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Among the great poets of literary history,

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certain names like Homer,

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Shakespeare,

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Milton,

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and Whitman are instantly recognizable.

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However, there's an early 20th century
great French poet

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whose name you may not know:

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Guillaume Apollinaire.

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He was a close friend and collaborator
of artists like Picasso,

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Rousseau,

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and Chagall.

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He coined the term surrealism,

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and he was even suspected of stealing
the Mona Lisa in 1911.

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During his short lifetime,

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he created poetry that combined
text and image

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in a way that seemingly predicted
an artistic revolution to come.

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In the late 19th 
and early 20th century Paris,

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the low-rent districts of Montmartre
and Montparnasse

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were home to every 
kind of starving artist.

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It was all they could afford.

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These painters, writers, 
and intellectuals,

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united in their artistic passion
and counterculture beliefs,

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made up France's bohemian subculture.

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And their works of art, literature,
and intellect would shake up the world.

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At the turn of the 20th century,

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within this dynamic scene,

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art critic, poet, 
and champion of the avant-garde,

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Guillaume Apollinaire 
was a well-known fixture.

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As an art critic, Apollinaire explained

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the cubist 
and surrealist movements to the world,

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and rose to the defense 
of many young artists

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in the face of what was often
a xenophobic and narrow-minded public.

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As a poet, Apollinaire was passionate
about all forms of art

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and a connoisseur of medieval literature,

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especially calligraphy 
and illuminated initials.

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As a visionary, Apollinaire saw a gap
between two artistic institutions.

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On one side was the popular, highly 
lauded traditional art forms of the time.

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On the other, the forms 
of artistic expression

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made possible through surrealism,

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cubism,

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and new inventions, 
like the cinema

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and the phonograph.

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Within that divide,

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through the creation of his most important
contribution to poetry,

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the calligram,

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Guillaume Apollinaire built a bridge.

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Apollinaire created the calligram
as a poem picture,

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a written portrait,

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a thoughts drawing,

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and he used it to express his modernism

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and his desire to push poetry beyond
the normal bounds of text and verse

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and into the 20th century.

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Some of his calligrams are funny,

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like the "Lettre-Océan."

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Some of them are dedicated
to his young dead friends,

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like "La Colombe Poignardée 
et le jet d'eau."

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Some of them are the expression
of an emotional moment,

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as is "Il Pleut":

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"It's raining women's voices
as if they had died even in memory,

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and it's raining you as well,
Marvellous encounters of my life,

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o little drops.

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Those rearing clouds begin to neigh
a whole universe of auricular cities.

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Listen if it rains while regret
and disdain weep to an ancient music.

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Listen to the bonds fall off
which hold you above and below."

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Each calligram is intended
to allow readers to unchain themselves

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from the regular experience of poetry,

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and feel and see something new.

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"Lettre-Océan" is first an image to be seen
before even the words are read.

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Text-only elements combine with words
in shapes and forms.

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Two circular forms, 
one locked in a square,

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the other, morph beyond
the page in the shape of a spiral.

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Together they create a picture
that hints towards cubism.

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Then on closer reading of the text,

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the descriptive words within suggest

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the image of an aerial view 
of the Eiffel Tower.

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They give tribute to electromagnetic waves
of the telegraph,

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a new form of communication at the time.

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Undoubtedly, the deeply layered artistic 
expressions in Apollinaire's calligrams

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are not just a brilliant display
of poetic prowess

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from a master of the form.

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Each calligram itself is also
a snapshot in time,

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encapsulating the passion,

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the excitement,

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and the anticipation of all the 
bohemian artists of Paris,

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including Apollinaire,

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most of whom are well ahead of their time,

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and with their innovative work,

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eagerly grasping for the future.