Some Surreal soot

EEEEey, who doesn't like new information huh?? Surrealist Poetry                     

Surrealist poetry is a dialect of poetry where the artist would attempt to express and interpret the inner workings of the subconscious mind. It was said to be formally started with the publication of the Manifesto of Surrealism by André Breton in 1924. The 20th century movement originated in the space between the two World Wars and some believe that its a reflection of the troubled politics during that time. The movements goal was to create images and juxtapositions to represent dreams and unconscious thoughts and to achieve this, unexpected juxtapositions and chance effects were used to reflect the dream like quality of these poems. Sometimes the juxtapositions would just be the sizing of the words, other times the meanings. Depending on the intention or goal of the specific poem, a writer could either throw seemingly disconnected words at the reader to slow them down and give them a stunted process or to throw words that in usual contexts would belong and flow together out of the blue to create confusion about the meaning of the words. So in turn, relaying an experience or feeling of a dream to give the reader something they can either relate to or get a base level understanding of. Using surrealist poetry we get a small window into a writer's mind, whether or not we understand it; the intention and feeling of the poem is usually if not always clear to the reader looking in the right places. There are several different ways people choose to express their intended image, a couple of popular techniques people use are the automatism technique, or self-induced hallucinations. Self-induced hallucinations are not usually mentioned but become evident in some writers works, usually only for the inspiration and not finalized poems as to have a semblance of cohesiveness. Therefore the importance of the unconscious mind or feel of unconsciousness as a source of inspiration is central to the base nature of surreal poetry.

The automatism technique is the most widely used technique where the writer just writes without forethought so it has an almost instinctual and disorienting quality to it., it also has several subcategories within it that include the Decalcomania technique; in which the writer or artist randomly places a word or feeling in a sequence, there is usually little to no planning of this and an attempt to be instinctive and reflect the subconscious. The various other techniques are usually used in painting but can also be applied to writing as well. This is usually taken advantage of to help further the experience of the poems but can sometimes cause the poem to be too disorienting or confusing. The usage of the technique depends on the writer as some writers consider automatism to only be a source of inspiration, whereas others  argue for them to only be used as starting points for finished works. Some even consider the poems created through automatism to be finished works without need for further improvement. A good example of the later would be “echolike” by Pablo Saborío; “Look at the fountain, how it stretches its arm-like foam and spurting bouquets of gurgles; it leaves no echo in the sunlit conception.” Pablo uses vivid imagery to give us an uninterrupted swirl of sequences. He ends his poem with, “I can’t imagine how to end this, this sick exercise of automatic writing.” to further outline the lack of forethought and automatic technique he used. The automatism technique outlines the importance of the unconscious mind and feeling of unconsciousness as the base of surreal poetry.

A poem that reflects the importance of the underlying unconscious mind would be Sleep Spaces in A la mystérieuse 1926, where even just reading the first four lines, “In the night there are of course the seven wonders of the world

and greatness, tragedy and enchantment.

Forests collide with legendary creatures hiding in thickets.

There is you.”, we get wild visuals that spiral us into a “thicket” of things we can visualize and interpret differently as individuals because of the dream like quality of the spacing and placement of words. To be able to make a reader visualize words and create an almost subliminal influence on how the reader will interpret the words to relay the intended surreal feel. The pattern continues as we read through other surrealist poems, for example Federico García Lorca’s poem Dawn, “Those who go out early know in their bones

there will be no paradise or loves that bloom and die:

they know they will be mired in numbers and laws,

in mindless games, in fruitless labors.”, we get an understanding of this section even though in most contexts these words together wouldn't make an image. We get that this part of the poem could either be interpreted as a life and death explanation, where “going out early” would represent dying, and “there will be no paradise or loves that bloom and die” would be someone's interpretation of the afterlife and that there isn't much to look forward to. Or alternatively it could be talking about sleep itself, when you know that after you are done sleeping there is an end to it and life continues “mindless games, in fruitless labors” could be seen as the day to day life habits of people and the repetitious way people lead their lives.

The importance of interpretive, visual, expressive words, and placements of said words are, solidified  in surrealist poetry because it builds the basis for what the writer intends the reader to understand or feel. Surrealist poetry helps the reader have incite within the writer's mind and shares the innermost self of who that writer may be.Therefore the importance of the unconscious mind or feel of unconsciousness as a source of inspiration is central to the dormant nature of surreal poetry.

Works Cited

"Automatic Techniques." Automatic Techniques. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2013. <http://www.ithellcolquhoun.co.uk/5263/>.

"A Brief Guide to Surrealism." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2013. <http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5673>.

Desnos, Robert. "SURREALISM-PLAYS." Surrealist Poetry. N.p., 1926. Web. 07 Nov. 2013. <http://www.surrealism-plays.com/surrealistpoems.html>.

Gullette, Alan. "The Theory and Techniques of Surrealist Poetry by Alan Gullette." The Theory and Techniques of Surrealist Poetry by Alan Gullette. N.p., 1979. Web. 07 Nov. 2013. <http://alangullette.com/essays/lit/surreal.htm>.

"Herbert Marcuse and Surrealism." Herbert Marcuse and Surrealism. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2013. <http://www.marcuse.org/herbert/pubs/70spubs/73surreal/arsenalindex.htm>.

Lorca, Federico García. "SURREALISM-PLAYS." Surrealist Poetry. N.p., new york 1929-1930. Web. 07 Nov. 2013. <http://www.surrealism-plays.com/surrealistpoems.html>.

Saborío, Pablo. "Nihilistic Poetry." Nihilistic Poetry. N.p., 12 Mar. 2013. Web. 07 Nov. 2013. <http://nihilisticpoetry.com/2013/03/12/echolike/>.

"A Sampling of French Surrealist Poetry." A Sampling of French Surrealist Poetry. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2013. <http://www.alb-neckar-schwarzwald.de/surrealism/surrealism.html>.

"SURREALISM IN POETRY." Surrealism in Poetry. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2013. <http://www.textetc.com/modernist/surrealism.html>.

"Surrealist Poetry." The Free Dictionary. Farlex, n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2013. <http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Surrealist poetry>.