Guillaume APOLLINAIRE discusses his poetry and the Cubists.

Guillaume Apollinaire (1880.1918)

Autographed letter signed to Laurent Tailhade.  

Three and a half pages in-8° on Italian government hospital letterhead.

[Paris]. November 4, 1916. Autographed envelope.

"Besides, although murdered like all the poets, I am very much alive, as are all of them, and I love life."

While recovering from his trepanation in May 1916, Apollinaire thanked Tailhade for his letter of congratulations regarding the publication of his collection of stories, The Murdered Poet .

Apollinaire gives him in passing his intimate vision of Poetry and the Arts, successively evoking his collections Alcools and Hérésiarque et Cie , his cubist friends, his view on the ancients and the moderns , and his joy at being a murdered poet, alive.

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"My dear master, what you were kind enough to write to me concerning my book touches me deeply. There can be no vote of support today more precious than yours. And in our age of erudition without culture, you remind me of a Saint Calonne [reference to Alphonse de Calonne] preserving, amidst near-universal barbarity, the heritage of Good Literature."

My aesthetic, if you will, would be to build upon the solid foundation of what has hitherto constituted taste, a bold monument for which new materials are not lacking. “On new thoughts let us make ancient verses” [reference to the famous line by André Chénier ] . That is precisely what it means to be modern. But striving to be worthy of what the ancients accomplished—that, I believe, is what Shakespeare achieved.

the finest pages of Aretino by mail tomorrow . I will stop by Stock to send you The Heresiarch and Co. (my best prose book, I believe); I am afraid it may be out of print and not reprinted during the war.

Alcools is out of print, and Mercure will not reprint it during the war. Similarly, Figuière claims my writings on the new painting are also out of print. Besides, I would have preferred to write only poetry. It sometimes seems that rich people are very happy if it is true that they are free to do only what they please. Furthermore, although murdered like all the poets, I am very much alive, as are all of them, and I adore life.

My relationship with the Cubists was primarily one of friendship. I'm referring, of course, to those who were talented, but the public is mostly familiar with those who weren't. I strove to highlight the genius of the former and to express, with some clarity, ideas that they themselves sometimes only very imperfectly articulated. In doing so, I unwittingly disrupted many collaborations in which even some of my colleagues were involved. I was resented for this, and it was often made quite clear to me.

I am currently writing a novel which will be wonderful if I manage to finish it. The thing is, I adore my craft, even though I find it incredibly difficult to begin. But nothing is sadder than the life of poets, and yet more joyful at the same time , and it is with the most faithful admiration that I beg you, my dear Master, to allow me to embrace you filially. Guillaume Apollinaire.