this archetype of poets, Orpheus, thus holds some power of enchant-ment over his natural surroundings, over . . . cette troupe infecte Aux mi l i e pattes, aux cent yeux: Rotiferes, cirons, insectes Et microbes plus merveilleux Que les sept merveilles du monde... (\"Orphee\", p. 15) Such powers of enchantment are i l lus trated also by a poem such as \"Vendemiaire\", or by references to \"I'amphion\" such as is to be found in the f i f t h stanza of \"Le Brasier\" (p. 108). The main act of enchantment taken from the myth of Orpheus by Apol l ina ire , is that in which Orpheus overcame the charms of the Sirens with his singing. This is used in two poems: \"Vendemiaire\" of Alcools and \"Languissez languissez\" of Poemes divers: II trompa les marins qu'aimaient ces oiseaux-la II ne tournera plus sur l'e'cueil de Scy'Ila Ou- chantaian-t les^trots\"' vo-tx s_a!ves,ve# seretne^ 5\" (pp. 151 and 567) In Alcools , Orpheus is used both in the \"Poeme lu au mariage d'Andre Salmon\", and^i.n,\"Le, Larron\", In the former .poem, the,,',me.ntrlon,..is:-Gif \"le. 20 dernier regard d'Orphee\" and of \" le regard d'Orphee mourant\" (pp. 83-84). Neither mention would seem to have any special significance, (other than the fact that both Salmon and Apoll inaire are poets, as is Orpheus), probably due to the fact that the poem was only written, according to Apol l inaire , on a bus, on his way to Salmon's wedding! (p. 1054). \"Le Larron\" is of greater interest , however, in that i t offers a possible comparison of Orpheus with Chris t , depending on the identity given to the \"Larron\" him-sel f by the reader: . . . Que n 'ava i t - i l la voix et les jupes d'Orphee Et les femmes la nuit feignant d'etre des taures L'eussent aime comme on 1'aima puisqu'en effet II etait p&le i l e'tait beau comme un roi ladre Que n ' a v a i t - i l : l a voix et les jupes d'Orphee... (pp. 94-95) Before continuing a discussion of Christ and Orpheus, in parenthesis, the death of Orpheus must be considered br ie f ly . Orpheus, the poet, as Croniamantial the. poet, dies at the hand of women. S imilar ly , a kind of emotional and spir i tual death is suffered by Apol l ina ire , poet, at the hand of the various women that he loved. Poems such as \"L'Emigrant de Landor Road\" or \"Tristesse d'une etoi le\" or \"Les Colchiques\" bear witness to this minor death caused by disappointed love: Et ma vie pour tes yeux lentement s'empoisonne (p. 60) he writes in \"Les Colchiques\". The death of Orpheus is succeeded also by the dismemberment of the poet's body, similar to that described in very personal terms in the poem \"Cortege\": Le cortege passait et j ' y cherchais mon corps Tous ceux qui survenaient et n'etaient pas moi-meme Amenaient un a un les morceaux de moi-meme (p. 75) And there are other direct analogies to be made between Apoll inaire himself 21 and Orpheus. Both are of Slavic and Mediterranean or ig in , for example. Apol l ina ire , as Orpheus, seeks to conquer death by immortalizing whatever is dead (his loves, his past l i f e , etc.) in the song of his poetry. Both, as we have said, waver between the poles of the \"sublime\" and \"grotesque\" of Hugo, the \" ideal\" and the \"spleen\" of Baudelaire. These s imi lar i t ies f a l l into the realm of Apol l ina ire ' s own \"myth\", rather than into the discussion of his use by direct reference of the myth of Orpheus, and hence wi l l be further examined later on. A f inal aspect of interest in the figure of Orpheus is his l ink with Jesus Chris t , which Apoll inaire does not ignore. As we have seen, he wrote in his notes to Le Bestiaire: - . . . i l (Orphee) connut 1 'avenir et predit chretiennement 1'avenement du SAUVEUR. (p. 33) Similar ly , one of the verses entit led \"Orphee\" in Le Bestiaire reads as follows: Que ton coeur soit 1'app^t et le c i e l , la piscine! Car, pecheur, quel poisson d'eau douce ou bien marine E g a l e - t - i l , et par la forme et la saveur, Ce beau poisson divin qu'est JESUS, M6n Sauveur? (p. 20) The links between these two \"sons of gods\", of different \"mythologies\" (the Greek and the B i b l i c a l ) , are s t r ik ing . Not only is Orpheus supposedly a prophet of the Messiah, but he is also supposed to have foretold the existence of John the Baptist, another prophet of Christ . Chr i s t , as Orpheus, descended to Hell after his c ruc i f ix ion , and rose again with the secret of Life and Death, which the followers of both were eager to learn. F ina l ly , both Orpheus and Christ embody different aspects of a sublime, aesthetic and moral ideal . They both appear to provide some goat towards which the streak of idealism that runs through Apol l ina ire ' s writing seems to be d i rec ted . . . here again, we encroach already on the purely personal myth of Apol l ina ire , 22 however. o The \"legend\" of Chris t , drawn from Bibl ica l \"mythology\", is a more frequently used source of inspiration or i l lu s t ra t ion in Apol l inaire ' s prose and poetry a l ike . He maintains a certain respect for Christ himself, although often the Christian Church, notably that of Roman Catholicism, suffers under the sardonic pen of Apol l inaire : some short stories from L'Heresiargue et Cie such as \"Sacrilege\" or \"L'Heresiarque\" or \" I n f a i l l i b i l i t e \" bear wit-ness to this skepticism. Leaving aside for now the Christian Church, le t us concentrate on the tone of references to Christ himself, and on the aspects of the Christian \"myth\" that seem to preoccupy Apol l ina ire . Scott Bates sees in the figure of \"Le Larron\" a portrait of Christ , and he presents a convincing argument in favour of such an interpretation of the poem. If the figure of the Thief is in fact a symbolical portrayal of Chris t , then this poem provides an interesting reference to the birth of Christ , which is strangely simiTar to the birth of Apol l ina ire : Ton pare fut un sphinx et ta mere une nuit (p. 91) he writes. Part of the very nature of the Sphinx (and here too there is a coincidence of Greek and Bibl ical mythological reference) is i t s mysterious dependance upon a r iddle . The Sphinx is undone only after i ts r iddle has been solved by Oedipus outside Thebes. The identity of God the Father, in the Christian T r i n i t y , is also nebulous and r idd le - l ike ; and as we shall see later on, the identity of Apol l inaire ' s own father is s t i l l something of a riddle to his biographers. Further references to Christ occur in poems of a l l Apol l ina ire ' s major collections of verse. In Alcools alone, Christ is mentioned in \"Zone\"(p. 39), \"La Chanson du Mal-Aime\"(p. 46), \"Palais\"(p. 61), \"Le Voyageur\"(p. 78), 23 \"Le Larron\"(p. 91), and \"L'Ermite\"(p. 100). Oblique references to Christ occur in the notion \"resurrection\" in \"La Maison des Morts\" (p. 66); in a reference to the \"Madonne\" (and to the \"Vierge\") in \"Les Fiancai l les\" (p . 128); in the poems written in La Sante prison(pp. 140-145); and f i n a l l y in \"Vend-emiaire\" (p. 149) where mention is made of \" la cro ix\" , of \" le lys\" (the flower of Easter) and of the \"triregne\". In the collections of Calligrammes or II y a a s imilar , though s l ight ly lesser emphasis is placed on inspiration derived from the figure of Christ .^ It is interesting to note the mixture of respect and veiled cynicism in some of these references to Christ . Some lines from \"Zone\" point up this duality of tone well : . . . Tandis qu'eternelle et adorable profondeur amethyste Tourne a jamais la flamboyante gloire du Christ C'est le beau lys que tous nous cultivons C'est 1'a. torche aux cheveux roux que n'eteint pas le vent C'est le f i l s p&Te et vermeil de la douloureuse mere C'est 1'arbre toujours touffu de toutes les prieYes C'est la double potence de Thonneur et de I ' l t e rn i t e C'est T 'e to i le \u00C2\u00A3 six branches C'est Dieu qui meurt le vendredi et ressuscite le dimanche C'est le Christ qui monte au c ie l mieux que les aviateurs II detient le record du monde pour la hauteur (p. 40) In these l ines , the awe inspired by Christ is bui l t up to a crescendo effect, where Christ is a sublime figure, \"C'est D i e u . . . \" , before being suddenly deflated by the semi-mockery of \"holding the world-record for a l t i tude\" , a perverse, physical de ta i l . S imilarly in \"L 'Ermite\" , \"Seigneur le Christ est n u . . . As-tu sue du sang Christ dans Gethsemani\": these words are sincere but the mockery returns in the words: . . . Car j j a i trop espere en vain 11hematidrose J''ecoutais a genoux toquer les battements Du coeur le sang roulait toujours en ses arteres Une goutte tomba Sueur Et sa couleur Lueur Le sang si rouge et j ' a i r i des damnes 24 Puis enfin j ' a i compris que je saignais du nez A cause des parfums violents de mes fleurs (p. 101) The contrast between the religious fervour of the hermit praying to see Christ sweat blood (1'hematidrose) and the r id icule of his own bleeding nose attains an extremely, yet subtly, ironical tone. To equate Christ with a \"larron des f ru i t s \" is surely also to display a certain degree of skepticism about Christ : Bates goes as far as to say that: '\"The T h i e f is the most direct and violent attack Apoll inaire ever made on Christ and Chris t iani ty ' s Jewish patrimony; i t is a barbarous, clanging-poem, f u l l of dissonances and ambiguities, erotic puns, drunken verbalisms, and an extraordinary compendium of the pagan marvelous culled from his already considerable knowledge of anc-ient lore\" . Again in the \"Elegie du Voyageur a:ux pieds blesses\" of I I y a, Christ i s seen as an entirely human young/man, and is addressed famil iar ly : Le gars! 6 1'homme aux pieds blesses! Tu fouTes les-dieux sous tes pas (p. 337) But in the \"Chant de 1'honneur\" of Calligrammes, on the other hand: Le Christ n'est done venu qu'en vain parmi les hommes (p. 305) And in \"La Chanson du Mal-Aime\": Le grand Pan 1'amour Jesus-Christ Sont bien morts et les chats miaulent Dans la cour je pleure a Paris \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 (p. 50) This is the sense of loss and di s i l lus ionment that leads to Apol l inaire ' s cynicism about Christ and Chris t ianity , which is the \"pervers\" side of his attitude to the New Testament \"myth\". References to Christ provide, in fact , another indication of the \"sublime\" and the \"pervers\" duality in the work of Apol l inaire which wil l become even more apparent in later chapters. 25 Also in contrast to the references to Christ himself are some important references to Ant ichr i s t s , of whom there are many in Apol l ina ire ' s prose and verse. Principal among these Antichrists are the figures of Isaac Laquedem, the wandering Jew of L'Heresiarque et Cie ; Simon Magus, from the short story of the same name in L'Heresiarque and mentioned also in \"Zone\", along with Christ ; Merlin the Enchanter, who appears in \"Merlin et la v i e i l l e femme\" and also in L'Enchanteur pourrissant; and f i n a l l y the hermit of the poem \"L'Ermite\" . It becomes clear that: \" . . . Apoll inaire was acquainted with the opinions of the Church Fathers and nineteenth-century anthropologists about the Ant ichr i s t ; in addition, he knew medieval and sixteenth-century author-i t i e s on the s u b j e c t . . . \" ^ - In \"Zone\", for example, Christ is in the company of several ant ichrist figures: . . . comme Jesus monte dans V a i r Les diables dans les abimes Invent la t i t e pour regarder l i s disent q u ' i l imite Simon Mage en Judee l i s crient q u ' i l sa i t voler qu'on 1 'appelle voleur Les anges voltigent autour du j o l i voltigeur Icare Enoch El ie Apollonius de Thyane.. . (p. 40) The presence of a l l these antichrists cannot f a i l to b e l i t t l e the holy ascen-sion of Christ into Heaven after his crucif ix ion and resurrection. Simon Magus in part icular , said to be the originator of Gnoticism, is a challenge to the sole d iv in i ty of Christ . Simon Magus is sometimes regarded as an incarnation of some of God's power, and is supposed to have performed miracles, including that of lev i ta t ion . That other great Antichrist of Apol l ina ire ' s work, Merl in, is the son of Satan, r iva l of God the Father himself: Merlin guettait la vie et Ve te rne l l e cause Qui f a i t mourir et puis renaftre 1 'univers (p. 8 8 ) 26 Merlin, l ike Christ or Orpheus, has knowledge of the secret source of Life or Death too. In this alone his d iv in i ty challenges that of Christ . The idea of l ev i ta t ion , closely associated with the figure of Christ in \"Zone\", provides an interesting l ink with another major mythological figure who features prominently in Apol l inaire ' s writ ing: Icarus. In \"Zone\": C'est le Christ qui monte au c ie l mieux que les aviateurs II deti.ent le record du monde pour la hauteur and later in the poem: Icare Enoch El ie Apollonius de Thyane Flottent autour du premier aeroplane (Christ) (p. 40) In \"Le Voyageur\" also, \" i l s 'envolait un Christ\" (p. 78) . . . The most famous part of the myth of Icarus is perhaps the story of his f l i g h t with Dedal us, his father, and of his death after his wings had fa i led him. Icarus, symbolically, wishes to ascend to the Sun, which is the source of a l l l i f e and knowledge. He aspires to a state of Chr i s t - l ike d iv in i ty , and to a knowledge of the secrets of L i fe . The actual incidents of the myth of Icarus are well-known: DedaTus, his father, invented wings with which he and Icarus could escape imprisonment by Minos in the Labyrinth of Crete. The wings v/ere to be attached to the f lyer ' s shoulders with wax. Icarus, young and fu l l of pride and ambition, did not heed his father's warning and flew too near to the Sun. The wax attachment of his wings melted, and Icarus f e l l to his death in the sea below. The interpretation of this myth by Paul Di el merits some attention, as i t sheds interesting l ight on some of the references to Icarus found in Apol l ina ire ' s poems. Diel writes: \"Le mythe exprime - on d i r a i t , le plus clairement possible - ces deux s ignif icat ions: le desir exalte d'e'levation et 1 ' insuffisance des moyens employes. . . . E n remplacant le so le i l par son 27 sens symbolique, 1'esprit, i l apparaft que Dedale met son f i l s en garde contre le danger auquel i l s'exposerait, s ' i l nourrissait le desir demesure de fui'r les regions perverses (Labyrinthe) dans 1'espoir vain de pouvoir atteindre la region sublime par le seul moyen trop insuffisant de 1 ' inte l lect (les ai les de c i r e ) \" . 1 In the myth of Icarus also, therefore, as in the myth of Orpheus, the two elements of the \"sublime\"aspirations towards an ideal and \"pervers\" rea l i ty of man's limitations are counterpoised. Icarus' a r t i f i c i a l wings symbolise not the sublime aspirations of the creative imagination, which true wings (those of angels, for example) would represent, but they symbolise rather the perverse imagination, blinded by i t s own vanity, and blind also to the wise counsels of Dedal us, the true inte l lec tua l . \"Plus Icare s'approche du s o l e i l , de la vie de 1'esprit , plus ses ai les a r t i f i c i e l l e s le trahissent. C'est 1'esprit qui inf l ige le chcitiment; c 'est le so le i l qui f a i t fondre les ai les a r t i f i c i e l l e s . Icare s'abat et tombe dans la mer'.'J^ The idea of f l i g h t , of levitat ion occurs in various poems by Apol l ina i re , and expresses a desire to rise above material , terrestr ia l existence, a desire for sublimation that approaches a state of d iv in i ty . The f l i ght of Icarus is similar to that of a l l sp ir i tual ambition, in which 'pride precedes the f a l l . ' l In Apol l inaire ' s use of the myth of Icarus, the pattern of the f a l l from the sublime heights of the mind to the perverse depths of carnal desires is c learly expressed. A similar pattern provides the foundation of \"Zone\", for example. The loves and idealized women of Apol l ina ire ' s own l i f e were often the objects of this expression of alternating sublime-perverse desires. In this way Apoll inaire f i t s exactly the description of Die ! , who writes: \"L 'ar t i s te accompli est celui qui sa i t exprimer avec la mime veracite, avec la meme object ivi te , done sans exaltation, la chute et 1'elevation, le '\u00E2\u0080\u00A213''' tourment et la joie.de la v ie \" . 28 In the col lect ion of poems entitled II y a, Apoll inaire dedicates an entire poem to the figure of Icarus, and to the significance of his symb-ol ica l f l i ght . The poem is entitled \"L'Ignorance\", which immediately indic-ates Apol l ina ire ' s awareness of Icarus' fatal faul t . The poem begins with the words: S o l e i l , je suis jeune . . . (p. 344) The youthful ambitions of Icarus to become divine echo exactly those of the Greek myth: . \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 S o l e i l , je viens caresser ta face splendide Et veux f ixer ta flamme unique, aveuglement Icare etant celeste et plus divin qu'Alcide Et son bdcher sera ton eblouissement (p. 344) As Apol l inaire notices, i t is the \"aveuglement\", the \"ignorance\" of Icarus that cause his downfall: Mais, ton amour, s o l e i l , brule divinement Mon corps au'etre divin voulut mon ignorance (p. 345) Elsewhere, Apoll inaire speaks of himself in direct association with Icarus, as for example in \"Merveille de la Guerre\" of Calligrammes: C'est moi qui commence cette chose des siecles a venir Ce sera plus long a realiser que non la fable d'Icare vo lant . . . (p. 272) or in \"Les Fiancai l les\" of Alcools: Tous les mots que j 'avais a dire se sont changes en etoiles Un Icare tente de s'elever ^usqu'a chacun de mes yeux Et porteur de so le i l s je brule au centre de deux nebuleuses \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 (p. 130) These last lines go as far as to express a superiority over Icarus, a disdain for the ignorance and blindness of such ambition: Ailes et tournoyants comme Icare le faux Des aveugles gesticulant comme des fourmis (p. 309) As Philippe Renaud has written: \"... 1'image d'Icare est tres frequente chez Apollinaire Nul doute qu'avec Orphee et Merlin, Icare ne soit un des patrons d'Apollinaire et I'une des grandes figures qui permettent de mieux comprendre la nature de son effort\"Renaud's l i s t is not quite complete, since he leaves out the figure of Christ. It is indeed remarkable that these four major \"mythical\" figures are the only ones to whom entire poems are allotted, or to whom consistent reference is made by Apollinaire. Orpheus has a poem named after him - \"Orphee\" - in the Poetries retrouves (p. 683) as well as Le Bestiaire, of which four stanzas are entitled \"Orphee\"; Merlin is the hero of \"Merlin et la Vieille femme\" in Alcools; Icarus is the central figure of \"L'Ignorance\", as well as.being one of the major images of \"Lul de Fal-tenin\"; and Christ appears in the poems already mentioned, \"Le Larron\" and the \"Elegie du voyageur aux pieds blesses\", as well as in numerous other references. Let us now turn our attention to some of the lesser deities who find a place in the store of myths used by Apollinaire. Prominent amongst these deities is the Sun, Helios or Apollo, considered a divine ideal, and often endowed with symbolic significance by Apollinaire. But the importance of references to the Sun is not so much a mythical, as a metaphorical one, and so discussion of the role of the Sun in Apollinaire's writing will be defer-red to a later chapter. Associated indirectly with the Sun, however, is the Greek myth of Ixion. Ixion, a Thessalonian king, murdered his father-in-law, but was absolved of his guil't by Zeus, who took pity on him. Ixion showed' extreme ingratitude towards his divine benefactor, by trying to seduce the goddess Hera, wife of Zeus. In error, he seduced a cloudy image of Hera, from which union were 30 born the Centaurs. Zeus punished Ixion for his deceitfulness by attaching him to a flaming wheel and condemning him to turn eternally in space: Hence the association with the Sun. Apoll inaire makes specif ic use of the incidents of this.myth in two poems, \"Vendemiaire\" and \"Un Fantdme des nuees\" (pp. 193-196). In \"Vendemiaire\", the reference to Ixion is exp l i c i t : he is cal led both \"1'Ixion mecanique\" (p. 150) and \"Ixion le createur oblique\" (p. 151). Ixion is the creator of the Centaurs, by his mysterious, \"oblique\" union with the \"fantome des nuees\", Hera. In \"Un Fantome des Nuees\", i t is this image of the elusive and i l lusory Hera, the woman of cloud loved by Ixion, that i s used to provide an indirect mythical point of reference for the image of the young \"Saltimbanque\", the child-wonder of the itinerant and mysterious street-performers. This Ixionic type of creation has a symbolic value for Apol l ina i re , as an image of the creation of art . \"And for this fa lse , yet divine creation out of self which gives birth to a new rea l i ty , Apoll inaire. finds a striking new celest ia l t r i n i t y , another solar myth, that of King Ixion The vision of the goddess is in the creator . . . She is 15 the breeder of ar t \" . Before passing on to a discussion of legendary or mythical women, and their use or place in Apol l inaire ' s writ ing, i t is appropriate to mention the presence of Eros and Anteros, the two gods concerned with Love. As in the case of Christ and the various Antichrists discussed ea r l i e r , these two brother-gods demonstrate a dis t inct duality in Apol l ina ire ' s mind and work. They provide a further i l lus t ra t ion of a \"sub!ime-pervers\" dichotomy, as these words from \"La Victoire\" show: Deux lampes brulent devant moi Comme deux femmes qui rient Je courbe tristement la tete Devant l 'ardente moquerie Ce r i r e se repand 31 Partout 0 paroles E l l e s suivent dans l a myrtaie L'Eros et 1'AnteVos en larmes... (p. 311) Of legendary women i n A p o l l i n a i r e ' s works there are many, including Greek, Roman, B i b l i c a l and German f o l k - h e r o i n e s . A p o l l i n a i r e r e f e r s to four women with p a r t i c u l a r i n s i s t e n c e : Rosamond, L i l i t h , Helen of Troy, and Salome; and makes reference to others such as Ophelia i n the \"Poeme l u . . . \" (p. 84), the sirens and S c y l l a i n \"Vendemiaire\" (p. 1 5 1 ) ^ , the V i r g i n Mary i n \"Les F i a n c a i l l e s \" (pp. 128, 135), Aphrodite i n \"Le Larron\" (p. 91), Venus i n \"C'est Lou qu'on l a nommait\" (p. 218), Berenice i n \"Merveille de l a guerre\" (p. 271) or the infantas of Spain i n \"Tierce rime...