Paul Éluard

Eugène Émile Paul Grindel, who published under the name Paul Éluard, was born on December 14, 1895, just outside of Paris in Saint-Denis, France. He was an only child who excelled in his studies; as a teenager he

To Live Here

by Paul Éluard (1895–1952)

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I lit a fire, the blue sky having abandoned me,

A fire for a friend

A fire for a way to enter the winter darkness

A fire for an enhanced existence

I fed to it what the days had fed to me

Forests, foliage, wheatfields and vines,

Nests with their birds, houses with their keys,

Insects, flowers, furriness and feasts.

Once, I lived alone with the sounds of crackling flames,

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Poets Book of Days

December 14

Salvador Diaz Miron born, 1853

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Poetry Trivia

Question:

Which poet, often lauded as one of the worst poets in the English language, is parodied in the British radio series, The Goon Show ?

Answer

The Goon Show 's Peter Sellers plays tragedian William McGoonagal in "The Pevensy Bay Disaster", first aired November 22, 1955. The episode is a send-up of William McGonagal's "Tay Bridge Disaster." Science Fiction writer Terry Pratchet also parodies McGonagal in his Discworld series, naming his Nac Mac Feegle battle poets "Gonagals."

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