Poetry for Students

Always

“Always” appears in Guillaume Apollinaire’s sec-

ond volume of poetry, Calligrammes, which was

published in 1918 and is thought to contain some

of his best and most experimental poems. The poem

was reprinted in The Self-Dismembered Man, pub-

lished by Wesleyan University Press in 2004.

“Always” reveals the influence of cubism, an

art movement that emerged between 1908 and 1912.

Apollinaire was fascinated by the way such mod-

ern painters as Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque

were able to imaginatively reconstruct reality in

their work. He applied their methods to “Always”

as he examined the nature of poetic inspiration and

construction. In a series of separate but related im-

ages, the poem focuses on the process of exploration

of the universe, from its celestial to its terrestrial

boundaries, by such diverse figures as Christopher

Columbus and the legendary lover Don Juan.

Through creative contradictions and ambiguities,

Apollinaire investigates in “Always” the poet’s de-

sire to create fresh visions of the world.

Author Biography

Guillaume Apollinaire is considered one of the

most important literary figures of the early twenti-

eth century. His use of direct language and uncon-

ventional poetic structure had a great influence on

his fellow exponents of the avant-garde, his literary

Guillaume Apollinaire

1918

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