\" and \"Adieux\" (pp. 331, 332). A l l these together form a composite image of his ideal woman, and his ideal of beauty: Je vois bien devant moi l a beaute L1 adorable beaute de mes reVes E l l e est plus b e l l e que dans l e s l i v r e s Toutes l e s imaginations Des poetes n'avaient suppose E l l e est plus b e l l e que ne f u t Eve Plus b e l l e que ne f u t Eurydice Plus b e l l e qu'Helene et D a l i l a Plus b e l l e que Didon cette Reine Et que non Salome' l a danseuse Que ne f u t Cleopttre et ne f i i t Rosemonde au Pa l a i s Merveilleux... (p. 956) These are the words spoken by Nyctor, the poet of Couleur du Temps, when he fin d s his ideal of beauty and of womanhood encased i n a block of i c e i n the A n t a r c t i c . The irony and r i d i c u l e of the whole s e t t i n g of t h i s speech seems to i n d i c a t e that A p o l l i n a i r e does not believe that such a woman, that such beauty t r u l y e x i s t s or i s ever a t t a i n a b l e . In legend and imagination at l e a s t , however, his ideal woman e x i s t s . From; Greek; legend: springs the poem \"Helena\" of the Poetes Divers; In t h i s 32 poem, Apoll inaire dwells on the magical beauty of Helen of Troy: Sur toi Helene souvent mon reVe reva Tes beaux seins flechissaient quand Paris t 'enleva Et savais-tu combien d'hommes avaient tes l ivres Baise depuis Thesee jusqu'au gardeur de chevres Tu e'tais belle encor toujours tu le seras Et les dieux et les rois pour toi f i rent la guerre Car ton corps etais nu et blanc comme ton pere Le cygne amoureux qui jamais ne chantera . . . et tu dois vivre encore En quelque bourg de Grece belle comme alors (p. 579). The search for a feminine ideal continues with the figure of Rosamond, who appears in one of the \"Orphee\" stanzas of Le Bestialre (p. 15), in \"Palais\" (p. 51), and \"Rosemonde\" (p. 107) from Alcools , and in \"Je vis un soir la zezayante\" (p. 327) from II y a. Rosamond Cl i f ford was a mistress of Henry I I of .England, who supposedly l ived in a palace at Woodstock, and was known as the \"rose of the world\" because of her remarkable beauty. She i s a sort of \"femme fatale\" , mysteriously hidden in her palace, and thus un-attainable. Her palace becomes a symbol of the goal of Apol l ina ire ' s vain search for his ideal : Puis lentement je m'en a l l a i Pour queter la Rose du Monde (p. 107) Vers le palais de Rosemonde au fond du Reve Mes reveuses pensees pieds nus vont en so i ree . . . (p. 61) The emphasis la id.on the notion of his ideal being a \"reve\" occurs also not-ably in the quoted passage from \"Helene\". Both Rosemonde and Helene are \"femmes fatales\" whose ruinous powers intrigue and yet are mistrusted by Apol l ina i re , l ike the powers of the sirens' song. These women, with others such as Salome, are the cause of man's suffering. 33 One of the short stories of L'Heresiarque entitled \"La Danseuse\" and an entire poem of Alcools are dedicated to \"Salome\". Salome was a symbol of the immortal \"femme fatale\" to nineteenth-century poets such as Mallarme or Oscar Wilde. Her beauty and her grace as a dancer beguiled Herod into agreeing to the decapitation of John the Baptist: Salome, enjolivee, a t t i fee , diapree, farde'e, dansa devant le roi et, excitant un vouloir doublement incestueux, dbtint la tete du Saint refusee a sa mere. (\"La Danseuse\", L'Heresiarque et Cie) In the poem \"Salome\", the heroine celebrates her success in bringing about the death of the prophet; and in \"La Danseuse\" i t is her own legendary death that is described in a l y r i c a l , yet gruesome manner: Soudain, la glace se brisa sous e l le qui s'enfonca dans le Danube, - ma is de t e l l e facon que, le corps extant baigne', la tete resta au-dessus des glaces rapprochees et ressoudees. Quelques cr i s terr ibles effrayerent de grands oiseaux au vol lourd, et, lorsque la malheureuse se tutj sa tete semblait tranche'e et posee sur un plat d'argent. (\"La Danseuse\", L'Heresiarque et Cie) L i l i t h is also one of the four mythical women most frequently mentioned by Apol l ina ire . She is the f i r s t wife of Adam and later wife of Beelzebub; she is the satyr of the 34th chapter of the Book of Isaiah: \" . . . and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest\" . In Hebrew mythology she is a demon who howls in the night, and in \"L 'Ermite\" , Apoll inaire describes her as exactly thi s : Et je marche je fuis 6 nuit L i l i t h ulule Et clame vainement et je vois de.grands yeux S'ouvrir tragiquement 0 nuit je vois tes cieux (p. 102) L i l i t h is a creature of the shadows, which, as Madame Durry point's out in her study of Alcools , is an important aspect of the imagery of this col lect ion: 17 \"Le motif de 1'ombre revient toujours\", she writes. For Scott Bates, on the 34 other hand, L i l i t h is \"a widely feared incubus with (in Apoll inaire) an attendant train of vices including menstruation, Lesbianism, and f lage l la t ion. . . . a symbol of frustrated motherhood and s t e r i l i t y in The Putrescent Ench- anter. . . . an ingenious symbol of menstruation who had created the Red Sea against the desires of men before turning to deceive Beelzebub with female lovers \" .^ 8 In the Poemes a Lou L i l i t h indeed appears with Proserpine \"aux enfers\": Nous nous aimons sauvagement dans la nuit noire Victimes de I'ascese et produits du desespoir Chauves-souris qui ont leurs anglais comme les femmes and L i l i t h herself chants: J ' a i cree la mer Rouge contre le desir de I'homme (p. 446) L i l i t h i s , then, a creature of Anteros tendencies, whereas Helen, Rosamond or Salome are rather on the side of the god Eros. The last of the \"femme fatale\" , enchantress figures that we wi l l discuss is taken from Rhenish folklore and myth. This is the legend of the Loreley, taken up by Apoll inaire in the poem \"La Loreley\" of the Rhenanes in Alcools . For this poem, Apoll inaire was inspired by a novel by Brentano entit led Godwi, written in the early 1800's. The legend i t s e l f t e l l s of a maiden who threw herself into the Rhine in despair over a faithless lover, and who ret-urned as a s iren-l ike creature, \"une sorciere blonde\", to lure boatmen to their destruction on the \"Loreleifelsen\" of the Rhine: 0 belle Loreley aux yeux plein de pierreries De quel magicien tiens-tu ta sorcel ler ie (p. 115) In this poem, Apoll inaire voices his suffering after Annie Playden had deserted him: Mon amant est parti pour un pays lointain 35 Faites-moi done mourir puisque je n'aime rien (p. 115) As we shall see later , Apoll inaire frequently makes use of a l l the myths we have examined to express a personal experience or sentiment in just this way. As a conclusion to this examination of Apol l inaire ' s references to myths and mythological characters, a clear l i s t of such references has been compiled in order to give an enumerated indication of some of the patterns to which we have been trying to draw attention. From this l i s t i t wi l l be obvious that some references have so far been almost completely ignored, as for example those to the Sirens or to the Sphinx. These wi l l be discussed in the course of the examination of some of Apol l ina ire ' s recurrent images that i s to follow, and in an examination of some aspects of the poet's personal l i f e in a later section. . 36 Lis t of mythological or legendary allusions to be found in Le Bestiaire, Alcools , Calligrammes and II y a. GREEK Amphion: \"Le Brasier\". Aphrodite: \"Le Larron\". A t t i s : \"Vent Nocturne\". Centaures: \"Le Brasier\". Eros/Anteros: \"La V ic to i re \" . Eurydice: Le Bestiaire V. Hebe: \"1904\": Icarus: \"Zone\", \"Lul de Faltenin\" , \"Les F ianca i l le s \" , \"Merveille de la . Guerre\", \"La V ic to i re \" , \"L Ignorance . Ixion: \"Vendemiaire\", \"Un fant6me des nuees\". Jason: Le Bestiaire IV. Orpheus: \"Po^me lu au mariage. . . \" , \"Le Larron\", Le Bestiaire I, XIII, XVIII, and XXIV., Pan: \"Chanson du Mal-Aime\", \"Chant de I'horizon en Champagne\". Psylles : \"Les Col l ines\" . Satyrss/faunes: \"Chanson du Mal-Aime\", \"Elegie\" . Scyl la : \"Vendemiaire\". Sirens: \"Chanson du Mal-Aime'\", \"Lul de Faltenin\" , \"L 'Emigrant . . . \" , \"Les F ianca i l le s \" , \"Vendemiaire\", \"Bonjour mon f rere\" , Le Bestiaire XXIV and XXV. Sohinx: \"Le Larron\", \"Le Brasier\". Thule: \"Sanglots\". Tyndarides: \" le Brasier\". Ulysse: \"Chanson du Mal-Aime\", \"La riuit d 'avr i l 1915\". . ROMAN . . . . . Berenice: \"Merveille de la Guerre\". Caesar: \"C'est Lou qu'on la nommait\". Mars: \"Chanson du Mal-Aime\". Minerva: \"Tristesse d'une e to i l e \" . Rome: \"Rolandseck\"(?) ( \" . . . l e s sept montagnes...\"). Thule: same as for Greek legend. Venus: \"Chanson du Mal-Aime\", \"C'est Lou qu'on la nommait\". BIBLICAL Old Testament Balthazar: \"Merveille de la Guerre\". Beelzebub: \"Chanson du MaT-Ai'mev\". E l i j a h : \"Zone\". Enoch: \"Zone\". \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Eve: Le Bestiaire V. 37 (Exodus from Egypt): \"Le Larron\" ( \" . . . ca i l le s . . .manne\") , \"Chanson du Mal-Aime\". Hebrews: \"Chanson du Mal-Aime\". L i l i t h : \"L 'Ermite\" , \"L'Emigrant\" ( \" . . .La femme du diable\") . Lucifer: \"Les Collines . Ophir: \"Sanglots\". Pharoah: \"Chanson du Mal-Aime\". Red Sea: \"Chanson...\" New Testament Barrabas: \"Chanson...\" John the Baptist: Le Bestiaire XVIII, \"Salome\". Christ : Le Bestiaire XVIII and XXVI (and Notes), \"Zone\", \"Chanson \"Pala is\" , \"Le Voyageur\", \"Le Larron\"(?), \"L 'Ermite\" , \"Un Soir\"(?) , \"Chant de l'honneur\", \"Ele^gie du Voyageur. . .\" , \"Rolandseck\" (\"Ton Corps si nob le . . . \" ) . Chrysostome (Christian history): \"Tierce rime pour votre ame\". The Cross: \"Vendemiaire\". Madonna/Virgin: \"Les F iancai l les \" , \"Lorsque vous part irez\" . Salome/Herod: \"Salome\". . \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 . . . Simon Magus (Christian history): \"Zone\". The T r i n i t y : \"Vendemiaire\". \"ANGLO-SAXON\" Merlin: \"Merlin et la v i e i l l e femme\". Rosamond: Le Bestiaire XIII, \"Pala i s \" , \"Rosemonde\", \"Je vis un soir la zezayante\". (Shakespearean): \"Poeme lu au manage. . . \" (Hamlet, Ophelia). GERMAN Rhenish myth and legend of \"Rhenanes\" (\"Nuit Rhenane\", \"La Loreley\", \"Schinderhannes\"), and of \"Dans le Jardin d'Anna\". -MISCELLANEOUS Columbus: \"Chanson...\" ( \"Desirade. . . \" ) , \"Le Brasier\" ( \"DeWade\") , \"Toujours\". Don Juan: \"Toujours\" (cf. also pornographic work entitled Les exploits d'un jeune Don Juan). Fairy Yra: \"Le Tresor\". Orkenise(?): \"Onirocrit ique\". Roc, p ih i s , mythical birds: \"Zone\". Spanish infantas: \"Tierce r i m e . . . \" , \"Adieux\". 38 NOTES 1 Renaud, Philippe. Lecture d 'Apol l inaire . Collection Lettera. Lausanne: Editions L'Age d'Homme, 1969. 2 Bates, Scott. Guillaume Apol l inaire . T.W.A.S. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1967. 3 Grimal, Pierre. Dictionnaire de la mythologie grecque et romaine. Paris : P . U . F . , 1969. p. 332. 4 Di e l , Paul. Le symbolisme dans la mythologie grecque. Paris: Payot, 1966. p. 136. 5 i b i d . p. 140. 6 i b i d . p. 141. 7 Renaud. Lecture, p. 177. 8 See the brief (and incomplete) l i s t of mythological references at the end of this chapter. 9 Bates. Apol l ina i re . p. 29. 10 ibid:, p. 34. 11 Die!.. Symbol isme.. . pp. 47-48. 12 i b i d . p. 49. 13 i b i d . p. 57. 14 Renaud. Lecture, p. 149. 15 Bates. Apol l ina i re . p. 80. 16 There are numerous other references to the sirens, which wi l l be discussed later with reference to Apol l inaire ' s personal love-affairs . 17 Durry, Marie-Jeanne. Guillaume Apol l inaire : Alcools . v o l . III. Paris : SEDES, 1964. p. 52. 18 Bates. Apol1inaire. p. 45. 39 MYTHS OF CREATIVE AND DESTRUCTIVE FIRE We now come to the discussion of Apol l ina ire ' s personal interpretations of \"myth\", that is compounded of references to ancient mythology and the meaning attached to such references by the poet, and of his own myth or legend, seen mainly in his choice of subject-matter and in his imagery. The aim of the examination of some aspects of Apol l inaire ' s imagery, that i s to follow, is to demonstrate certain of his personal tendencies or interests as seen through the images themselves and through recurrent themes. Certain images and their distr ibution in acomplex network throughout Apol l ina ire ' s poetry contribute greatly to the v i t a l i t y of myths which otherwise may well have remained: as erudite cur ios i t i e s , sprung from the poet's mind. It becomes necessary to attempt to show how some images,both.feed and transform the myths to which they are related, in being based on the imagination and ex-perience of Apoll inaire himself: \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 images can-become the animation and the incarnation of myth, giving i t a true poetic value, as we hope to show. It may be that some of the tra i t s seen in his imagery are similar to , or relate d i rect ly to the principal characteristics of Apol l inaire ' s \"favourite\" gods or mythical characters, seen in the preceding chapter. These are figures such as Chris t , Orpheus, Icarus or Ixion. The figure of Prometheus must now be added to this l i s t , since undoubtedly, as Renaud writes of Alcools : \"La tradit ion mythique sur laquelle s'appuie Alcools est une tradit ion orpheb-prometheenne insistant sur les pouvoirs de 1'homme et fort compatible avec 1 'idee de progres, y compris de progres technique\".^ Prometheus is the divine benefactor of humanity, who stole f i re from the Sun to give to man-kind in defiance of the order of Zeus. In some myths Prometheus is even held to have created man. Our discussion of Apol l inaire ' s imagery and recurrent themes clearly cannot be exhaustive, so we have taken as a primary guide-1ine for our selection of images to be discussed some words of Margaret Davies, who writes: \"Apol l ina ire ' s favourite props for his poetic world may seem banal 3 enough: the sun, l i ght , shade, the sea, birds\" . In addition to these 'elements' we wil l discuss images of music and flowers, which seem to f a l l into the pattern of Apol l inaire ' s myth. Many of Apol l ina ire ' s c r i t i c s ins-i s t on the importance of images of f i r e and flame, which wi l l be the object of this chapter. Scott Bates devotes two chapters of his Guillaume Apoll inaire to \"The Death of the Sun\", and to \"The Phoenix\" - a creature of f i r e and flame. Madame Durry speaks of the \"motif . . .de la lumiere et du feu...\"S and Renaud writes: \" . . . l e s deux premiers mots-cles d'Alcools sont automne et. flamrne '-.'extraordinaire importance du feu dans ce l iv re vient de ce q u ' i l est present a tous les niveaux, et symbolise aussi bien les infras-tructures de la vie que les plus 'nobles' act ivites de I'homme, au premier rang desquelles Apoll inaire place la poesie, dont le symbole est pour lu i \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 5 le feu\" . Start ing, then, with what would seem to be a major image of Apol l -ina ire ' s work, we wil l see later how other recurrent images f a l l into place around i t , giving some coherence to the personal myth of Apol l inaire . Gaston Bachelard has made interesting studies of f i r e and flame in two 6 7 of his works: La Flamrne d'une chandelle and La Psychanalyse du feu. Some of the ideas expressed in these works, on f i r e and the flame, are echoed in a certain way in the writings of Apol l ina ire , as we shall see. \"La flamrne\", writes Bachelard, \"parmi les objets du monde qui appellent la reverie, est un des plus grands operateurs d'images: La flamrne nous force a imaginer\". 41 Elsewhere, Bachelard had written, in a chapter devoted to \"Le complexe de Promethee\": \"Le feu est intime et i l est universe!. II v i t dans notre coeur. II v i t dans le c i e l . II monte des profondeurs de la substance et s 'offre comme un amour. II redescend dans la matieYe et se cache, latent, contenu comme la haine et la vengeance. Parmi tous les phenomenes, i l est vraiment le seul qui puisse recevoir aussi nettement les deux valorisations A \ 9 contraires: le bien et le mal. II b r i l l e au Paradis. II brule a l 'Enfer \" . This is the presence of f i r e \"a tous les niveaux\", of which Renaud writes. It wi l l be seen how, in the works of Apol l ina ire , as in the ideas of Bach-elard, there are two types of f i r e , and how many images of f i r e have a dual significance: the \"sublime\" and the \"pervers\", the creative and the destruc-t ive , the good and the bad. Icarus, in his ignorance, aspired to a state of solar d i v i n i t y . His f l ight was up towards the Sun, source of L i fe . The Sun for Apol l ina ire , as for Icarus, holds an apparently symbolic value, as being an inspiration and an ideal of knowledge and d iv in i ty to mortal man. It is the Sun's f i r e and l ight that gives b i r th , that creates and recreates. The gods associated with the Sun are Apollo, or Helios - these are the heroes of the solar myth. And Apol l ina ire , by association of name at least, sees himself as a son of Apollo, a chi ld of the Sun, and thus, a part of the solar myth: In \"Les Fiancai l les\" the identi f icat ion of the poet himself with the Sun'is c lear : Un Icare tente de s 'el ever jusqu'a* chacun de mes yeux Et porteur de so le i l s je brule au centre de deux nebuleuses (p. 130) As Scott Bates writes: \"Apoll inaire l ike Rimbaud was a ' f i l s du S o l e i l ' , a son of the Sun\".\"^ The Sun is at the head of a family of images of f i r e in his writ ing, a family that includes flames, stars, a lcohol , e l e c t r i c i t y and precious stones. 