A review by regitzexenia
Calligrammes by Guillaume Apollinaire

3.0

Actually, it is closer to 2.5 stars. I don't know, it is jus that some of these poems I loved, some I thought were ok and some I really didn't get. What pulls it from 2 to 2.5 (or 3, as per Goodreads' rating system) are the calligrams. The very reason I chose to read this book was the stylised poems. And I still think they're really cool, I can't help but marvel at how much work it must have been, to get the words to fit the figure (or vice versa). I read these poems in two books simultaneously, one in French and one in Danish. Not every poems appeared in the Danish translation and therefore, it is very possible that I literally didn't understand the poems, because I'm not that good with French. But the calligrams, the figure-poems, those I was able to get at least some meaning out of due to the visual apsect. And that's something. I particularly loved "the little car", "the mirror" and "the fountain".