Surrealism
![Picture](/uploads/1/9/4/9/19495681/6360090.jpg?338)
Surrealism began with Andre Breton's publication of Le Manifesto du Surrealisme in 1924. Breton's definitions of Surrealism were 1)Pure psychic automatism by which it is intended to express, either verbally or in writing, the true function of thought. 2)Based on the belief in the superior reality of certain forms of association heretofore neglected , on the omnipotence of dream, and in the disinterested play of thought. Surrealist methods include techniques such as automatic writing, self-induced hallucinations and word games to make manifest repressed mental activities. Breton was inspired by Freudian psychoanalysis and its emphasis on the power of unconscious thought.
"Free union" by Andre Breton
Poem Analysis
Andre Breton goes on in this poem describing the many feminine features in which his wife possesses that entice him so much. He describes her in such a beautiful way that you would think that he wrote the poem just to be able to stay with her. He very much describes her waist, breasts, eyes, back, legs, neck, shoulders, armpits, teeth, eyebrows, and hair as if she was perfect for him. Andre Breton was in the Surrealist movement and it is apparent due to his use of words in this poem such as "The tongue of a doll with eyes that open and shut Whose tongue is an incredible stone My wife whose eyelashes are strokes in the handwriting of a child Whose eyebrows are nests of swallows." |
Literary Analysis
Simile- Basically makes his poem a long list of them such as "Whose teeth leave prints like the tracks of white mice over snow." Metaphor- The poem is all metaphors and similes such as " My wife whose hair is a brush fire Whose thoughts are summer lightning Whose waist is an hourglass" Personification- He compares the waist of an otter caught in a tiger's mouth to the waist of his wife |