42 This close identif icat ion of the poet with the Sun, Apollo, has two major implications for his imagery: as chi ld of the Sun, Apoll inaire was symbolically k i l l ed every night at sunset, and every autumn as the days grow shorter. In \"Zone\", for example, there are the famous lines on the sunset, that create a direct analogy with death by decapitation: Adieu Adieu Sole i l cou coupe (p. 44) And again, at the end of another poem of flames and ardent emotion, entit led \"Les Doukhobors\", that appears in the Poemes Retrouves, the same image occurs: Les Doukhobors; le so le i l qui radia i t Dut paraitre \ leurs yeux extasies Esperant des remous Oceaniques Des nations, 1^-bas, du c6te d'Occident ou d'Amerique Le cou tranche d'une tete immense, intel l igente Dont le bourreau n'osait montrer La face et les yeux larges petr i f ies A l a foule ivre . Et quel' sang, et quel sang t'eclabousse, o monde Sous ce cou tranche! (p. 716) Or in \"Epithalme\" of II y a, the poet's mind turns again to: . . . c e pays de feu. Ou T'on tranche la tete au so le i l chaque jour Pour q u ' i l verse son sang en rayons sur la terre. (p. 343) The Sun's rays become streams of blood at sunset in \"Merlin et la v i e i l l e femme\" of Alcools too: Le so le i l ce jour-lei s'e'talait comme un ventre Maternel qui saignait lentement sur le c ie l La lumiere est ma mere 6 lumiere sanglante Les nuages coulaient comme un flux menstruel (p. 88) For Apol l ina ire the Sun is so often a \" so le i l de chair\" (p. 88), as in these poems, and i t s rays are of l i fe-g iv ing blood. The extinction of the f i re of 43 the Sun at sunset is thus d irect ly linked with the extinction of L i f e , of poetic inspiration and of Love. The sun sinking at sunset makes the same journey as did Orpheus into the Underworld, or Christ into Hell after the cruci f ix ion. But, just as Christ rose again, or just as Orpheus returned from the Underworld with an enhanced knowledge of the meaning of L i f e , so the Sun rises fresher and restrengthened in the morning. For Apol l ina ire , the Sun is l ike the Phoenix who: . . . s 1 i l meurt un Soir Le matin voit sa renaissance , (p. 46) Dawn thus holds a special l y r i c a l fascination for the poet, as the time of the resurrection of the Sun, with whom Apoll inaire identif ies himself. In the \"Aubade\" section of \"La Chanson du Mal-Aime\"\", for example, we read: Les poules dans la cour caquetent L'aube au c ie l f a i t de roses pi is L'amour chemine EI ta conquete La nature, est belle et touchante (p. 49) At the end of two other major poems of Alcools , \"Zone\" and \"Vendemiaire\", the dawn is breaking, and bringing with i t a l i f t in tone, a certain calmness and reassurance associated with everday events: Tu es seul le matin va venir Les l a i t i e r s font t inter leurs bidons dans les rues (p. 43) Et la nuit de septembre s'achevait lentement Les feux rouges des ponts s'eteignaient dans la Seine Les etoiles mourraient le jour naissait \u00C2\u00A3 peine (p. 154) These dawns of Alcools are tragic and ominous for the sad and weary wanderer-poet; but he cannot help but feel for an instant the ly r i ca l beauty of the urban sunrise, such as- that sketched already by Baudelaire in his Tableaux Pari si ens. And the poem entit led \"Aurore d'hiver\" of the Poemes Retrouves 44 is another purely lyrical evocation of sunrise: L'Aurore adolescente Monte peu ^ peu Si doucement qu'on peut Voir grelottante Rosir 1'aurore penetree De la frafcheur de la dernieYe vepree. (p. 710) The cycle of Sun through the day from dawn to sunset follows an exactly similar pattern to the solar cycle of the year from springtime to winter. Apollinaire associates similar feelings with both solar cycles: as the season of the sun is in its decline during autumn, so, for Apollinaire, Life itself wanes and draws near to its wintry death. It descends into its own Underworld. And in Spring, Life reappears with the ascendancy of the Sun to recommence its annual cycle: Void que vient I'ete la saison violente Et ma jeunesse est morte ainsi que le printemps . 0 Soleil c'est le temps de la Raison ardente (p. 314) For this reason, Apollinaire's poems on autumn, his autumnal imagery, have a certain relevance to the theme of the Sun's fire. In the poem \"Automne\" of Alcools, the Sun dies as autumn succeeds summer: Oh! 1'automne 1'automne a f a i t mourir I'ete (p. 104) This autumn, this decline of the Sun, is close to the frame of mind and to the emotions of Apollinaire, who writes in the poems \"Signe\" of Alcools, or \"L'Automne et T'echo\" of the Poemes Divers: Je suis soumis au Chef du Signe de 1'Automne Partant j'aime les fruits je deteste les fleurs Je regrette chacun des baisers que je donne Tel un noyer gaule' dit au vent ses douleurs Mon Automne eternelle # ma saison mentale (p. 125 and p.-588) 45 F ina l ly , in \"Automne malade\", the autumn succumbs to winter: Automne malade et adore Tu mourras quand 1^ouragan soufflera dans les roseraies Quand i l aura neige Dans les vergers (p. 146) The spir i tual death and rebirth of Apol l ina ire , the son of Apollo, the poet-creator and the lover, follows the death of the Sun in autumn. The Sun is that source of L i f e , \"1'eternelle cause/Qui f a i t mourir et puis renaftre l 'univers\" (p. 88), and is also the \"ardente lyre\" (p. 59) of the inspiration and creation of the orphic poet. The Sun, as a source of destructive f i r e , also appears repeatedly in one of the most frequently used images of war in Calligrammes: the image of the \"obus\". A r t i l l e r y shel l s , c learly associated with death, become agents of a purifying, purging kind of solar f i re that fascinates the poet in i t s ominous beauty. It is indeed remarkable to note that almost a l l of the images of f i r e to be found in Calligrammes are of a destructive kind of f i r e , whereas in Alcools or II y a f i r e i s often an inspir ing , idea l , or recreat-ive force; i t is an \"ardente cendre\", a \"noble feu\" , the \"feu de mes del ices\" , or a \"desirable feu\". In a poem such as \"Du Coton dans les Ore i l le s \" of Calligrammes, by comparison with the fire-imagery of other collections of poems, f i r e and the Sun appear in this way: Et les trajectoires cabrees Trabuchements de soleils-nains Sur tant de chansons dechire'es (p.- 289). These \"solei ls-nains\" are the bursts of a r t i l l e r y shel l s ; they are the main theme of a poem such as \"Fe^te\": 46 Feu d 1 a r t i f i c e en a c i e r / Q u ' i l e s t charmant c e t e e l a i r a g e A r t i f i c e d ' a r t i f i c i e r (p. 238) and they are the \" m i l i e s o l e i l s \" o f \"La N u i t d ' a v r i l 1915\" (p . 243) . Images o f a r t i l l e r y f i r e , t h i s t e r r i b l e d e s t r u c t i v e f i r e , r e c u r through-out Cal1igrammes under d i f f e r e n t forms . Two e n t i r e s e c t i o n s o f the c o l l e c t i o n are e n t i t l e d Lueurs des T i r s and Obus Couleur de Lune. Some l i n e s o f \" M e r v e i l l e de l a Guerre \" summarize the d e s t r u c t i v e y e t f a s c i n a t i n g power o f t h i s type o f f i r e : C ' e s t un banquet que s ' o f f r e l a t e r r e E l l e a f a im e t ouvre de longues bouches pehes La t e r r e a f a im et v o i c i son f e s t i n de B a l t h a s a r c a n n i b a l e Qui a u r a i t d i t qu 'on peut e t r e k ce p o i n t anthropophage Et q u ' i l f a l l u t t a n t de feu pour r 6 t i r l e corps humain (p. 272) Leav ing now the imagery a s s o c i a t e d d i r e c t l y or i n d i r e c t l y w i t h the Sun, l e t us t u r n to the images o f the \" b r a s i e r \" and the \"bucher\" which form the f a b r i c o f one o f the major poems o f A l c o o l s - the poem e n t i t l e d \"Le B r a s i e r \" . T h i s k i n d o f f i r e i s t h a t which k i n d l e s the p o e t ' s i n s p i r a t i o n , i t i s the flame o f h i s emotional l i f e , and i t i s a purg ing power at . the same t i m e . The e f f e c t of p u r i f i c a t i o n by t h i s f i r e i s a r e n e w a l , a r e b i r t h ; i t i s the l i f e - s o u r c e o f the Phoenix . And f o r the poet h i m s e l f i t i s : . . . ce bucher l e n i d de mon courage (p . 136) Before r e t u r n i n g to a c o n s i d e r a t i o n o f the m y t h i c a l image o f the Phoenix i n A p o l l i n a i r e ' s w r i t i n g , i t i s u se fu l to d w e l l f o r a moment on the c o n s t r u c t i o n and p r o g r e s s i o n of \"Le B r a s i e r \" . T h i s hermet ic and d i f f i c u l t poem i s a p p a r e n t l y d i v i d e d i n t o three s e c t i o n s , each w i t h a separate theme, and each theme forming par t o f a p r o g r e s s i v e c y c l e . The c y c l e moves from 47 the theme of destruction, to that of renaissance, to that of reconstruction. In the f i r s t part of the poem, the poet throws his past, his painful memories of love-affairs , into \" le noble feu\", which is a source of forget-fulness and also an image of poetic inspiration fed by the poet's past experiences. The poet prays for the rebirth of the flames of Love in his l i f e : L'amour est devenu mauvais Qu'au brasier les flammes renaissent (p. 108) The idea of rebirth and reconstruction is thus sown in the poem, i l lustrated in addition by the image of the Amphion, who bui l t the walls of Thebes by playing his lyre to charm the stones into position. This is the magical power of the singing of Orpheus, and the miraculous power of Christ . In the second part, such magical rebirth and power germinates in the poem, and the f i r e of the \"brasier\" purges the poet: Je flambe dans le brasier a\" l 'ardeur adorable Et les mains des croyants m'y re je t tent . . . (p. 109) These words seem to echo the idea of the descent of Christ into H e l l , before his resurrection, or the descent of Orpheus to the Underworld. The poet too, in this section of \"Le Brasier\" experiences the f i re of Purgatory, out of which martyrdom comes a salvation: Voici ma vie renouvelee... (p. 109) Like the symbolic swan of Mallarme's poem \"Le Vierge, le Vivace et le Bel Aujourd'hui\" , the poet of \"Le Brasier\" is liberated into song from the frozen immobility of his past. His renewed l i f e emerges as a blazing \"bateau iv re \" , in which the poet wi l l journey \"aux frontieYes/De I ' i l l imi te ' et de 1'avenir\" (p. 314): \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Voici le paquebot et ma vie renouvelee Ses flammes sont immenses 48 II n'y a plus rien de commun entre moi Et ceux qui craignent les brulures. (p. 109) This , then, is the f i r e associated with the danger and adventure of poetic inspiration and of poetic creation, such as is seen in the 'reconstruction' section, the last section of the poem. In this f inal part of \"Le Brasier\", there is a kind of apocalypse of ar t , spelled out in images of flames: L'avenir masque flambe en traversant les cieux (p. 110) S igni f icant ly , the f i re and warmth of the Sun return to the poem: Puis le so le i l revint ensolei l ler les places D'une v i l l e marine apparue contremont (p. 110) A new poetic, cosmos is constructed by Solomon's \"ver Zamir\", yet another magical constructor .^ This new cosmos is the \"Desirade\" of Apol l ina i re , which has issued out of the regenerative f i re of \"Le Brasier\". The theme of destruction-renaissance-reconstruction is the same as that we have seen in the solar myth, where the Sun followed a dai ly and yearly l i f e -death cycle . It is also the same idea as that of the image of the Phoenix which is important for Apol l inaire ' s work. The Phoenix i s , for Apol l ina i re , a myth-ical symbol of poetic and erotic rebir th . It is the creature that rises out of the purging f i re of the \"Brasier\": Le phenix ce bOcher qui soi-me\rie s'engendre (p- 41) And in \"La Chanson du Mal-Aime\" the Phoenix becomes the image of reborn passion: . . . mon amour a la semblance Du beau Phenix s ' i l meurt un soir Le matin voit sa renaissance (p. 46) 49 This is the Phoenix of \" le feu sexualise\", of which Bachelard writes in La psychanalyse du feu, the Phoenix of Love, both sentimental and erot ic . The image of an ideal f i re is present also in the \"alcools\" of Apol l in-a ire ' s verse. Alcohol , for Bachelard, is \"I'eau qui flambe\". \"L'eau-de-vie\", writes Bachelard, \"c 'est Teau de feu El le est la communion de la vie et du feu Seule de toutes les matieres du monde, l'eau-de-vie est aussi -\ 12 pr\u00C2\u00A3s de la matiere du feu\". According to this theory, the consumption of alcohol is s imilar to drinking in the e l i x i r of Life i t s e l f . This l iquid f i r e offers a form of d iv ini ty to the consumer, and, l ike Icarus, Apoll inaire aspires to a state of d i v i n i t y , to acknowledge of the meaning of Life such as that gained by Orpheus in the Underworld, or such as that offered by Christ and the Christian God. Alcohol, being an \"eau-de-vie\", and a l iquid f i re at the same time, opens the poss ib i l i ty of sublimation and ascension to a higher, divine state of consciousness. Alcohol, f i r s t l y , physically ressembles a flame, in the imagination of Apol l ina ire : Mon verre est plein d'un vin trembleur comme une flamme (p. H I ) and, as we have seen in \"Le Brasier\" , flames are assimilated to the l i f e of the poet. Apol l ina i re , drinking his wine, drinks also his l i f e : Et tu bois cet alcool brill ant comme ta vie Ta vie que tu bois comme une eau-de-vie (p. 44) The f i r e of alcohol inspires an ardour of l iv ing and a th ir s t for knowledge in the poet. This th i r s t for the f i r e of Li fe is the \" soi f t e r r ib le \" of \"Vendemiaire\": L'univers tout entier concentre'dans ce vin Qui contient les mers les animaux les pi antes 50 Les cites les destins et les astres qui chantent Le feu q u ' i l faut aimer comme on s'aime soi-meme Et tout ce que je ne sais pas dire Tout ce que je ne connaftrai jamais Tout cela tout cela change en ce vin pur Dont Paris avait soif Me fut alors presente Mais je connus des Tors quelle saveur a 1'univers Je suis ivre d'avoir bu tout 1'univers (pp. 153-154) At the end of \"Vendemiaire\", the poet, who also embodies the c i ty of Paris , seems to reach a state of omniscient d i v i n i t y : Parce que c'est dans toi que Dieu peut devenir (p. 152) The theme of \"Vendemiaire\", which is also the theme of Alcools according to Scott Bates, is \"the poet's superhuman acceptance of and transcendancy over 13 everything in the universe\". The ascension of the poet to this state of 'human d i v i n i t y ' is achieved through the idea l , sublimating f i r e of alcohol, Apollinaire- has surpassed the f l ight of Icarus, which fa i led in \"L'Ignorance\" of II y a, and has risen to the generative force of L i f e , the Sun. In so doing, he has \"as cended into Heaven\", as the Christian catechism says of Chris t , and can say in \"La Jo l ie Rousse\": Me voici devant tous . . . Connaissant la vie et de la mort ce qu'un vivant peut connaitre (p. 313) This ascension to 'human d i v i n i t y ' , as we have called i t , comes about through the element of f i r e in alcohol. A network of images spreads out from this a lcohol ic , inebriating f i re which inspires the poet. As Madame Durry writes: \" . . . i l unit 1'amour et 1'ivresse, l e . c i eT , les astres, la c lar te , la flamrne, 1'ombre rmtme\",^ and she quotes these lines of Apol l ina ire , which wi l l conclude our consideration of the f i r e of alcohol: Mon ALAMBIC vos yeux ce sont mes ALC00LS Et votre voix m'enivre ainsi qu'une eau-de-vie 51 Des clartes d'astres saouls aux monstrueux faux-cols -,r Brulaient votre ESPRIT sur ma nuit inassouvie In the preceding lines the eyes of the loved-one are ' a l coo l s ' , f i r e -water, but in a poem such as \"La Loreley\", her eyes are likened to two other fire-images that are used by Apol l ina ire : the image of flames, and that of stars. Mes yeux ce sont des flammes... says the maiden of the Loreley, and her enchanted lover repl ies : Je flambe dans ces flammes o belle Loreley (p. 115) Later in the same poem, we read: - La Loreley les implorait et ses yeux br i l l a i ent comme des astres (p. 116) These two images of flames and stars are both semi-creative, in that their f i r e is magical and enchanting, and semi-destructive, in that their enchant-ment leads to ruin and to emotional shipwreck. Stars, in the repertoire of fire-images used by Apoll inaire seem to have a peculiarly dual role which changes in emphasis according to the date of .the poem or the col lect ion to which i t belongs. In \"La Chanson du Mal-Aime\", for example, there is the mysterious refrain of the \"voie lactee\" , which has an equivocal tone, being both l y r i c a l l y attractive and menacing, simultane-ously: Voie lactee 8 soeur lumineuse Des blancs ruisseaux de Chanaan Et des corps blancs des amoureuses Nageurs morts suivrons-nous d'ahan Ton cours,1.ve,rs,.d,,a,u,tKes,..n^buleuses (pp. 48, 53, 58) Also in \"La Chanson\" there appear: Des astres des fleurs du matin (p. 54) 52 In \"Les Fial lcai l les\" stars are neither a threatening nor a destructive element of the imagery, since the poet says: Je buvais a- pleins verres les etoiles (p- 129) It is in the Calligrammes that the stars, as did the Sun, become assoc-iated with the destruction wrought by the \"obus\". In \"Fete\", for example: L ' a i r est plein d'un terr ible alcool F i l t r e des etoiles mi-closes Les obus carressent le mol Parfum nocturne. (p. 238) And in \"Les Saisons\", . . . des astres passaient que singaient les obus (p. 240) or in \"La Nuit d ' avr i l 1915\": Le c ie l est e t o i l ^ par les obus des Boches Comme un astre eperdu qui cherche ses saisons Coeur obus eel ate' tu s i f f l a i s ta romance Et tes mi i le so le i l s ont vide les caissons Que les dieux de mes yeux remplissent le s i lence. (p. 243) Stars have become a r t i l l e r y - s h e l l s , and are potential agents of death and destruction, yet despite th i s , a certain fascination for them seems to linger in Apol l ina i re ' s mind. The f i re of the stars is apparently neither warming nor c h i l l i n g , neither \"sublime\" nor \"pervers\" for Apol l ina ire , i t is simply the object of l y r i c a l , poetic fascination. In opposition to the images of f i r e we have so far considered, there are numerous images of shadow and water in the writing of Apol l ina ire . Both of these are, in a sense, the elemental enemies of f i r e . Both imply the extinc-tion of f i r e . And i f Apoll inaire himself is sometimes a \"porteur de s o l e i l s \" , as in \"Les Fiangail les\" (p. 130), he also f a l l s on occasions into a sadly 53 sombre frame of mind, and writes: Dans ce grand vide de mon aime i l manque un so le i l i l manque ce qui eclaire (p. 259) Along with the images of music and flowers, we wi l l discuss these two images of shadow and water, and their significance for Apol l ina ire ' s \"myth\" in the f o i l owing chapter. To conclude the discussion of myths of creative and destructive f i r e , let us return to some of the words of Margaret Davies, who summarizes Apol l ina ire ' s use of fire-imagery in this way: \"The l ight i t s e l f , linked often with f i r e and flames, is always.. . the purifying but dangerous agent of the i d e a l . . . the sun is a flaming brasier often associated with cruelty - i t s rays are 16 whiplashes, i t represents a decapitated, bleeding head\". These words seem to point out well the sublime-perverse, creative-destructive duality of Apol l -inaire ' s images of f i r e . 54 NOTES 1 Renaud. Lecture, p. 484. 2 See Grimal. Dictionnaire de la mythologie. p. 397. 3 Davies, Margaret. Apol l inaire . London and Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1964. p. 37. 4 Durry. Alcools , vo l . III. p. 53. 5 Renaud. Lecture, p. 146. 6 Bachelard, Gaston. La Flamrne d'une Chandelle. Paris: P . U . F . , 1964. 7 Bachelard, Gaston. La Psychanalyse du feu. Paris: Gallimard, 1949. 8 Bachelard. La Flamrne... p. 1. 9 Bachelard. La Psychanalyse... p. 19. 10 Bates. GuiTTaiime Apol l inaire . p. 40. 11 In 1908, Apoll inaire wrote: \"Le ver Zamir qui sans out i l s pouvait bStir le temple de Jerusalem, quelle saisissante image du poete!\" (see Pleiade notes, P- 1060). 12 Bachelard- La Psychanalyse... pp. 139-140. 13 Bates. Guillaume Apol1inaire. p. 107. 14 Durry. Alcools . vo l . III. p. 34. 15 i b i d . p. 33. These lines are dedicated to Marie Laurencin. 16 Davies. Apol l ina i re . p. 37. 