Advanced Poetry - Writing out of Surrealism

Writing out of Surrealism

For Further Reading

We highly recommend reading these essays and poems we alluded to and quoted from in this chapter:

An excerpt from Andre Breton’s Manifesto of Surrealism, MANIFESTO OF SURREALISM (hawaii.edu)

An excerpt from Penelope Rosemont’s Surrealist Women, Surrealist Women An International Anthology Edited by Penelope Rosemont

Poems by Aimée Cesaire via the Academy of American Poets, About Aimé Césaire | Academy of American Poets

A deep dive into the works of Mina Loy, Mina Loy – Navigating the Avant-Garde – Navigating the Avant-Garde* (mina-loy.com)

Tristan Tzara’s “Dada Manifesto” and “Lecture on Dada” at Tzara, "Dadaism"

An overview of the visual work of Remedios Varos, Remedios Varo Paintings, Bio, Ideas | TheArtStory

An overview of the visual work of Leonora Carrington, Leonora Carrington - Art Work, Images, Fine Art, Surrealism, (leocarrington.com)

An glimpse into the photographs and other works by Kati Horna, Kati Horna | Michael Hoppen Gallery

More Surrealist Poets:

In this chapter we highlight some of the women who were central to the development of Surrealism in its heyday and who innovated with the principles, extending its reach into our contemporary moment. Most of them did not self-identify as Surrealist, even though we often point to them as early influencers. We also highly recommend you check out other poets, who did consider themselves central to the movement, and decide for yourselves which ones are “more” “Surrealist” (some of these are repeated from above):

Andre Breton
Robert Desnos
Charles Baudelaire (who preceded the Surrealists as a French Symbolist, but nevertheless shares that preceding energy)
Paul Eluard
Phillipe Soupault, whose poem “Georgia” is one of the best love poems of all time, IOHO
Louis Aragon
Pierre Reverdy
Gertrude Stein: gertrude-stein (check out, too, her essays such as “Composition as Explanation,” and the fabulous children’s book about her, by Jonah Winter and Calef Brown, Gertrude is Gertrude is Gertrude is Gertrude
Remedios Varo, painter and poet and writer of episotolaries (repeated as she is both visual artist and poet)
Leonora Carrington, visual artist, novelist, and poet (also repeated)
Dorothea Tanning, visual artist and writer
Meret Oppenheim, sketch artist, writer, innovator
Czeslaw Milosz
Wislawa Szymborska
Alejandra Pizarnik
Pablo Neruda
Antonio Machado
Cesar Vallejo

More Contemporary Surrealists

We also recommend checking out work by contemporary poets who have embraced the potent power of dreams, intuition, esoteric spiritual practices, and an approach to political consciousness rooted in the transcendent free play of thought. In these qualities we see the lasting influence of Surrealist on their work:

Chen Chen, Chen Chen | Poetry Foundation

Heather Christle, Heather Christle | Poetry Foundation

Bianca Stone, with her innovative use of comics and her collaborations with Anne Carson to remix Greek tragedies, Bianca Stone | Poetry Foundation

Charles Simic, Charles Simic | Poetry Foundation

Vasko Popa, Vasko Popa - Modern Poetry in Translation

Ana Božičević, About Ana Božičević | Academy of American Poets

Sabrina Orah Mark, whose prose story collection Wild Milk is among our favorites, began in prose poetry with Tsim Tsum, which also works as a kind of linked narrative: sabrina-orah-mark

James Tate

Mary Ruefle

Ralph Angel

Collaborator, multi-genre threat, and poet Carol Guess

Mita Mahato (whose “Extinction Limericks” you encountered in Chapter 1). Read this conversation with her and then go check out her work

Kathryn Smith

Nance Van Winckel, whose visual poetics are stunning, along with her wild leaps and moves in verse poems

Sarah Sloat, whose visual/ erasure works question gender, identity, and climate crisis, as well as capitalism and other evils

Gabrielle Bates, gabrielle-bates

Mary Biddinger

Amorak Huey