Guillaume APOLLINAIRE writes his love to Lou. February 1915.

Guillaume Apollinaire (1980.1918)

Autograph letter signed to Louise de Coligny-Châtillon, known as Lou.

Two pages in-4° on letterhead from Café Tortoni in Nîmes.

Nîmes, February 6, 1915.

“I love you with all my might. No poems today, I've made lots of them for you in recent days. »

Tender and loving letter from the poet to Lou, the muse having inspired one of his most beautiful collections of poetry: Poèmes à Lou

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“Dated my letters yesterday from the 4th by mistake – Today your letter from Thursday the 4th – so you are leaving, I will write to you tomorrow Sunday the first ^time and Wednesday the ^second time – But I don’t really understand why not every day since you write to Toutou ^* every day and he also writes to you every day. Since you don't receive any letters under your name, don't understand these strange precautions at all. I suppose it comes from the fact that Toutou doesn't know that I write to you every day and that you write to me the same and that you fear hurting him by telling him – that in return, you won't write to me more and I will brush myself in Nîmes.

So when you receive [sic] this letter, you will be in the beautiful capital of Lorraine, in the capital of King Stanislas, whose story appeals to me infinitely. I had a lot of fun reading about the life of his dwarf Ferry. You may hear the cannon roaring! I wrote to you yesterday to say a thousand things on my behalf to Toutou, I will repeat them to you in case you leave before receiving my letter. Kiss him on both cheeks. Tell him that I am his friend and that I am sure that our friendship will increase even more when we know each other. Ask him if he doesn't have an extra ^** Finally my Lou, may God keep you and may N. Lady protect you, courageous and simple little woman very kindly. Come back safely from the front, my darling. You know how much I love you, I'm going to be anxious this whole trip. I would really like you to have had in Baratier before your departure the letters that I wrote to you these last few days, it's fantastic how strangely the posts are made.

Finally, stock up on interesting impressions that you will tell me about. I'm sending you an amusing clipping from the Écho de Paris : a unique and funny news item. I am not writing to you at great length today because I am invited to dinner by my friend Nicolini and am going to take care of your room. My concern accompanies you, you are my constant worry and my supreme consolation .

I love you with all my might. No poems today, I've made lots of them for you in recent days. If, however, tell Toutou this verse about artillery, I took it from a little poem sent to my friend André Dupont, the meanest man in Paris, and I wrote it down in my artillery notebooks “Artillery is the art of measuring angles” ^*** A thousand kisses, I adore you, I kiss you on the mouth, my beloved . Your Gui for life. »

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^* Gustave Toutaint nicknamed “Toutou”.

^** Instrument for measuring so-called elevation angles, i.e. the elevation of a target in a vertical plane relative to the observer.

^*** Apollinaire's ironic nod to a letter written on February 1 ^to his friend Dupont: " Artillery is the art of measuring angles and horse riding is the art of tightening straps properly ." In fact, Apollinaire learned the finer points of shooting angles in Nîmes. On notes kept at the BnF we can read that “ the burst height H only depends on the angle of elevation and the corrector ”. And on January 21, Apollinaire wrote to Lou that he was “ fed up with all their geometry, algebra, horse artillery and the rest of it .”

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Guillaume Apollinaire met Louise de Coligny-Châtillon (1881-1963) in September 1914 during his stay in Nice where he was awaiting his military incorporation. He immediately falls in love with her. On December 6, 1914, he left to join the 38th field artillery regiment in barracks in Nîmes. Lou joined Apollinaire in Nîmes in mid-December 1914 and both spent more than a week at the Hôtel du Midi, exploring together a sensuality that would long fuel the dreams of the poet confronted with the horrors of war.

On the back of the letters that Apollinaire sent almost daily to Lou are the famous poems which were later collected under the title of Ombre de mon amour then of Poèmes à Lou . Here we find an amusing testimony to this extreme poetic prodigality: “ No poems today, I’ve made you lots of them in recent days. »

We finally observe that in this second month of the year 1915, Apollinaire is still in the euphoria of this great love but that he nevertheless has to deal with a rival and lover, Gustave Toutaint nicknamed Toutou, then employed as a liaison agent in the Vosges and which Lou is preparing to join in Nancy. Lou will finally escape Guillaume Apollinaire by refusing to separate from Gustave Toutaint. The break will be definitively consummated in March 1915, the day before Apollinaire's departure for the front.

The poet and Louise de Coligny-Châtillon continued to maintain regular correspondence during the following summer, until Apollinaire's engagement to Madeleine Pagès in August. Letters will then become rarer and more impersonal. The last one is dated January 18, 1916.