5 5 MYTHS OF DEATH AND REBIRTH IN WATER, SHADOW, MUSIC AND FLOWERS Having considered c e r t a i n 'myths of f i r e ' i n the preceding chapter we now turn to two natural elements which would seem to be d i r e c t \"enemies\", or opposites of f i r e : water and shadow. But, as we shal l hope to show, i n A p o l l -i n a i r e ' s own myth, water and shadow are reconciled with f i r e i n some ways, and can even be considered to be metamorphoses of i t . In addition to these two new elements of water and shadow, we w i l l discuss the importance of music as a common f a c t o r i n both ancient and A p o l l i n a i r i a n mythology, and of f l o w e r s , which play an important r o l e i n the metaphorical r e p e r t o i r e of A p o l l i n a i r e , as i t i s used by him to animate and embroider the myths of his verse and of his imagination. Water, i n the imagery of A p o l l i n a i r e ' s v e rse, takes the physical form of r i v e r s and of sea, or ocean. In a poenTsuch as 'La Maison des Morts' of A l c o o l s , he evokes also the water of a l a k e . The two r i v e r s that predominate i n his poetry a r e , undoubtedly, the Seine and the Rhine, these being the two r i v e r s beside which some of the important events of his personal l i f e took place. His days spent i n Nice as a boy, and also p o s s i b l y his journeys across the English Channel i n pursuit of Annie PIayden, helped to engrave the sea i n his mind and i n his poetic imagery, as an element of some importance. These two sorts of water, the r i v e r and the Ocean, or the l a k e , are c l e a r l y distinguished i n his poetry, where each would seem to. take on an. e n t i r e l y d i s t i n c t 'tone', an e n t i r e l y d i f f e r e n t set of connotations. The r i v e r , as being water that flows and passes by, takes on a c e r t a i n symbolical 56 and morose significance associated with the passage of time. The ocean or the lake, on the other hand, are \" s t i l l waters\", and are sometimes associated with death by drowning, or with a process of purging and of pur i f icat ion, or other-wise they are a balm and a solace to the tormented mind. In his study of L'Eau et les ReVes, Bachelard discusses the running and flowing of water, that wi l l be seen to -be important in poems of Apoll inaire such as 'Le Pont Mirabeau1 (p. 45), or 'Le Pont1 of II y a (p. 361), or 'Marie' (p. 81). Bachelard writes: . . .1 'eau est aussi un type de d e s t i n . . . 1'etre humain a le destin de 1'eau qui coule. L'eau est vraiment 1'element transitoire II rneurt a chaque minute, sans cesse quelque chose de sa substance s 'ecroule. This is an echo of the central idea of Apol l inaire ' s poem 'Le Pont Mirabeau', where water, Time and Love pass, as i t were, hand in hand. They flow equally past the poet and under the bridge: L'amour s'en va comme cette eau courante '. L'amour s'en va Comme- la vie est lente Et comme 1'Esperance est violente Vienne la nuit sonne 1'heure Les jours s'en vont je demeure Passent les jours et passent les semaines Ni temps passe Ni les amours reviennent Sous le Pont Mirabeau coule la Seine Vienne la nuit sonne 1'heure Les jours s'en vont je demeure (p. 45) In the poem 'Marie ' , the flow of the r iver takes on another significance, associated now speci f ica l ly with the pain of a broken heart, rather than with Love's or Time's passage (with a capital ' L ' or ' T ' ) . In 'Marie 1 : Le fleuve est pareil a ma peine II s'ecoule et n e t a r i t pas (p. 31) r 57 And in 'Le Pont' , as in 'L'Emigrant de Landor Road' which we shall examine shortly, flowing water is associated direct ly with the ephemeral transitory nature of flowers, another great image in the melancholy side of Apol l inaire ' s 'myth': Les jeunes f i l l e s qui passent sur le pont leger Portent dans leurs mains Le bouquet de demain Et leurs regards s'ecoulent Dans ce fleuve a tous etranger Qui vient de lo in qui va si lo in Et passe sous le pont leger de vos paroles (p. 361) However, i t is not so much the flowing water of rivers that seems to be the most important kind of water in Apol l ina ire ' s own myth. As Philippe Renaud says in one of the discussions of the 'Colloque de Stave! o f of 1968: . . . o n parle beaucoup^ du theme de 1'eau courante chez Apol l ina ire ; 2 mais on ne s 'est guere penche sur les eaux mortes, les bassins. and he continues: . . .ces eaux mortes se retrouvent dans Vitam Impendere Amori. Je crois qu'on y rencontre tous les elements de ce que Bachelard ' appelle le complexe d'Ophelie. Bachelard's 'complexe d'Ophelie' is an association of the image of water, s t i l l and deep, with death. The two images of music (singing) and of flowers are also associated with the death by drowning of Ophelia. As Renaud suggests, the death of Ophelia i s vaguely evoked in Vitam Impendere Amori in some verses of extreme l y r i c a l beauty: Tu descendais dans 1'eau si c l a i re Je me noyais dans ton regard Tu flottes sur I'onde nocturne (p. T6T7 . This water is s t i l l , and i t is 'nocturne'. This is the water of the Ocean in which the foolish and dis i l lusioned Icarus is to die,, though far less 58 graciously and l y r i c a l l y , in the poem 'L'Ignorance 1 of II y a : Un dieu choft dans la mer, un dieu nu les mains vides Au semblant des noyes i l ira sur une -fie Pourrir face tournee vers le so le i l splendide (p. 345) It is also the water into which the sun sets in i t s evening death, bringing i with i t the night that wi l l make the water truly 'nocturne1 and that wi l l associate i t with the 'ombres' and 'tenebres' which we have yet to discuss. It is the water of death and of the possible suicide by drowning of'L'Emigrant de Landor Road1. In L'Eau et les r \u00C2\u00A3 v e s , Bachelard draws strongly this l ink of death with the image of s t i l l and deep water: L'eau est une invitat ion a mourir; e l l e est une invitat ion a une - mort specials qui nous permet de rejoindre un des refuges materiels * elementaires. . Eau si iencieuse, eau sombre, eau dormante, eau insondable, autant de 5 lecons materielles pour une meditation de la mort. L^eau, substance de v ie , est aussi substance de mort pour la fi reverie ambivalente. With these notions in mind, le t us look at some of the s t i l l waters of Apol l ina ire ' s imagery. These are the waters\"'of the ocean or the lake; dark waters, bringing either death and sadness, or bringing solace and refuge, as Bachelard suggests. In 'La Maison des Morts' , for example, the troupe of the dead row across a mysterious and dream-like lake in the poet's imaginative fantasies. This kind of water, according to the definitions of Bachelard, would symbolize the substance of death, a sleep from which the dreamer would not wish to awaken, which cradles and protects him. And in 'L'Emigrant de. Landor Road', a s imilar , half-expressed death-wish is linked with the image of water. . Nostalgia and melancholy pervade the evocation of the ocean over which the emigrant is about to depart, and upon which floats the tiny and f r a i l wreath of flowers: 59 Les vents de 1'Ocean en soufflant leurs menaces Laissaient dans ses cheveux de longs baisers mouilles Des emigrants tendaient vers le port leurs mains lasses Et d'autres en pleurant s'e'taient agenouilles II regarda longtemps les rives qui moururent Seuls des bateaux d'enfant tremblaient a Vhorizon Un tout petit bouquet f lottant a l'aventure Couvrit 1'Ocean d'une immense f loraison, Gonfle-toi vers la nuit 0 Mer les yeux des squales Jusqu'a 1'aube ont guette de lo in avidement Des cadavres de jours ronges par les etoiles Parmi le bruit des f lots et les derniers serments (p. 106) From this complex of images emerges a general impression of death and sadness, which is attributable to the notions of departure and farewell, to the \"baisers mouilles\" (of the sea? or of the loved-ones?), to the \"rives qui, moururent\", and to the image of the tiny bouquet of flowers dropped into the ocean, at the mercy of the waves. The menacing tone of these lines is set by the \"vents de 1'Ocean\", and by the \"squales\" which covet the \"cadavres des jours\" . Water here is thus both sad and beautiful , and i t brings for the emigrant a menace as well as a promise of deathly forgetfulness, or of suicidal solace. In combining the two elements of \"nuit\" and \"mer\" in the last strophe of 'L'Emigrant' , Apol l inaire has fixed the tone of the end of his poem as being one of regret, perhaps of nostalgia. For, as Bachelard writes: 7 L'eau melee de nuit est un remords ancien qui ne veut pas dormir. In the sense that i t is longed-for, and in that i t brings with i t a calm repose for the sadness of the poet, or the emigrant, the s t i l l , deep water of ocean or lake, and the death that i t suggests, is also a water of pur i f icat ion, a purging water. It is the kind. of. water associated with. Chrtstia,n,. ba.p,ti.s,m -the water that washes away sin - in that i t washes away grief and pain. It offers death, and also a kind of spir i tual rebir th : out of the sea into which 60 i t sets every evening wil l arise the new-born sun each dawn. Likewise, the foolishness of Icarus is purged in his watery death. Water may also offer a certain elevation or salvation in becoming alcohol and in fusing i t s e l f with the element of f i r e . Alcohol, as we saw previously, is the fusion, the marriage of two hostile and opposed elements, f i r e and water. A / 8 \"Comment rever de plus grands geniteurs que 1'eau et le feu!\" cries Bachelard. Water thus holds a multiple significance in the myth of Apol l ina ire . It flows, or i t is s t i l l , i t is a substance of either joy and solace, or of sorrow and death as for Icarus and the solar myth. It can be a purifying agent, as in the Christian myth, and an agent of harmony when metamorphosed into alcohol , which offers a renewed vigour and l i f e , in that f i re is reborn in the water i t s e l f . Out of the water of death, comes the water of alcohol, so important to the force and v i t a l i t y of Apol l inaire ' s personal, poetic myth. As we have already noted in passing, water is often associated by Apoll inaire with shadow and with Might. Just as the poet can wish to drown or to be pur-i f i ed in water in order to refind a sublime state of calmness, so too he looks to shadow and darkness as a means of escape and sublimation. Shadow, as water, is one of the \"enemies\" of the ardour of flame - both suggest the death of f i r e , and thus the death of Life in general, since, as we have seen, Life is often associated with Fire . Water and shadow are linked for example in \"Le Voyageur\": Une nuit c 'e ta i t la mer Et les fleuves s'y repandaient (p. 78) Or in \"Les F ianca i l le s \" , flowing water is a dark and shadowy 'marriage' of shadow and water: Et sombre sombre fleuve je me rappelle 61 Les ombres qui passaient n'etaient jamais jo l ies (p. 129) And in the poem \"Simultaneites\" of Calligrammes, we have the graphic importance of the colour of shadows in the water: 0 vaste mer aux mauves ombres (p. 285) In these fused or juxtaposed elements of Apol l ina ire ' s imagery is to be found evidence of what Bachelard has expressed in saying: ...comme 1'eau est la substance qui s 'offre le mieux aux melanges, la nuit va penetrer les eaux, e l l e va ternir le lac dans ses ~ profondeurs, e l le va imprlgner 1'etang. The shadows of water are c lear ly linked also with death. The poet, in his descent into the imagery of the shadowy night of water, follows in the steps of his mythological master, Orpheus, who descends to the Underworld in search of the lost purity of his love for Eurydice. Chris t , too, for three days before his rebirth and resurrection, descended into the shadow of H e l l . These two f i g -ures, as we saw ear l i e r , are both of considerable prominence in Apol l ina ire ' s mythological system of reference. It seems natural therefore that images of \"ombre\", \"nuit\" or \"tenebres\" should be quite common in Apol l inaire ' s verse, and the moods of melancholy or repose or weird fantasy that are associated with such notions also. Shadow and darkness are either a kind of mental inferno to the poet, often verging on the fantastic , surreal i s t ic world of dream as in \"Onirocrit ique\" , for example, In this prose poem, the poet, as Orpheus or Dante, or Faust, exper-iences the wild torments of an infernal dream-world. It is only after having traversed such a world that the haven of \"Orkenise\", a paradisical state of purity and knowledge, can be reached: Orkenise parut a l ' h o r i z o n Des vaisseaux d 'or , sans matelots, passaient a 1'horizon. Des ombres gigantesques se prof i la ient sur 62 les voiles lointaines. Plusieurs siecles me separaient de ces ombres, Je me desesperai. Mais, j ' avais la conscience des eternites differentes de I'homme et de la femme. (pp. 371-374) Ships on dream-like seas and gigantic shadows combine to make the poet despair and yet to reassure him of the ultimate benefits of undergoing such a purgatory. Shadow of this sort offers a descent to the Underworld, and a ressurrect.ion to the poet. Similar torments or uncertainties are experienced by the poet during the night-time of \"Zone\" or \"Vendemiaire\", from both of which he f i n a l l y emerges into daylight, and the birth of a renewed l i f e . The mental i t inerary of the poet seems to pass through several stages of shadow and night, which i t is interesting to trace as part of his personal myth. In the poem \"Le Larron\", we read of the \" larron\" himself, who is possibly also Christ and the poet: II entra dans la sal le aux fresques qui figurent L'.inceste solaire et nocturne dans les nues Va-t'en va-t'en contre le feu 1'ombre prevaut L'ombre equivoque et tendre est le deuil de ta chair Et sombre e l l e est humaine... (pp. 92-94) In such an \"ombre equivoque\", the poet experiences the fantasies of \"Zone\", \"Vendemiaire\" or \"Onirocrit ique\" , where death entails a certain salvation. Shadow becomes something of value to him; i t becomes a part of his poetic mel-ancholy and inspirat ion: Tenebreuse epouse que j'aime Tu es a moi en n'etant rien 0 mon ombre en deuil de moi-meme (p. 54) In \"Cortege\", the l ia i son between the poet and shadow becomes even closer and more mysterious: Et moi aussi de pres je suis sombre et terne Une brume qui vient d'obscurcir les lanternes - 63 Une main qui tout a coup se pose devant les yeux Une voute entre vous et toutes les lumieYes (p. 74) A poem such as \"Le Voyageur\" reflects the importance of the theme of shadow for Apol l ina ire ' s poetic inspirat ion. There are the \"ombres\" of the cypress-tree in \"cette nuit au declin de 1'ete'\", and there is \"le bruit e'ternel d'un fleuve large et sombre\". Later on in the poem he writes: Alors sans bruit sans qu'on put voir rien de vivant Contre le mont passeYent des ombres vivaces De prof i l ou soudain tournant leurs vagues faces Et tenant 1'ombre de leurs lances en avant Les ombres contre le mont perpendiculaire Grandissaient ou parfois s'abaissaient brusquement Et ces ombres barbues pleuraient humainement En glissant pas ci pas sur la montagne c la i re (p. 79) The word \"ombre\" i t s e l f , or words denoting a similar notion occur no less than eight times in the space of sixteen lines of this poem, being sometimes vaguely sexualized as is the shadow of the cypress-trees reaching toward the moon, or as the shadow that is the \"tene'breuse epouse\" of the Mal-Aime; or being merely significant of a lack of l ight and l i f e - ,.^ans qu'on put voir r ien de vivant\", he writes. Madame Durry sees this recurrent image of shadow as v i ta l to the entire structure of Alcools , which, indeed i t i s . She writes: Le motif de 1'ombre revient toujours Voila bien en quoi consiste 1'unite' interne d 'Alcools , surtout si j 'a joute au motif de 1'ombre celui de la lumieYe et du feu qui ne fa i t qu'un avec l r , l u i . I U . In shadow, then, as in water, Apoll inaire sees an Orpheus-like or Christ-l ike descent into H e l l , which is the region of L i l i t h , from which the poet emerges like, the Sun at., sunrise:. ireapnMigo^a^ 64 The figure of Orpheus is to be recalled once more as we consider the importance of music in Apol l inaire ' s use of 'myth'. In his book on Eros and C i v i l i z a t i o n , Herbert Marcuse succinctly summarizes the importance of music and song that is associated with the.myth of Orpheus: Orpheus is the archetype of the poet as 1iberator and creator: he establishes a higher order in the world - an order without repression. In his person, art , freedom, culture are eternally combined. He is the poet of redemption, the god who brings peace and salvation by pacifying man and nature, not through force but -J-J through song. The music of Orpheus is magical in i t s powers over other creatures, as is the music of the lyre of the Amphion, also evoked by Apol l ina ire , or the song of the Sirens, constantly used as a reference in \"La Chanson du Mal-Aime\", for example. Orpheus, as \"the archetype of the poet\", provides an ideal for the poet aspiring to enchant other men with the 'song' of his verse. The two elements of music and magic are, in this way, importantly related. The magical power of verse begins maybe, as Bachelard suggests, in the poetic reverie of v/ater: Le reverie commence parfois devant 1'eau limpide, tout entieYe , \u00E2\u0080\u009E en reflets immenses, bruissante d'une musique c r i s t a l l i n e . Music is also associated with the f i re of Life and of the Sun by Apoll inaire himself, when he writes in \"La Chanson du Mal-Aime\": Juin ton so le i l ardent lyre Brill e mes doigts endoloris Tr i s te et me'lodieux del ire J 'erre a\" travers mon beau Paris Sans avoir le coeur d'y mourir (p. 59) From this verse alone i t can be seen how Apollinaire identif ies himself with the musician playing upon, co-ordinating the musical strings and tones of natural phenomena into an Orphic world of enchanting beauty: a \" t r i s te et melodieux d \u00C2\u00A3 l i r e \" . These words, as Renaud has said: . . . ( sont) la plus belle caracteVisation qui se puisse trouver non 65 seulement de \"La Chanson\" m61me, mais, peut-^tre, de 1'ensemble d'Al c o o l s . . . . La danse et l e chant jouent dans Al cools un r'cile p r i m o r d i a l , danse et chant qui sont autant l e f a i t du monde que , v du poete lui-meme v But before considering the idea of the musical melody and the magic contained i n i t , l e t us look at the poem \"Cors de.Chasse\", where.the sin g l e musical note evokes a c e r t a i n sadness and n o s t a l g i a , s i m i l a r to the tone of the f i n a l l i n e s of \"L'Emigrant de Landor Road\". This poem i s a \" f i n d'amour\" poem, commemorating A p o l l i n a i r e ' s love a f f a i r with Marie Laurencin. The note of the hunting-horn, c a r r i e d away on the wind, symbolizes the gradual fading of A p o l l i n a i r e ' s hopes and his love: Notre h i s t o i r e est noble et t r a g i que Comme l e masque d'un tyran . Les souvenirs sont cors de chasse - Dont meurt l e b r u i t parmi l e vent (p. 148) Like the flow of water under the \"Pont Mirabeau\", L i f e and Love ebb away: Passons passons puisque tout passe Je me retournerai souvent (p. 148) This s i n g l e musical note holds only a d e f i a n t hope and a dim magic, that i s doomed to fade slowly away. The whole melody, however, contains a powerful magic. The poet's verses make him into L'Enchanteur, o r , as with Croniamantal i n Le Polte assassine, they can incur such frenzy i n others that w i l l lead to the martyrdom of the poet himself. A l t e r n a t i v e l y , the magical melody of the poet's c r e a t i o n i s associated by A p o l l i n a i r e with f i g u r e s such as the Amphion or the \"Musicien de St-Merry\". In these two f i g u r e s i s to be seen the c l e a r e s t r e f l e c t i o n of the l i n k between music- and7 magic that i s ' suggested i n the myth of Orpheus. And the magical power of music, as seen by A p o l l i n a i r e , can be sometimes destructive and sometimes c r e a t i v e , rather i n the same way that water or shadow are 66 ambivalent i n his range of imagery. The Amphion, f o r example, follows a f t e r Orpheus i n being a c r e a t i v e , musical magician. The Amphion, i n mythology, i s said to have b u i l t the walls of Thebes by playing his l y r e to make the stones move themselves into p o s i t i o n . Or according to the reference to t h i s myth i n \"Le Bras i e r \" : Partant a 1'amphion d o c i l e Tu subis tous l e s tons charmants Qui rendent l e s pi e r r e s a g i l e s (p. 108) These'lines evoke the c r e a t i v e song of the poet's music, but;in most other cases in A p o l l i n a i r e ' s mind and 'myth', music would appear to be linked with a dest r u c t i v e magic: Les demons du hasard selon : Le chant du firmament nous me\"nent A sons perdus leurs violons Font danser notre race humaine Sur l a descente a reculons (p. 58) The f i g u r e of the \"Musicien de S t . Merry\" forms part of t h i s l i n e of magicians, who lead the way to d e s t r u c t i o n . And the poet c l e a r l y i d e n t i f i e s himself with t h i s mysterious \"Musicien\" of Calligrammes : Je chante toutes les possibility's de