About
Francis Ponge (1899-1988) was a French poet and essayist, often called 'the poet of things' for his meticulous prose poems about everyday objects. His collection Le Parti pris des choses (1942) is a classic of French literature. He developed a unique prose-poem form he called 'proêmes', avoiding emotion and symbolism to recreate the world of experience through language itself. He received the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 1974 and the Grand Prize for Poetry from the Académie française in 1972.
* 1899-03-27 — † 1988-08-06
Major works
- Le Parti pris des choses (1942)prose poetry collection
- Proêmes (1948)collection of poems and essays
- Le Savon (1967)prose poem
- La Fabrique du pré (1971)poetic essay
- Œuvres complètes (1999)critical edition
Key milestones
- 1974Awarded the Neustadt International Prize for Literature.
- 1972Received the Grand Prize for Poetry from the Académie française.
- 1983Appointed Commander of the Légion d'honneur.
Themes
everyday objectslanguage and perceptionprose poetryanti-symbolismmateriality of the world
Sources: britannica.com · id.loc.gov · poetryfoundation.org