The Book, Cat, & Cat Book Lovers Almanac

of historical trivia regarding books, cats, and other animals. Actually this blog has evolved so that it is described better as a blog about cats in history and culture. And we take as a theme the advice of Aldous Huxley: If you want to be a writer, get some cats. Don't forget to see the archived articles linked at the bottom of the page.

August 26, 2009

Aug. 26, 1880

This famous French poet, Guillaume Apollinaire, died young of war wounds, in 1918. He was born on August 26, 1880. He helped create the avante garde--the term surrealism, is a coinage of his. Roger Shattuck translated his writing and put out a volume of selections of his writing for the English, and here we find this stanza:

I want in my own home:
A wife of sound reason
A cat among the books
Friends in every season
Without which I cannot live

Myself I like the lack of punctuation in this poetry, as much as the wonderful list.
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