moi-meme hors de ce monde et des astres Je chante l a j o i e d'errer et l e p l a i s i r d'en mourir (p. 188) cry both the poet and the musician-hero of the poem. The \"Musicien de St-Merry\", l i k e the Pied-Piper of Hamlin, leads away his v i c t i m s , enchanted by the sounds of his music, to t h e i r destruction and disappearance: Toi ma douleur et mon attente vaine J'entends mourir l e son d'une f l t i t e l o i n t a i n e (p. 191) But as P h i l i p p e Renaud has said in a l e c t u r e given on the subject of \"'Ondes', ou les metamorphoses de l a musique\", i n speaking of t h i s poem: 67 . . . i l me semble qu'on n'aura pas d i t 1'essentiel s i 1'on omet de remarquer que ce musicien (le Musicien de St-Merry) est une sorte d'Orphee retourne, d'Orphee inverse: qui ne suit pas Eurydice aux Enfers, ni ne tente de I'en ramener, mais 1'y conduit. Elsewhere, Apoll inaire associates himself with another kind of music of destruction: namely, the song of the Sirens. He knows \"des la i s pour les reines\", but also \"des chansons pour les sirenes\". The Sirens' song usually has connotations of personal disillusionment in love in Apol l ina ire ' s verse. The poet himself is most frequently the victim of the Sirens' magic. It is their music that enchants him, l ike the singing of the maiden of the Lore le i . We wi l l return to this myth of the Sirens' music in the following chapter. One of the other legendary figures with whom music, in the form of dance, is associated, and who interests Apol l ina ire , is Salome. She beguiles Herod and causes the destruction of John the Baptist by the enchantment of her dancing: . Pour que sourie encore une fois Jean-Baptiste Sire je danserais mieux que les seraphins (p. 86) In the short-story entit led \"La danseuse\", nrentioned in an ear l ier chapter, Apoll inaire again gives a specific emphasis to the dancing of Salome, which f i n a l l y causes her own destruction. Possibly the most ominously destructive of the forms of music to be found in the imagery of Apol l ina ire , however, appears in some of the poems of war of Calligrammes. The lyr i ca l aura which Apoll inaire lends warfare is made more v iv id ly horr i f ic and yet more enchanting by meansof musical imagery. In \"La Nuit d 'avr i l 1915\", for instance: La mitrail leuse joue un air a\" triples-croches Coeur obus eclate tu s i f f l a i s ta romance \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 (p. 243) 68 Or in the poem \"Du coton dans les o r e i l l e s \" , he writes: Ici la musique mi l i t a i re joue Quelque chose Et chacun se souvient d'une joue Rose Parce que meme les airs entramants Ont quelque chose de dechirant quand on les entend a la guerre (p. 290) This kind of music is that of the destructive weaponry of modern warfare, which, as we saw in the case of the f i re and flame of \"obus\", both fascinates and horrif ies Apol l ina i re , as i f i t viere a spectacle. In \"Du Coton dans les o r e i l l e s \" , in fact , the images of water and flowers are deformed by the tone of the war: \"coquelicots\" are seen as drops of blood, and there is the deformed image of flowing water i n : Les projecti les d ' a r t i l l e r i e qui glissent Comme un fleuve aerien (p. 291) The imagery associated with flowers to be found in Apol l ina ire ' s verse, though not associated direct ly with any c l a s s i ca l , mythological references, forms an important and interesting part of the poet's own myth. It emphasizes his preoccupation with a l i fe-death, creation-destruction, sublime-perverse dichotomy, such as we have attempted to trace in the imagery of f i r e , water, shadow and music, that we have so far considered. Although flower-imagery is only, in this sense, a metaphorical \"reinforcement\" of the poet's own myth, i t merits at least a brief examination. Flowers, for Apol l ina i re , appear to be linked frequently with the passing of time, and with other destructive forces, such as death or even love. Their bright colour is deceptive in i t s beauty, in that i t is ephemeral, and is doomed to fade. The perfume of the flower inevitably fades av/ay in time also. Flowers follow the same life-death cycle as the sun - in autumn they, too, die away, and in spring, they are reborn. 69 Above a l l , flowers are associated with Love, and with the ephemerality of Love. \"Les Colchiques\" are beautiful and entrancing flowers, that bewitch the poet, as do his loved-one's eyes, but which are also poisonous and wi l l k i l l in autumn-time as the l i f e of the year draws to an end: Le pre est veneneux mais j o l i en automne Les vaches y paissant Lentement s1empoisonnent Le colchique couleur de eerne et de l i l a s v Y f l e u r i t tes yeux sont comme cette f leur- la Violatres comme leur cerne et comme cet automne Et ma vie pour tes yeux lentement s'empoisonne (p. 60) And in \"La Cuei l lette\" of II y a, a s imilar , though more exp l ic i t image occurs: Nous vfnmes au jardin f leur i pour la cue i l l e t te . Bel le , sais-tu combien de f leurs , de roses-the, Roses piles d1amour qui cour>onnant ta-tete, S 'ef feui l lent chaque e t \u00C2\u00A3 ? Leurs t iges vont p l ier au grand vent qui s'^leve. Des petales de rose ont chu dans le chemin. 0 Bel le , cue-ill e-les, puisque nos fleurs de reve Se faneront demain! Et les fleurs vont mourir dans l a charfibre profane. Nos roses tour at tour effeui l lent l a douleur. Bel le , sanglote un peu. . . Chaque fleur qui se fane, C'est un amour qui meurt! (p. 318) Similar to this Ronsardian image of \"Cueil lez des aujourd'huy les roses 15 / de la vie\" are the images of the \"marguerite exfoliee\" of \"La Chanson du Mal-Aime\" (p. 54), the fragi le bouquet of flowers in \"L'Emigrant de Landor Road\" (p. 106), the \"petales tomb's des ceris iers de mai\" of the poem \"Mai\" (p. 112), and the image of \" . . .ma jeunesse abandonnee/Comme une guirlande faneV' of Vitam Impendere Amori (p. 162). In Apol l inaire ' s verse, there are numer-ous other such instances of flower-imagery being used to evoke a nostalgic mixture of Love, Youth and Life fading away and dying. 70 Flowers, as music, are used also in some of the warfare images of Cal1igrammes. In these cases, flowers become actively destructive, and carry with them not only a reminder of the approach of death, but also a pot-ential k i l l i n g power of their own. The bursts of shells are not only \"suns\", but they are seen as \"flowers\" by Apoll inaire as in the \"2 e Canonnier Conducteur\": La Victo ire se t ient apres nos jugulaires Ses fleurs sont nos obus aux gerbes merveiIleuses (p. 215) Or else they are d i rect ly linked with the spectacle of batt le , as in \"Fete\": Les obus caressent le moi Parfum nocturne ou tu reposes Mortif ication des roses (p. 238) Or, as in \"Chevaux de Fr i se \" , where Apoll inaire writes: Pendant le: blanc et nocturne novembre Tandis que chantaient epouvantablement les obus Et que les fleurs mortes de la terre exhalaient Leurs mortelles odeurs.. . (p. 302) But in this last poem, \"Chevaux de Fr i se \" , is to be seen the promise of a rebirth cf Life that is occasionally associated with flower-imagery by Apol l ina i re : Mon coeur renaissait comme un arbre au printemps Un arbre f r u i t i e r sur lequel s.'epanouissent Les fleurs de 1'amour (p. 302) In \"La Chanson du Mal-Aime\" also, we read: Dans les jardins et les vergers Les oiseuax chantent sur les branches Le printemps c l a i r I ' avr i l leger (p. 54) This is the springtime that is associated with budding flowers and reborn Life and Love. As he writes in his great poem-credo of Adventure, \"La Jol ie Rousse\": Nous voulons vous donner de vastes et d'etranges domaines 71 Ou le mystere en fleurs s 'offre a qui veut le c u e i l l i r (p. 313) Despite a l l the melancholy of his flower-imagery, a certain optimism and vigour remain associated with i t in this way. In conclusion we can look back at these images of water, shadow, music and flowers, and see how each one is used by Apoll inaire to i l lu s t ra te certain aspects of the l i fe-death, creation-destruction cycle of some of his favourite myths, of his own l i f e , and of his love-affairs in particular. By contrast with the images of f i re and flame, discussed ear l ie r , which are usually images of Life and of inspirat ion, the images now under discussion are used, most frequently, to i l lu s t ra te a darker, more melancholy meditation. Each holds the hope and faint promise of a rebirth in i t , but each is predominantly a herald of death and decay for Apol l ina i re . 72 NOTES 1 Bachelard, Gaston. L'Eau et les reves. Paris: C o r t i , 1942. p. 8. 2 Renaud, Philippe. \"Discussion\" in Du monde europeen a l 'univers des mythes. Actes du collogue de Stavelot (1968). reunis par Michel Decaudin. Paris: Lettres Modernes, Minard, 1970. p. 46. 3 loc . c i t . 4 Bachelard. L ' E a u . . . p. 77. 5 i b i d . p. 96. 6 i b i d . p. 99. 7 i b i d . p. 139. 8 i b i d . p. 133. 9 i b i d . p.. 137'. 10 Durry. ATcools. Vol . III. pp. 52-53. 11 Marcuse,. Herbert. Eros and C i v i l i z a t i o n . A Philosophical Inquiry into . Freud... Boston:: Beacon Press, 1966, pT 170. 12 Bachelard;. L ' E a u . . . p. 66. 13 Renaud, Phil ippe. \" 'Ondes', ou les metamorphoses de la musique\" in Apol l inaire et la Musique. Actes du Collogue de Stavelot, aout 1965. reunis par M. De'caudin. Stavelot: Edition \"Les Amis de Guillaume Apo l l ina i re \" , 1967. p. 22. 14 i b i d . p. 27. 15 Ronsard. Sonnets pour Hel^ne, no. 43. 73 APOLLINAIRE: PERSONAL LIFE AND MYTH The purpose of the present chapter is to attempt to see how Apol l ina ire ' s personal l i f e may have heightened his interest in certain myths, and, 'vice versa 1 , to examine also how greatly myth may have determined certain aspects of the poet's l i f e in as much as i t is reflected in his writings. Certain events and factors in Apol l ina ire ' s l i f e were seen by him in a d i s t inc t ly 'mythological' manner: paral lels were sometimes drawn metaphorically between his own situation and a mythical situation or f igure. Clear ly , however, i t would be impossible to cover in detail a l l of Apol l ina ire ' s biography within the space of one chapter, and besides, to do so would only be to copy the excellent work of biographers such as Pierre-Marcel Adema, Georges Vergnes and others. It would also be too lengthy a task to deal with a l l the poems in which a direct personal reference is made by Apol l ina i re , since, as the poet himself said in a let ter to Henri Martineau: Chacun de mes poemes est la commemoration d'un evenement de ma vie et le plus souvent i l s 'agit de tr is tesse , mais j ' a i aussi -| des joies que je chante. In some poems Apoll inaire does give some condensed and expl ic i t biographical facts: poems such as \"La Jol ie Rousse\", the poems \"A la Sante\", \"Cortege\", or \"Merveille de la Guerre\". In a poem such as \"Le Larron\", for example, are to be found mysterious allegorical-personal references, where the poet is fused with myth to a point where his own identity becomes vague. In some poems also, a certain detachment from the self appears, and an interest in the legend of GuiTTaume ApoTTihaire, as created by GullTaume\" A'p'oTTThafre, seems\" to become more objective:- there is an alternation between the f i r s t and second persons, the \"je\" and the \" t u \" , as Apoll inaire either steps back from or 74 identif ies with himself. A poem such as \"Zone\" i l lus trates this alternation, or \"Cortege\" where the poet's identity is divided, and one half addresses the other. This last tendency, indicative of a possible schizophrenia in Apol l ina i re , results in a haziness of identity - an identity which the poet searches through-out his l i f e to define more c lear ly , to unify, and to create for himself. In this creation myth and mythological example undoubtedly play a part. In dealing with Apol l inaire ' s personal l i f e and myth, we shall f i r s t l y attempt to sketch some possible mythological influences by a chronological review of the poet's l i f e , and l a s t ly , we wi l l try to formulate some general impressions of certain mythical and mythological t ra i t s in the personality o f Apol l ina i re , using as a basis some of the opinions and reminiscences of his friends, above a l l . This f inal section wi l l be concerned then, largely, with the myth' of Guillaume Apol l ina ire , the man and the poet. ApoTlinaire was born in Rome during August 1880. His mother was named Angelica Kostrowitsky, and was of Polish descent. The identity of his father has baffled Apol l ina i re ' s biographers, but i t is speculated that his name was Francesco Flugi d'Aspermont. Later in his l i f e Apol l inaire l iked to l e t i t be known that his father was a Pope, since this must have appealed to his Jarry-esque sense of humour. The important aspect of Apol l ina ire ' s b i r th , though, is this mystery that shrouds the identity of his father. In the poem called \"Le Larron\", which Scott Bates sees as an allegory concerning the coming of Chris t , a s imilar ly mysterious birth is attributed to the \"Larron\": Maraudeur etranger malhabile et malade Ton pere fut un sphinx et ta meYe une nuit (P- 91) The analogy with Christ is interesting, and is certainly plausible in the 75 l ight of these two verses at least. And the poss ib i l i ty that Apoll inaire identif ied himself with Christ in some ways, as discussed in an earl ier chapter, would seem to add weight to the connection, suggested by these verses, between the poet's own birth and that of Chris t , the \"Larron\". A further mythological association that surrounds Apol l ina ire ' s birth is contained within the two verses quoted from \"le Larron\" themselves: this is the mention made of \"un sphinx\". The Sphinx of Theban legend is a creature tradi t ional ly associated with enigma, with r iddles . The identity of the poet's father remains enigmatic to his biographers at least, and may well have been something of a r iddle to Apoll inaire himself. Besides the specific circumstances of his b i r th , the general notion of Birth seems to have had certain connotations in Apol l inaire ' s mind, of the sort that were mentioned in discussing one of the \"myths\" of f i r e - that of the Sun. The Sun, in being born each morning, regenerates L i f e . It i s usually a creative, a re-creative and a divine force. It is associated in mythology with the name of Apollo. The poet cannot have fa i led to associate these connotations that he linked with Birth in general, with his own b i r t h , part-icu lar ly in the l ight of the fact that his own name would appear to be a derivative of the name \"Apol lo\" . The psychological l inks are indeed complex, but i t is reasonable to state, as does Scott Bates, that: \"Apoll inaire l ike 2 ' Rimbaud was a \" f i l s du S o l e i l \" , a son of the Sun . . . \" It is Bates too, who makes an interesting remark concerning Apol l inaire ' s mother, Angelica. The mother of \"Le Larron\" is called \"une nui t \" , which suggests a possible l ink with one of the goddesses of darkness, L i l i t h . L i l i t h is the demon-mother, and in mythology she is often associated with f lagel lat ion and other-vices. As Bates writes: His (Apoll inaire 's) mother, according to many reports, had the 76 nineteenth-century Polish aristocrat ' s freedom with the whip; her son's interest in the same can be traced through his poems ? and 1et ters . . . In the l i ght of such associations, a connection between Apol l inaire ' s mother and the mythical \"figure of L i l i t h may well have prompted such lines as those already quoted from \"Le Larron\". At the age of three years o ld , Apoll inaire moved with his mother to Monaco. He was schooled by Jesuits in Monaco for several years, which must have inspired his awareness of Christian dogma and r i t u a l , and must have fostered his childhood bel ief in these doctrines. The mysteries and awe of this c h i l d -hood fa i th are recalled in some verses of \"Zone\": Tu es tres pieux et avec le plus ancien de tes camarades Rene Dalize Vous n'aimez rien tant que les pompes de 1'Eglise II est neuf heures le gaz est baisse tout bleu vous sortez du dortoir en cachette Vous priez. toute la nuit dans la chapelle du college Tandis ou'eternelle et adorable profondeur ame^thyste Tourne a jamais la flamboyante gToire du Christ (p. 40) In 1899, having lef t the school in Nice to which he was sent after leaving the Jesuit college of Monaco, Apoll inaire moved with his mother and her lover to l i ve in Belgium for several weeks. They l ived in Stavelot, near Spa, and i t is here that Apoll inaire suffered his f i r s t unful f i l led love-affair with a local g i r l named Maria Dubois. It is she who is remembered in the poem enti t led \"Marie\", where the memory of her fuses with the image of Marie Laurencin, the poet's later great love. During this stay at Stavelot, Apol l -inaire took note of the local culture also, which he incorporated in short stories such as Que Vlo've? for example. Local legend, in the form of Que Vlo've? himself, and in the form of the elves and pixies who whisper to him as he dies, forms the attraction of this particular story, so well does Apoll inaire capture the tone of the Ardennes. 77 After his return to Paris , following the Stavelot interlude, Apoll inaire had another unreciprocated love-affair with Linda, who is celebrated as \" la zezayante\" in several poems. In the col lect ion entit led II y a are to be found a series of \"Diets d'amour a Linda\", where Apoll inaire praises his loved-one, and uses legendary reference to describe her: Ainsi bayerent par le monde Viviane aupre\"s de I'immonde Et dans son palais Rosemonde Qui fut moins belle que Linda. (p. 327) The image of Linda in these poems reflects also some of Apol l ina ire ' s Roman Catholic background, since she is likened to the madonna: Si vous n'etes pas lei, zezayante, 6 Madone, J ' i r a i gemir a votre porte comme un chien. Madone au Nonchaloir, lorsque vous partirez Tout pari era de vous, meme la f eu i l l e morte (p. 329) The anxiety of the poet in these verses becomes a desperate disappointment when Linda does not respond to Apol l ina ire ' s love. Like Ixion, he loves only a vaporous ideal , and he writes: J 'adore de Linda ce specieux ref let (p. 323) It was in 1901 that Apoll inaire embarked upon the f i r s t period of his l i f e , and of his writing in part icular , to be deeply and notably steeped in myth and legend. After the disillusionment of his ' a f fa i r ' with Linda, Apoll inaire went to Germany, to the Rhineland, as a tutor to a young German g i r l . He went to a place known as Ney-Gluck, which, as Georges Vergnes points out, i ron ica l ly means \"Nouveau Bonheur\".^ ' I ronica l ly ' because i t was here that Apoll inaire had.yet'another unhappy and unreciprocated love-affair , this time with Annie Playden, who was later to be transposed into the \"Emigrant de Landor Road\", and into some important background and personal aspects of 78 mythical references made in \"La Chanson .du Mal-Aime\". Apol l ina i re , as Victor Hugo and GeVard de Nerval before him, was fascinated by the wealth of folk-lore and legend offered by the Rhineland, and by Germany as a whole. The area was one of a mysterious mythical enchantment, called by Orecchioni in writing on the theme of the Rhine in Apol l ina ire ' s inspirat ion, the \"Dionysos Rhenan\". In writing of Rhenish wine, Orecchioni says: s s 5 Le vin est la cie d'un monde fantastique, de legende et de magie. Le theme du vin du Rhin fournit a Apoll inaire une sorte d'explicat-ion, de jus t i f i ca t ion mythique de 1 ' inspirat ion poetique, ou 1'on fi retrouve les elements du mythe antique de Dionysos. ' The role played by wine in Apol l inaire ' s appreciation of Rhenish legend is of particular relevance since i t was probably in bars and drinking-halls that he gathered much of his information and local colour. The Rhineland furnished him with material for his poem \"Schinderhannes\", which deals with a popular Rhineland hero and bandit - a Hernani-figure. It offered also the myth of the maiden of the Lore le i , discussed in an ear l ier chapter, which became part icular ly meaningful to Apoll inaire during his painful affair with Annie. Annie P'layden i s associated with the maiden of the poem entit led \"La Loreley\", which was inspired by an ear l ier poem by the poet Brentano. Apol l -inaire adapts the famous legend of the Lorelei to suit the theme of the ruinous danger of love, which reflects his own sentimental l i f e at this period. Annie - the Lorelei maiden - is seen as a kind of siren who magically lures the poet-mariner to his destruction on the Lorelei Rock of Love. Annie refused to respond to the ardent demands made of her by Apol l ina i re , and he turns to Rhenish myth in this poem to express his own melancholy and heartbreak. Mythology is said too to have played a part in the af fa ir with Annie i t s e l f : i t is said that his proposal of marriage to Annie was 'staged' dramatically in a place where Rhenish legend was used by Apoll inaire to ter r i fy Annie into agreeing 79 to marry him: For this (the proposal of marriage) Apoll inaire chose the most romantic spot in the Seven Mountains, the top of the Drachenfels, where Siegfried, the hero of the Niebelungen, is reputed to have s la in the dragon. There he offered her his t i t l e of nobi l i ty 7 and his huge fortune. The young miss from Clapham declined. Such a proposal and 'staging' by Apoll inaire certainly indicates a romantic and s inister awareness of Rhenish legend, which played a part in Apol l ina ire ' s l i f e at this time. During the period of his stay in Germany, Apoll inaire also had the chance to travel in Central Europe. He became a kind of wanderer. The presence of gypsies and wanderers of a more legendary or mythical sort is notable in his writings of this time: . Sur le chemin du bord du fleuve lentement Un ours un singe un chien menls par des tziganes Suivaient une roulotte trainee par un cine (p. 112) The poem \"La Tzigane\" is another poem of the Rhineland period, written in 1902, which also gives some confidence on Apol l inaire ' s affair with Annie.in the words: L'amour lourd comme un ours prive Dansa debout quand nous voultimes Et 1'oiseau bleu perdit ses plumes Et les mendiants leurs 'Ave' . (p. 99) And the famous short-story entit led \"Le Passant de Prague\", which describes an encounter with the legendary Wandering Jew, is also inspired from this period of Apol l ina ire ' s travels in Central Europe. The tone of sympathy used in this story to describe the Jew seems to imply a warmth on the part of Apoll inaire towards such a wanderer, and towards the legend of a man who,, l ike himself, belongs to no one country, and searches endlessly for a resting-place. 80 Apol l inaire le f t Germany in 1902 and returned to Paris , where he became involved in the publication of a small l i t e rary journal known as Le Festin d'Esope. This journal ran to the ninth issue. Its name alone indicates an interest in and an awareness of mythology - the t i t l e refers to the myth of the two feasts, both exactly s imilar , prepared by Aesope for his master, Xantus. At the same time, Apoll inaire began to attend the 'soirees de la Plume', held in the \"caveau maudit\" of. the Cafe du Depart, referred to in the \"Poeme lu au mariage d'Andre Salmon\". In this poem, Apoll inaire mocks the seriousness with which he and his young friends of the \"soirees\" treated poetry at this time. A s imilar seriousness and sadness to that of the \"Poeme l u . . . \" , that are of great l y r i c a l beauty reflecting a profound emotional distress , pervade his great poem which was written during these same years celebrating his Tove for Annie Playden, \"La Chanson du Mal-Aime\". The poem is fu l l of mythological and legendary references as we saw in the ear l ier discussion and enumeration of mythological references to be found in Apol l inaire ' s poetry. In \"La Chanson the Sirens of Greek mythology are mentioned frequently, as well as Pan, the satyres, and Ulysses. Mars and Venus, from Roman myth, are mentioned also; and Old Testament Bibl ica l mythology holds a prominent position in references to the Hebrews, to the Exodus from Egypt, and to the Red Sea in the f i r s t verses of the poem. References to Christ and to Barrabas bring in the element of New Testament Bib l ica l mythology also, though in a more minor way. Out of this complex and mixture of mythological references, which may be best traced in our l i s t , that concludes the second chapter of this study,arises the great legend of Apol l ina ire himself, as the figure of the \"Mal-Aime\". Adema, Apol l inaire ' s biographer, has dedicated an entire study to this legend of Guillaume Apol l -/ 8 ina i re , Le Mal-Aime, which was to grow in the poet's love- l i fe from this 81 time onwards, and which was to influence profoundly the poet's own person-a l i t y and outlook on l i f e , as we shall see. From about 1907 to 1911 Apoll inaire had what has been called his \"great-est\" love-affair , which was to produce poems of such sad beauty as \"Le Pont Mirabeau\". His loved-one was called Marie Laurencin. A painting by the painter Henri Rousseau, le Douanier, depicts \"Le Poete et sa muse\", and is supposed to portray Apoll inaire with his muse, Marie. It is of Marie Laurencin, rather than of Maria Dubois, that he writes in the f i n a l , melancholy lines of the elegy to \"Marie\", although as we have said, the images of the two women, are fused. Apol l ina ire ' s af fa ir with Marie Laurencin, according to the evidence of his poetry at least, seems to have been one of anxiety: and suffering for him. In \"Marie\" we.have an example of flowing water being associated with passing love and with sadness, that is related to his af fa ir with Marie Laurencin: Le fleuva- est pareil \u00E2\u0080\u009E ma peine II s'ecouie et ne t a r i t pas (p. 81) In causing Apoll inaire pain and anxiety, Marie is depicted as another s iren-figure who has lured the mariner-lover to his destruction: some of the lines of \"Vendemiaire\", written in 1909 or 1910, would seem to have a personal meaning in this sense: Mais ou est le regard lumineux des sirenes II trompa les marins qu'aimaient ces oiseaux-la\" II ne tournera plus sur I'e'cueil de Scylla Oil chantaient les trois voix suaves et sereines (p. 151) Apoll inaire c lear ly sees himself as one of the \"marins\" of the myth. Only Orpheus, the archetype of the poet, with his enchanting singing and poetry, was capable of saving the\"mariners of\"\"'the Argonaut from destruction at the hand of the Sirens as we saw in an ear l ier discussion of the myth of Orpheus. But Orpheus himself, as we have seen, was later to perish at the hands of other 82 women, and Apoll inaire recal ls this incident in another poem in Le Guetteur Melancolique, entit led \"Marie\". Car Orphee amoureux fut tue par les femmes Et je sais que souvent la nature entend mieuxA Les sanglots de la lyre et les pleurs de nos ames Que les belles 6 toi vers qui vont nos grands yeux (p. 514) Apol l inaire associates himself with Orpheus twice in these references, and refers indirect ly also to the women who would have destroyed (the Sirens), or who did destroy (the Thracian women), his master Orpheus. Apol l ina ire , as Orpheus, can sometimes stave off the potential destruction of love and can protect himself by means of his own poetry, which is a solace to him. F ina l ly , however, he f a l l s at the hand of women such as Marie Laurencin, who emotionally \"destroy\" him. But, in myth, Orpheus' head continued to sing even after his destruction by women. And so does Apol l ina i re ' s , in the sense that some of his greatest poems were produced in the wake of unhappy love-affairs: \"La Chanson du Mal-Aime\" and \"Le Pont Mirabeau\" to name but two. \"Le Pont Mirabeau\", written during the time when Marie Laurencin was leaving him, echoes the anxieties of the lines already quoted from the ear l ier poem, \"Marie\": L'amour s'en va comme cette eau courante L'amour s'en va Comme la vie est l en te . . . (p. 45) Andre Rouveyre, Apol l ina ire ' s fr iend, writing of \"Le Pont Mirabeau\", makes these comments about i t : Tout ce q u ' i l peut pour ranimer la presence aupres de lu i de sa q maftresse perdue, i l le tente dans son po\u00C2\u00A3me. Mais bref, ou se termine \"Le Pont Mirabeau\", i l n'y a plus d'amants, plus d'amour. Seuls survivent la construction de pierres^et - .Q de fer , sourde et lourde, et le fleuve qui continue de s'ecouler. This too, reminds one of the figure of Orpheus, trying to revive his beloved Eurydice from the Underworld, singing to appease the tormenting demons in H e l l , 83 but f a i l ing to succeed. Only the head of Orpheus remains to sing, just as only the voice of Apol l inaire ' s love and sadness remain after his broken affair with Marie Laurencin: Passons passons puisque tout passe Je me retournerai souvent Les souvenirs sont cors de chasse Dont meurt le bruit parmi le vent (p. 148) he wrote in \"Cors de Chasse\", another poem of this ' f i n d'amour' period. At about the time of the end of his af fa ir with Marie occurred another event that had a considerable effect on Apol l ina ire . This was the \"affaire des statuettes\", and the accusations levelled against him concerning the theft of the Joconde, for which he was imprisonned in La Sante prison in 1911. The six poems in Alcools entit led \"A la Sante\" have an intensely per-sonal tone, and witness a strange return to the poet's childhood Christian fa i th during this time of distress. Apoll inaire uses Bibl ica l mythology in the imagery of these poems with no such tone of cynicism as is associated with i t in a poem such as \"Zone\", for example. .,,1 he se verses written in \"La Sante'\" seem to be a cry from the heart, a close personal l ink with God and Christ-iani ty : Que deviendrai-je 6 Dieu qui connais ma douleur Toi qui me l 'as donnee Prends en p i t i \u00C2\u00A3 mes yeux sans larmes ma paleur Le bruit de ma chaise enchafn^e Prends en p i t i e surtout ma debile raison Et ce de'sespoir qui la gagne (p. 143) Apol l ina ire , during his imprisonment, seems to see himself as an innocent vict im, as a martyr in the style of Christ himself. In some unpublished verses of this time, he wrote: Je viens de recevoir des lettres Vous- ne m'abandonnez done pas 84 Jesus que Von emprisonna Et que les douze abandonnerent Je viens de retrouver la foi Comme aux beaux jours de mon enfance Seigneur agreez mes hommages 11 Je crois en vous je crois je crois And one of his biographers writes: ...someone who met him at this time wrote that he was \"depressed, considered himself deserted by a l l , i rretr ievably ruined; he had been much affected by his incarceration in the Sante^ and the unconcealed pleasure that certain malicious fellow-writers had ^ taken in his p l ight\" . Christ too, had been betrayed by one of his friends, and his closest fr iend, Peter, had refused to recognize him, just as Picasso is said to have refused to recognize Apol l ina ire . Christ , in his sadness and need, turned his pleas to God just as Apoll inaire did in La Sante. Of the period following his release from La Sante\" prison, up to the out-break of the First. World War, Apol l ina ire ' s friend Andre^ B i l l y has written: Cette. periode d'avant la guerre v i t 1'apogee de son influence II eta i t le prince de 1'esprit moderne, le chef d'orchestre des idees. nouvelles, I'ame de la grande revolution par laquelle \u00C2\u00A3 t a i e n t de|a\ sapees, deja d^truites, les v i e i l l e s conventions de la v i e i l l e i 3 poesie discursive et de la peinture f igurative. It is during these years from 1911 to 1914 that Apoll inaire published Le Best iaire , that he became the editor of Les Soirees de Paris , that he publish-e c * Al cools, and his Meditations esthetiques on Les Peintres Cubistes, as well as a manifesto entit led L 'Anti tradit ion Futuriste. It is perhaps to this period of his l i f e that some of the most succinctly autobiographical verses of his work could best apply; verses in which he speaks of his own poetical 'doctrines' and their effect. In \"La Jo l ie Rousse\", which was probably written at a later date, but which is nevertheless most aptly applicable to this period of his career, he writes: Je juge cette Tongue querelle de la tradition et de 1'invention 85 De I'Ordre et de 1'Aventure . . . / Nous voulons vous donner de vastes et d'etranges domaines Ou le mystere en fleurs s 'offre a\" qui veut le c u e i l l i r II y a let des feux nouveaux des couleurs jamais vues Mil le phantasmes imponderables Auxquels i l faut donner de l a rea l i te y ^ Nous voulons explorer la bonte contree enorme ou tout se t a i t II y a aussi le temps qu'on peut chasser ou faire revenir Pi tie* pour nous qui combattons toujours aux frontieYes De 1 ' i l l imi te et de l 'avenir Pi t ie pour nos erreurs pi t ie pour nos peches (pp. 313-314) Just prior to the outbreak of war in part icular , Apol l inaire saw himself as an adventurer, a pioneer, and as a kind of prophet in the style of \"Les Mages\" of Victor Hugo and in the style of Orpheus or John the Baptist or even Christ . He wrote in \"Les Col l ines\" : - Sache que je parle aujourd'hui Pour annoncer au monde entier Qu'enfin e s t ne- I 'art de predire Certains hommes sont des col l ines Qui s 'el event entre les hommes Et voit au lo in tout 1'avenir Mieux que s ' i l etait le present^ Plus net que s ' i l etait le passe Je me suis enfin detache De toutes choses nature!les Et ce qu'on n'a jamais_touche Je 1'ai touche je I 'a i palpe (pp. 171-173) We wil l discuss these prophetic ideas further in connection with the theory of ' ! ' e s p r i t nouveau'. At the outbreak of war in 1914, Apoll inaire became a kind of poet-warrior figure, finding in the danger and death of warfare a source of marvel and inspiration that was to his taste. The, poems of the \"Case d'Armons\", \"Lueurs des T i r s \" and \"Obus couleur de lune\" sections of Cal1igrammes, bear witness 86 to this new t h r i l l of experience in the l i f e of Apol l ina ire . His poems are generally concerned more with rea l , every-day war experiences and sights at this time, than with mythological reference or lyr ic i sm. However, i t was during his period as a soldier that Apoll inaire met Louise de Coligny, celebrated in the Poemes a^ Lou, and that he enjoyed his extremely carnal relationship with her. Rouveyre writes of this a f fa ir : Ses lettres et ses poesies a \"Lou\" montrent Apoll inaire dans son recours permanent, spontane \u00C2\u00A3 la nature feminine q u ' i l avait connue cette fo i s -c i enfin \u00C2\u00A3 outrance; dans son identi f icat ion avec la matiere physique, terrestre, animale, concrete. . . jusqu'au , \u00C2\u00AB cours de ses plus sauvages crises d'erotisme imaginati f . . . In contrast to the physical, sexual nature of this af fa ir with Lou, there was Apol l ina ire ' s affair with Madeleine Pages, which took place at almost exactly the same time. He met her for three or four hours only, whilst on a t r a in , but continued to develop his love for her by le t ter s , and f i n a l l y - -proposed marriage to her in the same way. Madeleine i s , in this sense, a kind of sublime,, ideal figure with whom Apoll inaire had only a minimal physical contact. Lou was the 'touchable', the Dionysian, the perverse, and Madeleine the 'untouchable', the Apollonian, the sublime, i t would seem: an interesting divis ion of tastes and tendencies in Apol l inaire ' s personality. Apoll inaire f i n a l l y t ired of Madeleine, however, and broke with her, in the same way that Annie Playden had drifted away from him years before. As Steegmuller points out: Like Annie Playden, she had been an episode in his l i f e ; Annie had le f t him, now he lef t Madeleine. Both affairs were the occasion of some of his best writing, and certainly both women were for him',,, muses rather than real persons. Through a l l these love-affairs runs a thread attached to the myth of Orpheus which i t is of interest to note at this point. Ovid writes in the tenth Metamorphosis: Orpheus had shunned a l l love of womankind, whether because of his 87 i l l-success in love, or whether he had given his troth once for a l l . S t i l l , many women fe l t a passion for the bard; many grieved -jg for their love repulsed. The s imi lar i ty between Orpheus' actions in myth, and Apol l inaire ' s in-rea l i ty gives r ise to the speculation that Apol l ina ire ' s rejection of Madeleine may have been motivated by s imilarly misogynic feelings as those attributed to Orpheus by Ovid. Apol l inaire ' s change of attitude towards Madeleine, however, came at the time of his head-wound and convalescence from this wound, which may well account for his change to a certain degree at least. His wound makes of him again a kind of martyr-figure, undergoing the tribulations of Li fe in order to emerge from them as a ' f u l l e r ' human being with an expanded knowledge of L i fe . In \"La Jo l ie Rousse\", he writes in a tone of sobriety and assurance that constrasts greatly with the exuberance of his ear l ier war-poems: Me voici devant tous un homme plein de sens Connaissant Ta vie et de la.mort ce qu'un vivarit peut connaftre Ayant eprouve les douleurs et les joies de I'amour Ayant su quelquefois imposer ses ide'es Connaissant plusieurs Tangages Ayant pas mal voyage^ Ayant vu la guerre d a n s / l ' A r t i l l e r i e et l ' Infanterie Blesse k la tete trepane sous le chloroforme Ayant perdu ses meilleurs amis dans l 'effroyable lutte Je sais d'ancien et de nouveau autant qu'un homme seul pourrait des deux savoir (P. 313); These lines no longer speak of the \"Merveille de la Guerre\", but rather of the \"effroyable lu t te \" . It would seem as i f Apoll inaire had reached the sombreness of \"L'Age de raison\". According to his friends he had changed considerably at this time, after his recovery from his head-wound. Andre B i l l y writes: Ses amis virent alors reparaftre un Apoll inaire grave, i ra sc ib le , chez qui la barbiche et la t \u00C2\u00A3 t e bandee sous le bonnet de police accusaient une alteration morale assez pr^ofonde.^ J ' a i frequente quotidiennement 1'Apollinaire de cette periode-la. E l l e istait -jy lj9j-.n-,*.T.a- chdcrmmte f-sntarlsie. d-'ava-n.fe,.\u00C2\u00ABla.-.gtKirre-;-'.--88 In 1918, Apoll inaire married Jaqpueline Kolb, whose beauty is commemorated in \"La Jo l i e Rousse\": Voici que.vient I'ete la saison violente Et ma jeunesse est morte ainsi que le printemps El le a 1'aspect charmant D'ime adorable rousse Ses cheveux sont d'or on d i r a i t Un bel ec la i r qui durerait (p. 314) It v/as at this time, above a l l , that Apoll inaire was concerned with \"1 'esprit nouveau\"* In November of 1917 he had lectured on \"L 'espr i t nouveau et les poetes\", and in this lecture he expresses the same weariness with the past and adventurous t h r i l l of the future as he .had expressed in ''Zone\" in 1913: A la f i n tu es las de ce monde ancien ^ ^g) The \"new s p i r i t \" of which Apollinaire was an advocate in 1917 and 1918, is an attempt to create a new art , based on a new attitude towards the modern world.: Apol l inaire interested himself in modern phenomena such as the aeroplane, the cinema and the phonograph. He saw himself as a new kind of soldier-poet, one crusading for new ideas and new forms in poetry. In \"La Victo ire\" he writes: 0 bouches 1'homme est a la recherche d'un nouveau langage Auquel le grammairien d'aucune langue n'aura rien a dire Et ces v i e i l l e s langues sont tenement pres de mourir Que c 'est vraiment par habitude et manque d'audace Qu'on les f a i t encore servir a la poesie (p. 310) He sees himself again as one of the adventurers and prophets of poetic thought: Nous qui quetons partout I'aventure ...nous qui combattons toujours aux frontieres De 1 ' i l l i m i t e et de 1'avenir (p. 313-314) 89 And \" I ' e spr i t nouveau\" offers him wonderful revelations, to be shared with humanity: Et je pele pour mes amis L'orange dont la saveur est Un merveilleux feux d ' a r t i f i ce (p. 176) It is above a l l in images such as this last one that the form of \" I 'e spr i t nouveau\" takes shape. It depends for i t s beauty upon surprisingly contrasted elements of imagery, which form a new world of sensations and imagination. Pierre Reverdy has formulated the best known expression of this idea, taken up later by Surrealist writers such as Andre' Breton: L'image est une creation pure de I 'e spr i t . E l le ne peut nartre d'une comparaison mais du rapprochement de deux real i tes plus ou moins/e1oigne'es. Plus les rapports de deux r^alit^s rapproche.es seront lointains et justes, plus l'image sera forte - ->g plus e l l e aura de puissance emotive et de rea l i te poetique.. . Apoll inaire had become one of the f i r s t to use and propagate such new poetic ideas and forms, and, after his sudden death in November 1918, the t r a i l he had opened was to be followed by writers of the Surrealist movement, who were to expand further Apol l ina ire ' s interest and researching in the domain of dream and the imagination, the \"reine des facultes\" as Baudelaire had called i t . As Apoll inaire himself had so truly written in \"Cortege\": Et je m'eloignerai m'illuminant au milieu d'ombres Et d'alignements d'yeux des astres Men-aim^s (P- 74) * * * * * Turning no.w, br ie f ly , to the personality of Apol l ina i re , let us consider some of the most prominent features that have arisen out of a study of the man and his writ ing, as regards his own myth or legend. A great diversi ty of his interests and characteristics makes i t impossible to reach any hard and fast conclusions about his own myth, but certain aspects of an Apol l inair ian myth:can,:be at, least ,-tentatively outlined. CIau4e,Tour-aa.dr.e-i.-wtfcin.gv-o\u00C2\u00A3*-90 \"Apoll inaire et la c r i t ique\" , says this : L'homme, i l faut le reconnaftre, est particulierement encombrant. II, a donne' naissance ^ des mythes divers dont on ne s 'est pas encore debarrasse\ . . . De ces mythes Apoll inaire lui-meme est en partie responsable. Ses nombreux amis aussi. l i s ont pieusement servi^ sa mssmoire, mais n'ont pu se departir du culte de la personnalite. Perhaps one of the most salient features of the personality-myth of Apol l inaire is his stature as a poet. Even Andre Breton, who is often harsh in his judgements on Apol l ina ire , wrote of him: C '^ta i t un tres grand personnage, en tout cas comme je n'en ai pas vu^depuis. Assez hagard, i l est v r a i L e lyrisme en personne. 2 Q II t r amai t sur ses pas le cortege d'Orphee. And Andre B i l l y , another close acquaintance, writes: II se considerait comme appartenant k la race invulnerable des devins et des enchanteurs. II croyait k sa propre le'gende. En toute bonne foi et avec une bel le ingenuite de poete-enfant, ? 1 i l la v i v a i t . We have already seen evidence of this bel ief in himself as a prophet in the doctrines of \"T 'espr i t nouveau\" and in a poem such as \"Les Col l ines \" . His role as a poet-prophet, similar to Croniamantal or L'Enchanteur, aligns him yet again with the myth of Orpheus, who, in Apol l ina i re ' s own words, \" . . .connut 1'avenir et predit chre'tiennement Vave'nement du SAUVEUR\" (p. 33). Another important facet of Apol l inaire ' s personal myth is i t s duality, or what we called ear l ier in this chapter a \"detachment from the se l f \" , a \"possible schizophrenia\". Apoll inaire can be both \"obscene et tendre\" as an 22 ar t i c l e by Jean-Bertrand Barrere about him suggests , and as his simultaneous relationships with Lou and Madeleine indicate. He wi l l enjoy now the pleasures of his body and the world, and now the pleasures of his mind and imagination: Je t'adore o ma deesse exquise nreme si tu n'es que dans mon imagination . - ( p _ 2 6 0 ) The divis ion is similar to that of Baudelaire's \"spleen\" and \" idea l \" , or to that of Hugo's \"sublime\" and \"grotesque\". Apoll inaire can be alternately 91 Apollonian and Dionysian in his tendencies, as indeed Orpheus was said to have been also: Toute son histoire (celle d'Orphee) le montre hesitant entre le sublime et le pervers, entre Apollon et Dionysos. Symbole de la splendeur de 1 'art . . . Orphee accompagne son chant a\" la lyre d 'Apo l lon . . . mais i l est aussi le charmeur des fauves, . 1'enchanteur de la perversite. . . . L a vigueur imaginative au l ieu de soutenir 1'aspiration cre^atrice se perd alors dans les 2 3 seductions multiples de la rea l i t e . This s p l i t , or duality, as we suggested ear l i e r , is i l lus trated not only in Apol l ina i re ' s subject-matter, and tone of writ ing, but also in his way of looking at and speaking of his own identi ty . In \"Zone\", for example, he con-verses with his 'a l ter ego1 and watches as i t f l i t s across Europe, as he had done in his childhood and in 1901 and 1902: Te. voici a Marseille au milieu des pasteques Te voici a Coblence a I'ho'tel du Geant Te vo ic i a Rome. Tu. as f a i t de douloureux et de joyeux voyages Avant de t'apercevoir du mensonge et de 1'age Tu as souffert de 1'amour a\" vingt et \u00C2\u00A3 trente ans J ' a i vecu comme un fou et j ' a i perdu mon temDS (p. 42) This last l ine in the f i r s t person i s , as i t were, a comment by himself on a l l his own former acts, divorced from his persent identity by Time. In \"Cortege\" too, appears a well-known passage, where Apoll inaire seems to be stepping back from himself and commentating his own legend: Un jour Un jour je m'attendais moi-meme Je me.disais Guillaume i l est temps que tu viennes Pour que je sache enfin c e l u i - l E i que je suis Moi qui connais les autres (p. 74) Apol l ina ire , divided from himself, searches for the unity of his own ident i ty , which, as he says later in this same poem, appears to be made up of numerous fragments - the fragments of his own experience and knowledge of L i fe : 92 Le cortege passait et j ' y cherchais mon corps Tous ceux qui survenaient et n'etaient pas moi-meme Amenaient un a un les morceaux de moi-m\u00C2\u00A3me On me batit peu a\" peu comme on \u00C2\u00A3 l e v e un tour Les peuples s'entassaient et je parus moi-meme Qu'ont forme tous les corps et les choses humaines (pp. 75-76) This man of Polish descent, born in Italy without knowing his father, moved at an early age from his country of birth to France, schooled in French, and so on, was concerned with finding his own identi ty , with building himself and his legend \"comme on eleve un tour\". And so he can l i s ten f i n a l l y to the footsteps of his own myth in the passage of future Time: Et j'entends revenir mes pas Le long des sentiers que personne N'a parcourus j'entends mes pas A toute heure i l s passent ! \u00C2\u00A7 - b a s Lents ou presses i l s vont ou viennent (p. 175) - the tnyth of Apoll inaire himself, so variegated as to be impossible to grasp c lear ly , as to be a truly personal myth. 93 NOTES 1 quoted by P.M. Adema. Guillaume Apol l ina i re . . Paris: La Table Ronde, 1968. p. 347. 2 S. Bates. Apol1inaire. p. 40. 3 i b id . p. 46. 4 Vergnes, Georges. La vie passionnee de Guillaume Apol l ina ire . Paris: Seghers, 1958. p. 70. 5 Orecchioni, Pierre. Le theme du Rhin dans 1'inspiration de Guillaume Apol1inaire. (Collection \"Thames et Mythes\" 3). Paris: Lettres Modernes, 1956. p. .100. 6 i b id . p. 103. 7 -Steegmuller, Francis. Apol l ina ire . Poet among the Painters. New York: Farrar, Straus\u00E2\u0080\u00A2& Co. , 1963. p. 71. 8 Adema,P.M. Guillaume Apoll inaire le mal-aime. Paris : Plon, 1952. 9 Rouveyre, Andre. Amour et poesie d 'Apol l inaire . Paris : Editions du Seui l , 1955. p. 86. 10 i b i d . D . 90. 11 quoted by M. Decaudin. Le Dossier d 'Alcools . Paris: Minard, 1960. p. 214. \u00E2\u0080\u0094 12 Steegmuller. A p o l l i n a i r e . . . p. 222. 13 B i l l y , Andre. Introduction to Guillaume Apol l ina ire : choix de poemes. (Collection \"Poetes d'Aujourd'huT1\"] Paris: Seghers, 1967. pp. 28-29. 14 Rouveyre. Amour et poesie . . . p. 244. 15 Steegmuller. A p o l l i n a i r e . . . p. 309. 16 quoted from Ovid, Metamorphosis X, 79-85, by Ivan Linforth. The Arts of Orpheus. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1941. p. 57. 17 B i l l y . Introduction to Seghers edit ion, p. 33. 18 Reverdy, Pierre. Le Gant de Cr in . Paris: Plon, 1926. p. 32. 94 19 Tournadre, Claude. \"Apoll inaire et la cr i t ique\" in Les critiques de notre temps et Apol l ina ire , ed. C. Tournadre. Paris: Gamier freres, 1971 pp. 8-9. 20 Breton, Andre, quoted in ib id . p. 18. 21 B i l l y , Andre, quoted in ib id . pp. 19-20. 22 Barrere, J-B. \"Apoll inaire obscene et tendre\". Revue des sciences humaines, Oct. - Dec. 1956. pp. 373-390. 23 Die ! , Paul. Le symbolisme dans la mythologie grecque. pp. 136-137. 95 CONCLUSION: TOWARDS A NEW MYTH Having examined some aspects of Apol l inaire ' s writings in the l ight of c l a s s i ca l , mythological references, a more coherent picture of the nature of the influence of myth on his work begins to appear. In discussing some, of the specific references made by Apoll inaire to mythological incidents and charac-ters , i t became clear that the myths used most often by him were those of : Orpheus, Christ and Icarus. In the myth of.Orpheus i t appeared to be Orpheus's power of magical enchantment that fascinated Apoll inaire most of a l l : he referred to Orpheus's encounter with the. Sirens in which the magic of the young poet's song v/as stronger than that of the destructive Sirens. Orpheus, being a poet as well as a musician, thus provided a kind of mythical, poetic ideal for Apol l ina i re , himself an aspiring poet. Orpheus's journey to the Underworld fascinated Apo l l -inaire also, representing a symbolic death and rebir th , similar to that of Christ or the Sun. And f i n a l l y , the death of Orpheus interested Apoll inaire in that i t struck a personal note in mythical- terms: Orpheus was k i l l ed and dismembered by Thracian women, just as Apol l ina i re , the \"maUaime\", saw himself to have been k i l l ed and-dismembered emotionally in the deceptions of his own love-affairs with Maria Dubois, with Linda, Annie, Marie or Lou. The numerous references to the \"myth\" of Christ display even greater range of interest for Apoll inaire than that of Orpheus, as can be seen from the i number of poems in which Christ i s mentioned. It would seem to be Chris t ' s semi-divine' and\"mysterious b i r th , s imilar to hfs own b i r th , that interested Apol l ina i re , as well as Chris t ' s martyrdom, death and resurrection, which again follows a similar pattern to death and rebirth 1 \u00C2\u00AB the solar myth and the Orphic 96 myth. The awe inspired in Apoll inaire by Christ , which he never real ly lost despite some mocking references such as that in \"Le Larron\", undoubtedly remained from his childhood Christian beliefs and practice, as they are described in \"Zone\". Christ ' s magical and divine powers interest Apol l ina ire , in particular the miracle of the ascension into heaven which suggests'in physical terms a spir i tual transcendance and superiority. Apol l inaire , as a poet, aspired to a similar,.though purely poetic, superiority and d iv in i ty . Thus Chri s t , as Orpheus, offers an idea l , as well as a target for Apoll inaire the poet, or the religious skeptic. The myth of Icarus held an interest for Apoll inaire similar to that offered by the myths of Christ or Orpheus. Both these two latter heroes were divine or semi-divine, which endowed them with super-human powers. Icarus, however, was a purely human character, and as such was closer to the identity of Apollinaire: himself. Icarus, as Apol l ina ire , had aspirations to r ise above and to escape the labyrinthine obscurity of a limited human mind and perception. Icarus, as Apol l ina ire , aimed himself towards the ideal of an aquisition of a knowledge of the source of Life i t s e l f - th i s , in the myth of Icarus, being symbolised by the Sun. And Icarus, in being human, was doomed to f a i l , and the wings of his arrogant imagination would drop off him, leaving him to plunge to a dark death in the sea. The poem entit led \"L'Ignorance\" (p. 344) studies the myth of Icarus in these same symbolic terms, and gives an insight into Apol l ina i re ' s real ization of the f u t i l i t y of exaggerated human aspirations. The myth of Icarus also introduces two of the most important of the elements of Apol l ina ire ' s poetic imagery, f i r e (the Sun) and water (the Sea), and i t sets them in a mythological framework similar to that in which Apoll inaire himself appeared to see them. In discussing the \"myth of f i r e \" i t became obvious that one of the most important fire-myths for Apoll inaire was that of 97 the Sun. The Sun, a l i fe-g iv ing heavenly force, presents a concrete image of another kind of ideal for the aims of the poet-creator, following in the tradition of Orpheus, whose lyre v/as transformed into a celest ia l constellation after his death. Like Icarus, Apoll inaire aspires to a solar, celest ia l and Orphic d iv in i ty , but l ike Icarus, he too discovers that he has 'feet of c l a y ' , and his human limitations bind him to his human condition. One aspect of this human condition of which Apoll inaire was acutely aware, and which he expresses through his treatment of the solar myth, was his slavery to Time and Death. The solar cycle of each day, from birth at sunrise to death at sunset, reminded Apoll inaire of the cycle of his own l i f e . And the annual solar cycle, that of the four seasons, from birth in .spring to death in winter, again suggested the mortality of man. But one of the divine attributes of the Sun, as of Chris t , that was c lear ly admired by Apoll inaire was i t s dai ly resurrection, which renewed his own poetic and emotional hope and inspirat ion. Thus sun-r i se or spring is associated with renewed and invigorated Love or poetic creation, whereas sunset or winter suggests an emotional and a r t i s t i c death and s t e r i l i t y . This cycle of the fire-myths was also i l lus t ra ted by Apoll inaire with his own, now well-known image of \"Le Brasier\". And another of the images, of f i r e , which is important to Calligrammes in part icular , is that of the \"obus\", which are often referred to as suns, but in this sense they are destructive, furnace-like suns. They have, as we have seen, a peculiar purging power and beauty in Apol l inaire ' s eyes. The second of Apol l inaire ' s major images that is introduced by.the myth of Icarus, is that of water. If the Sun, for Icarus and for Apol l ina ire , rep-resents an ideal o f Life and knowledge, the waters of the Sea into which Icarus f e l l represent, for Apoll inaire also, an element of death and darkness. Like Icarus, Apoll inaire wi l l sink into the gloom and despondancy of water, as, 98 with Orpheus or C h r i s t , he sinks into the darkness of the Underworld. But water and shadow also have one of the p o s i t i v e q u a l i t i e s of the Underworld, and that i s the power of p u r i f i c a t i o n . Water i s a source of cleansing f o r g e t -fulness i n the poetic world of an emotionally deceived A p o l l i n a i r e : l i k e the r i s e n C h r i s t , A p o l l i n a i r e emerges from the darker side of his experience, associated with water, as well as shadow, f u l f i l l e d and regenerated, j u s t as the reborn Sun r i s e s out of the waters of the sea each morning. Other images, such as those of shadow and music, are also used by A p o l l -i n a i r e to embroider his view of his \"favourite\" myths. Shadow i s c l e a r l y associated with death and with sadness i n his mind, and i n t h i s way i t f a l l s into a s i m i l a r pattern to that of the myth of C h r i s t ' s descent into H e l l , before the r e s u r r e c t i o n , or Orpheus's descent to the Underworld i n search of a l o s t and ideal p u r i t y , which i s his love f o r Eurydice. Music, as well as shadow, has c e r t a i n Orphic overtones i n A p o l l i n a i r e ' s use of musical imagery: j u s t as shadow r e f l e c t s s i m i l a r connotations f o r A p o l l i n a i r e as are to be seen i n Orpheus's journey to the Underworld, so music too assumes c e r t a i n aspects of the Orphic myth. Music, as i t i s often used i n A p o l l i n a i r i a n imagery, has a magical power of enchantment. I t i s through poetry and music that Orpheus beguiled the gods of the Underworld, and A p o l l i n a i r e sees the music of his own poetry as having the same potential power. I t i s a solace to the di s t r e s s e d soul of the poet, j u s t as we have seen water or shadow to be. Music does have, on occasions, a note of threat i n i t , as in some of the war-poems of Calligrammes, where the machine-guns play a tune, or where the s h e l l - f i r e w h i s t l e s . Thus there i s a c e r t a i n , i n t e r e s t i n g d u a l i t y within the d e t a i l s of each of the major myths that i n t e r e s t A p o l l i n a i r e - as i n the C h r i s t and A n t i c h r i s t dichotomy, f o r example - and i n the connotations that he attaches to some of the images that he uses most frequently to r e i n f o r c e and i l l u s t r a t e these myths, 99 but there i s also a d u a l i t y of poetic and s p i r i t u a l outlook: as we saw, f i r e can be e i t h e r c r e a t i v e when embodied i n the Sun or d e s t r u c t i v e i n the f i r e of a r t i l l e r y , of warfare. There i s a 'sublime' and a 'grotesque' aspect to the whole of A p o l l i n a i r e ' s poetic- world. As we saw i n the case of a l c o h o l , however, opposites can be r e c o n c i l e d , and t h i s r e c o n c i l i a t i o n i s of special magical s i g n i f i c a n c e i n A p o l l i n a i r e ' s eyes. F i r e and water fuse i n t o the unity of a l c o h o l , an e l i x i r of L i f e and magic and vigour. I t i s only i n an image such as that of alcohol that the two halves of the poet's i n s p i r a t i o n - the sublime and the grotesque, the 'spleen' and the ' i d e a l ' - seem to be reconciled into an expression of a profound imaginative u n i t y . The e n t i r e image of 'alcohol' seems i n t h i s sense to be a Cubist cre a t i o n f o r A p o l l i n a i r e , since i t o f f e r s a r e c o n c i l i a t i o n of two e n t i r e l y d i f f e r e n t perspectives i n one u n i f i e d and complex image... The perspective of f i r e , l i g h t , ascension, vigour and L i f e i s joined i n the image of a l c o h o l , with that of water, darkness, sadness and Death. In t h i s way the image of alcohol represents a t y p i c a l image of \"1'esprit nouveau\". I t i s the focal point of at l e a s t two of the most important of A p o l l i n a i r e ' s \" l e i t m o t i v s \" , and o f f e r s a p e c u l i a r poetic magic - an i n e b r i a t i o n of poetic i n s p i r a t i o n to the poet of the Mew S p i r i t . This i s at l e a s t part of the reason why A p o l l i n a i r e ' s most famous and most enchanting c o l l e c t i o n of poems i s so s i g n i f i c a n t l y e n t i t l e d A l c o o l s . Renaud has t h i s to say of the c o l l e c t i o n : Chacun des poemes est un a l c o o l , c'est-k-dire une metamorphose ? du monde en chant. I t i s the metamorphosis of A p o l l i n a i r e ' s personal world i n t o poetry, and his personal world, as we have s a i d , i s one of a great d u a l i t y , displayed as much i n his imagery as i n his view of c e r t a i n myths. I t becomes c l e a r e r through a l l t h i s that A p o l l i n a i r e assimilated c e r t a i n myths which he used in his own c r e a t i o n , and also that he saw these myths i n an i n d i v i d u a l way, using the perspectives of his own imagery, t a s t e s , and 100 characterist ics . In so doing, the myths he used were adapted or transformed to f i t into the framework of his poetic inspirat ion. This synthesis of personal inspiration and traditional myth is constantly variable, one or the other element taking on a greater importance. A dis t inct tension between the two exists , giving a v i t a l i t y and novelty of Apol l inaire ' s use of myth. Myth, for him, appears to be regenerated as is Life i t s e l f , by the Sun, Apollo, each morning. It appears to be charged by Apol l inaire ' s own adventurous personality, by his cosmopolitanism, his travels , his loves and disillusionments, and above a l l by his vocation as a poet. These we have attempted to trace brief ly in the last chapter. As Andre Breton has hinted^, Apoll inaire followed closely in the tradit ion of the myth of Orpheus, the archetype of the poet. As a kind of modern Orpheus, Apoll inaire sings of the modern world that surrounds him and enchants him. His song is that of the new mythology, which he himself had labelled \" I ' e spr i t nouveau\", in which ancient myth is used, but is trans-formed, and joined, to a modern myth. In \"Zone\", Christ is seen as an aviator, f ly ing as an aeroplane, for example. Here again, as in the fusion of oppos-i te elements seen in the image of alcohol, two different perspectives are .^ reconciled into the a r t i s t i c unity of a single creation. The image of the New Spir i t rel ies in this way on ah element of surprise or unlikel iness , which Apoll inaire himself had insisted upon in his lecture on \"L 'E spr i t Nouveau et les poetes\", given in 1917.- It i s the \"rapprochement de deux real i tes plus ou moins eloignees\" of which Reverdy writes in Le Gant de Cr in , and which was to be developed by some of Apol l ina ire ' s successors, such as Paul Eluard, who would take for granted a certain famil iar i ty of the reader with some of the poetic surprise-techniques of imagery already prepared by Apol l inaire or by Cendrars. 101 According to the nature of t h i s New S p i r i t , the world of A p o l l i n a i r e ' s imagery i s v i t a l i z e d by i n s p i r a t i o n from past myths - the s o l a r myth, or that of Icarus, of C h r i s t , of Orpheus - and by an i n f u s i o n of the \"merveilleux\", of surprise contrasts and a l l i a n c e s . Mythical expression f i n d s i t s e l f f r e e of the t r a d i t i o n s of \"ce monde ancien\" and moves into a new, unexplored world of images, that of \" O n i r o c r i t i q u e \" , of the subconscious mind, l a t e r to be researched more deeply by the S u r r e a l i s t w r i t e r s , such as Breton or Soupault, for example. II y a l\u00C2\u00A3 des feux:nouveaux des couleurs jamais.vues M i l l e phantasmes imponderables Auxquels i l faut donner de l a re'alite' (p. 313) A p o l l i n a i r e had written i n \"La J o l i e Rousse\". And i t was he himself who had taken the i n i t i a t i v e of st r a d d l i n g the gap between the o l d and the new myth-o l o g i e s , between the Symbolist or Parnassian mythology and the S u r r e a l i s t mythology to come. He reaches towards the i d e a l s o f f e r e d by ancient myths in a new way: he uses t r a d i t i o n a l mythical example, legendary adventure, and symbolic d i v e r s i t y , such as we defined at the o u t s e t , i n an i n t r i c a t e embroid-ery and superimposition of the old and the new. This i s what e n t i t l e s him to say with such confidence i n the same poem, \"La J o l i e Rousse\": Je juge cette longue querelle de l a t r a d i t i o n et de I'invention De l'Ordre et de 1'Aventure (p. 313) \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 102 NOTES 1 Please see the l i s t of references on page 37. 2 Renaud. Lecture, p. 140. 3 See note 20 of preceding chapter. 103 BIBLIOGRAPHY A l l t i t l e s mentioned in the text are l i s t e d . The edition given is the one used. A Bibliography of the author Apol l inaire . Oeuvres poetiques. Preface by Andre B i l l y . \"Bibliotheque de la Pleiade\". Paris: Gallimard, 1965. . L'Enchanteur pourrissant, in Oeuvres completes de Gui11 aume Apo11i nai re, v o l . I. Directed by Michel Decaudin, vols . I-IV. Paris: Balland & Lecat, 1966. . L'Here'siargue et Cie , in Oeuvres completes. . . , v o l . I. Paris : Balland .& Lecat, 1966. \u00E2\u0080\u0094 - 1 Les Peintres cubistes, in Oeuvres completes. . . , , vo l . IV. Paris : Ball and & Lecat, 1966. \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Le Poete assassine. Paris : Gallimard, 1947. . La Femme assise. Paris: Gallimard, 1948. \u00E2\u0080\u0094 . Les Exploits d'un jeune Don Juan. \"L 'Or du Temps\". -Paris: Regine Deforges, 1970. . Al cools: choix de poemes. Introduction and notes by Roger Lefevre. \"Nouveaux classiques Larousse\". Paris : Larousse, 1965. 104 General works consulted Albouy, Pierre. Bachelard, Gaston. Mythes et mythologies dans la l i t terature franchise. . Paris: Col in , 1969. La psychanalyse du feu. Paris: Gallimard, 1949. La poetique de la reverie. \"Bib!iothe\"que de . philosophie contemporaine1 Paris : Presses Universitaires de France, 1960. Barthes, Roland. Baudelaire, Charles, Breton, Andre. Cendrars, Blaise. D ie l , Paul. Eliade, Mircea. La flamrne d'une chandelle. Paris : Presses Universitaires de France, 1964. Mythologies. Paris : Editions du Seu i l , 1957. Curiosites esthetiques: \"La reine des f a c u l t e V ' , \"Le gouvernement de 1 'imagination1 etc. \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 *' \"\u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Paris : Louis Conard, 1923. . Les Fleurs du Mai. Paris : Gamier Freres, 1961. Manifestes du Surrealisme. Collection \"Idees\". Paris: Gallimard, 1969. Choix de poemes, with study by Louis Parrot. \"Pontes d'aujourd'hui\" 11. Paris : Seghers, 1953. Le symbolisme dans la mythologie grecque. Paris : Payot, 1966. Myths, dreams and mysteries. The encounter between contemporary faiths and archaic rea l i t i e s . , . trans. P. Mai ret . New York: Harper & Row, 1960. 105 E l i a d e , Mircea. Evans, Richard. Fordham, Michael, ed. Genette, Gerard. Grimal, P i e r r e . Hamilton, E d i t h . Jung, C.G. & Kerenyi, C. K i r k , G.S. L i n f o r t h , Ivan. Marcuse, Herbert. Marks, E l a i n e , ed. Mauron, Charles. Myth and r e a l i t y , t r a n s . W.R. Trask. World Perspectives Series 31. New York: Harper & Row, 1963. Conversations with Carl Jung and reactions from Ernest Jones. Princeton: D. van Nostrand Co., 1964. Contact with Jung. Essays on the influence of his work and p e r s o n a l i t y . London: Tavistock P u b l i c a t i o n s , 1963. \"Langage poetique, poetique du langage\" i n Figures 11. P a r i s : Editions du S e u i l , 1969. D i c t i o n n a i r e de l a mythologie grecque et romaine.. 4th. e d i t i o n . P a r i s : Presses U n i v e r s i t a i r e s de France, 1969. Mythology. Boston: L i t t l e , Brown & Co., 1940. Essays on a science of mythology. t r a n s . R.F.C. H u l l . Bollingen S e r i e s , 22. Princeton: Princeton U n i v e r s i t y Press, 1969. Myth. It s meaning and ^--functions i n ancient and other c u l t u r e s . Cambridge: U n i v e r s i t y Press, 1970. The Arts of Orpheus. Berkeley: U n i v e r s i t y of C a l i f o r n i a P ress, 1941. Eros and c i v i l i z a t i o n . A philosophical i n q u i r y into Freud. Boston: Beacon Press, 1966. French poetry from Baudelaire to the present. \"The Laurel Language L i h r a r v \" . '. \" New York: D e l l , 1962. Des metaphores obsedantes au mythe personnel. . Introduction a* 1 a psychocrit.ique., ~ P a r i s : C o r t i , 1963. 106 Rank, Otto. Raymond, Marcel. Reverdy, Pierre. The myth of the birth of the hero and other writings ed. Phi l ip Freund. New York: Alfred Knopf, Vintage Books, 1959. De Baudelaire au surrealisme. Paris: Cor t i , 1966. Le Gant de c r i n . Paris: Plon, 1926. 107 Books and a r t i c l e s on A p o l l i n a i r e Adema, Pierre-Marcel. Adema, P.M. & Decaudin, M. ed. Bates, Scott. B i l l y , A n d r \u00C2\u00A3 . B o n f a n t i n i , M. ed. Breunig, Leroy C. Chev a l i e r , Jean-Claude. C o u f f i g n a l , Robert. Davies, Margaret. Guillaume A p o l l i n a i r e l e mal-aime. P a r i s : Plon, 1952. Guillaume A p o l l i n a i r e . P a r i s : La Table Ronde, 1968. Album A p o l l i n a i r e . \" B i b l i o t h l q u e de l a Ple i a d e \" . ^ ~ P a r i s : G a l l i m a r d , 1971. Guillaume A p o l l i n a i r e . Twayne World Authors Series 14. New York: Twayne, 1967. Introduction to Guillaume A p o l l i n a i r e . \"Poetes d'Aujourd'hui\" 8. P a r i s : Seghers, 1967. Ap o l 1 i n a i r e . Torino: G i a p p i c h e l l i ; P a r i s : N i z e t , 1970. \"Le Roman du Mal-Aime'\" i n La Table Ronde, Sept. 1952, pp. 117-123. Guillaume A p o l l i n a i r e . \"Columbia essays on modern w r i t e r s \" . New York & London: Columbia U n i v e r s i t y Press, 1969. \"Alcools\" d ' A p o l l i n a i r e : essai d'analyse des formes poetiques. \"Bibl iothe'que des Lettres Modernes\" 17. P a r i s : Lettres Modernes, 1970. L ' i n s p i r a t i o n b i b l i q u e dans 1'oeuvre de Gui11aume Apol1i nai r e . \"Bibliothe'que des Lettres Modernes\" 8. Pa r i s : Lettres Modernes, 1966. A p o l l i n a i r e , London & Edinburgh: O l i v e r S Boyd, 1964. 1 0 8 Decaudin, Michel. Decaudin, Michel, ed. Decaudin, Michel, ed. Decaudin, Michel, ed. Durry, Marie-Jeanne. Fonteyne, Andre. Orecchioni, P i e r r e . P i a , P a s c a l . Poupon, Marc. Renaud, P h i l i p p e . Rouveyre, Andre. Shattuck, Roger. Steegmuller, F r a n c i s . Le Dossier d\"'Alcools\". P a r i s : Minard; Geneva: Droz, 1 9 6 0 . A p o l l i n a i r e et l a musique. Actes du collogue de S t a v e l o t , 1 9 6 5 . Stavelot: E d i t i o n \"Les amis de Guillaume A p o l l i n a i r e \" , 1 9 6 7 . Du monde europ^en \u00C2\u00A3t l'univers des mythes. Actes du collogue de S t a v e l o t , 1 9 6 8 . P a r i s : Lettres Modernes, 1 9 7 0 . Revue des sciences humaines, 8 4 . Oct. - Dec. 1 9 5 6 . Special issue devoted to A p o l l i n a i r e . Guillaume A p o l l i n a i r e . \" A l c o o l s \" . 3 v o l s . P a r i s : Society d1E d i t i o n d'Enseignement Superieur, 1 9 5 6 - 1 9 6 4 . A p o l l i n a i r e prosateur: L'Here's i argue et C i e . P a r i s : N i z e t , 1 9 6 4 . Le Theme du Rhin dans 1 ' i n s p i r a t i o n de Gui11aume A P O I 1 i n a i r e . Pari s: Lettres Modernes, 1 9 5 6 . A p o l l i n a i r e par T u i - m \u00C2\u00A3 m e . \"Ecrivains de toujours\". P a r i s : E d i t i o n s du S e u i l , s.d. A p o l l i n a i r e et Cendrars. \"Archives des l e t t r e s modernes\" 1 0 3 . P a r i s : Lettres Modernes, 1 9 6 9 . Lecture d ' A p o l l i n a i r e . Lausanne: L*Age d'Homme, 1 9 6 9 . Amour et poe'sie d ' A p o l l i n a i r e . P a r i s : E d i t i o n s du S e u i l , 1 9 5 5 . Selected writings of Guillaume A p o l l i n a i r e , with c r i t i c a l i n t r o d u c t i o n . New York: James Laugh!in, 1 9 4 8 . The Banquet Years. New. York:.. Harcourt & Brace, 1 9 5 5 . A p o l l i n a i r e . Poet among the p a i n t e r s . New York: F a r r a r , Straus & Co., 1 9 6 3 . 109 Tournadre, Claude. Vergnes, Georges. Les critiques de notre temps et Apollinaire. Paris: Gamier Freres, 1971. La vie passionnee de Guillaume Apollinaire. Paris: Seghers, 1958. 110 APPENDIX The following is an attempt to demonstrate in schematic form certain parallels between the major areas of Apol l inaire ' s mythological interests and some of the images that he uses to i l lu s t ra te these in Alcools , Calligrammes and II y a. In the left-hand column wi l l be found some of the major aspects or characteristics of myths of greatest interest to Apol l ina ire , and in the right-hand column wil l be found a selective l i s t of the correspon-ding images that i l lu s t ra te or ref lect similar interests to the myths commonly used. MYTHS Sun, solar myth as cycle of sunrise to sunset, spring to winter, similar to L i fe-cycle . Flame, as l i f e -g iv ing , creative, inspiring force: the Phoenix. Icarus's aspiration to Sun-like omniscience and d iv in i ty . Icarus's f l i gh t up towards ideal of Life in Sun. Sun here symbol of divine knowledge. Icarus inebriated, f l i ght with wax wings. Alcohol , the l iqu id and magical flame. IMAGES Alcools. \"Zone\": phenix - \"bucher qui soi-rrreme s'engendre... son ardente cendre\" (recreative f i r e ) , \" le feu de 1'Enfer\" (destructive), \"flammes ferventes\" (religious ardour), \"alcool brQlant comme ta v i e . v . \" (alcohol), \" so le i l cou coupe'\" (de'capitation). \"Chanson du Mal-AimS\": \"Aubade\", \"ton so le i l ardente lyre/BrQle mes do ig t s . . . \" \"Crepuscule\": \" c i e l sans te inte\" . \"Merlin et la v i e i l l e femme\": \" so le i l saignant.. . Lumiere est ma mere 6* lumieYe sanglante\", so le i l de chair , so le i l dansant. \"Lul de Faltenin\" : \"Je flambe atrocement\" etc. (destructive). 11L 'Ermite\": \" f lagel lez les nuees du coucher (du s o l e i l ) \" (perverse). \"Le Brasier\": \"noble feu flamrne... e t o i l e s . . . bras ier . . . s o l e i l . . . astres saignants\". \"Je flambe... bras ier . . . ardeur adorable. . . feu de mes del i c e s . . . paquebot de ma v ie , flammes immenses...\". \"avenir masque flambe... theatre bati avec le feu s o l i d e . . . flammes comme des f e u i l l e s \" . I l l MYTHS IMAGES (sol a r myth, flame, Phoenix, Icarus, a l c o h o l ) . \"Nuit Rhenane\": v i n . . . Comme une flamrne. \"La Lore!ey\": yeux s o r c e l l e r i e (magic). \"Rhenane d'Automne\": Hammes, flammes, 'L'air tremble des flammes... cimetieYe p l e i n de flammes\". \"Un S o i r \" : feux p&les, feux de gaz. \"Les F i a n c a i l l e s \" : Icare... \"porteur de s o l e i l s j e b r t f l e \" . . . \"sa tete est l e s o l e i l / E t l a lune son cou tranche'\", \"tempiiers flamboyants j e brOle parmi vous... d e s i r a b l e f e u . . . l i b r e flamrne. ce bucher nid de mon courage\". \"Vendemiaire\": brQlant s o l e i l r u c t i v e ) , (alcohol): / v i n qui con t i e n t . (dest-flammes' Calligrammes. \"Les C o l l i n e s \" : avion du s o l e i l . n u i t et j o u r , \"tout n'est qu'une flamrne r a p i d e \" . \"Coeur, Couronne et M i r o i r \" ressemble a\" une flamrne \"Fumees\": \" . . . tu fascines obus renversee\", .coeur les \"Servant de Dakar\": II \"eclatent f 1 ammes\", dans splendide\". feu d ' a r t i f i c e en a c i e r (obus), l e c i e ! \"Fete\": \"1'air est p l e i n d'un t e r r i b l e a l c o o l / F i l t r e ' des e t o i l e s \"Nuit d ' a v r i l 1915' (obus) \"Coeur obus.../ \"feu semblable Et tes mi l i e s o l e i l s \" . \"Le P a l a i s du Tonnerre\": a Tame\". ~ \"Dans 1'abri-caverne\": feu s o l i d e , d'e'clairage. manque obus miaulant, fusees. manque de s o l e i l . \"Fusee\": obus. \"Dgsir\": obus. \"Chant de 1 'horizon...\": . \"1'ardeur de l a b a t a i l T e . \"Merveille de l a Guerre\": (obus) m i l l i o n s de f u s s e s , \" i l f a l l u t tant de feu pour r o t i r l e corps humain\", Icare v o l a n t , (autobiographical passage). \"A 11 I t a l i e \" : \"Faisons l a guerre e? coups de fouet/Faits...avec les. rayons, du s o l e i l \" (perverse). \"Aussi bien que l e s c i g a l e s \" : LA JOIE ADORABLE DE LA PAIX SOLAIRE. \"SimulI taneite^s\": atroces lueurs des t i r s ( d e s t r u c t i v e ) . 112 MYTHS IMAGES (solar myth, flame, Phoenix, Icarus, alcohol) . \"Du coton dans les o r e i l l e s \" : (obus =) so le i l s nains. \"La Vic to i re \" : Icare le faux. . . \"La Jo l ie Rousse\": flammes. Water into which Icarus plunges. Water of approaching Death and Time passing, as opposed to warmth and . Li fe offered by the Sun. Shadows of water, suggest also shadows of Orphic Underworld, or Hell into which Christ descended between crucif ixion and resurrection Water as melancholy element of alcohol . Alcools . \"Pont Mirabeau\": Seine, \"amour... comme cette eau courante\". . . temps passe trepassl , Amour - Seine. \"Chanson du Mai-Aim^\": \"onde mauvaise a boire\" , \"1'eau d'argent\". \"Mai son des Morts\": promenade en bateau sur un l a c . . . \"C lo t i lde \" : \"date's des eaux vives\" . \"Cortege\"\": mer, c lar tes , profondeurs. \"Le Voyageur\": \"fleurs surmarines\", n u i t . . . mer.. . f l e u v e s . . . , \"bruit eternel d'un fleuve large et sombre\". \"Marie\": \"fleuve pareil-a\" ma pe ine . . . \" \"La Porte\": eau t r i s t e . \"Le Vent nocturne\": f l euve . . . (Rhine). \"Lul de Faltenin\" : s i r i n e s . . . grot tes . . . mer.. . \"f leur de I'onde\". \"L'Emigrant de Landor Road\": \"petit bouquet f lottant a* 1'aventure,,, couvre V Ocean . . . \" , Nuit - mer. \"Nuit Rh6nane\": l e R h i n . . . n u i t . . . \"Mai\" : le Rhin. \"Rhehane d'Automne\": le Rhin. \"Les F ianca i l le s \" : \"sombre sombre fleuve\" \"Vendemiaire\": jeune nageur... noyes.. . onde nouvelle (death - rebirth) . Calligrammes. \"Simultaneltes\" \"Du c o t o n . . . \" : fleuve ae>ien\". \"La Vic to i re \" : des dieux noyeV' (Icarus le langage de la mer II y a. \"mer aux mauves ombres' projecti les \"comme un \"mes grands cr i s comme ambitions), \"L'Ignorance\": la mer (Icarus's death), \"Rolandseck\": le Rhin. \"Le Pont\": fleuve, 1'eau.. . \"et leurs regards s'e'coulent/Dans ce fleuve\". 113 MYTHS IMAGES Death of C h r i s t and descent to shadows of H e l l . Journey of Orpheus, as renewal and p u r i f i c a t i o n i n shadow, as source of i n s p i r a t i o n to a r t i s t - part of i t i n e r a r y of poet, as of Sun i n s o l a r myth: decapitated Sun brings darkness. A l c o o l s . \"Chanson du Mal-Aime'\": \"ten^breuse epouse... mon ombre en d e u i l \" . \" P a l a i s \" : ombre... c i e l presque noct-urne. \"Cr^puscule\": ombres de l a mort. \"Maison des Morts\": ombre - l u m i e r ev \"Cortege\": sombre, t e r n e , brume obs c u r c i t - s o l e i l , f e u , unique lumieYe. \"Le Voyageur\": ombres vi v a c e s . . . ombres barbues. \"Le, Larron\": \"contre l e feu 1 Sombre prevaut\", \"ombre Equivoque et tendre,,, sombre e l l e est humaine\". \"L'Emigrant de L. R.\": \"cadavres des jours ronges par le s e'toiles\". \"Rhenane d'Automne\": c i e l sans s o l e i l . . . cimetieYe. \"Les F i a n c a i l l e s \" : \"ombres q u i . . . n ' e t a i t jamais j o l i e s \" , \" l e s cadavres de mes jours...\" (cf.\"L'Emigrant\"), \"1'ombre enf i n s o l i d e \" , \"J'ai tout donnl\" au s o l e i l / Tout sauf mon ombre\". Calligrammes. \"Ombre\": Souvenirs deviennent des ombres (dead f r i e n d s ) . \"Photographie\": \"1'ombre/Du s o l e i l \" (negative impression). \"Dans 1'abri-caverne\": \"manque de s o l e i l dans mon Sme, manque d'eelairage\". II y a. \"Sanglots\": \"malades maudits de ceux qui f u i e n t leur ombre\". \" O n i r o c r i t i q u e \" : apocalyptic s a l v a t i o n glimpsed i n dream-world and darkness. Ascension of C h r i s t to Heaven - a f l i g h t of symbolic value i n eyes of poet. Transcendance and s u p e r i o r i t y , as Icarus's ambition. Divine ubiquity and omniscience. A l c o o l s , \"Zone\": \"sie^cle change en oiseau monte dans 1 ' a i r \" , \"Te j'oT'i voltigeur'1 , ( C h r i s t ) , 1'avion, h i r o n d e l l e s , faucons, hiboux, i b i s , e t c . . . \" l a colombe e s p r i t immacule'\". M a r s e i l l e \u00C2\u00BB Coblence - Rome - Amsterdam -Leyde - Gouda - P a r i s , e t c . 114 MYTHS IMAGES (ascension of Christ , transcendance, Icarus 1s ambition). \"Le Voyageur\": \" i l s 'envolait un Chr i s t \" . \"Vendemiaire\": ubiquity and omniscience, \"mondes/... j e vous ai bu...\" Calligrammes. \"Les Col l ines\" : Homme \"qui vole plus haut que les a ig les\" , \" j ' a i plans' si haut.. \"Arbre\": Leipzig - Rouen - Finlande etc. \"Le Musicien de Saint-Merry\": \"Je chante toutes les poss ibi l i tes de moi-meme\" . \"Merveille de l a Guerre\": \"Je suis par-t o u t . . . \" , \"I1his to i re de Guillaume Apollinaire/Qui... sut I t r e partout . . . \" \"La J o lie Rousse\": \"Me v o i c i . . . e tc . \" (autobiographical passage). II y a . \"Per te praesentit aruspex\": \"ma creature et ma d i v i n i t y \" . '. \"L'Ignorance\": aspirations of mortal to d iv in i ty . Death and dismemberment of Orpheus at hands of Thracian women. Suggests potential danger of emotional destruction at hands of any woman. Sirens' song, a lure to shipwreck mariners. Lorelei song, a lure to destroy Rhenish boatmen. Salome, musical beguilement of Herod, and resulting decapitation of John the Baptist. Music of Orpheus, the poet's defence. Magical power used against Le Bestiaire: music and magic of Orpheus, Alcools . \"Chanson du Mai-Aim^\": \" l a i s pour les re ines . . . chansons pour les sire^nes\", \"violons/font danser notre race humaine... le chant du firmament\". \"Cortege\": \" lyrique pas\" . . . \"morceaux de moi-meme\". \"Salome\": danse.. . je danserais mieux que les seraphins. . . (enchantment). \"Le Brasier\": \"tons charmants... pierres agiles\" (enchantment). \"Les Sapins\": \"beaux musiciens. . . graves magiciens\" (enchantment). \"Vendemiaire\": voix chantante... chanson de P a r i s . . . t ro i s voix suaves. Calligrammes. \"Le Musicien de Saint-Merry\": and magic. Music 115 MYTHS Sirens during journey to Under- world to charm .infernal gods. Orphic and poetic 'music' i s eternal - Orpheus's head continued to sing long a f t e r his dismemberment. IMAGES \"Un Fantfime des nuees\": music of acrobat's a r t i s t i c c r e a t i o n , c a l l e d a \"fantome\" (Ixion and Hera). \"Visees\": Harpe \"aux cordes d\"argent\". \"Nuit d ' a y r i l 1915\": \" m i t r a i l l e u s e joue un a i r \" , orgues, chanson de 1'avenir. \"Du coton...\": musique m i l i t a i r e . "@en . "Thesis/Dissertation"@en . "10.14288/1.0101680"@en . "eng"@en . "French"@en . "Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library"@en . "University of British Columbia"@en . "For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use."@en . "Graduate"@en . "Myth in the work of Apollinaire"@en . "Text"@en . "http://hdl.handle.net/2429/33550"@en .