Pierre Reverdy's importance for twentieth-century French poetry lies in his innovative application of Cubist theories to the writing of verse; his theory of the image, which was taken up by André Breton and the Surrealists; and his editorship of the literary journal Nord-Sud (North-South), a catalyst for French avant-garde writers. Formally, Reverdy favored free verse and the prose poem. Central to his poetics is the idea of the image, "une création pure de l'esprit" (a pure creation of the spirit) that discloses a spiritual, poetic reality different from everyday life. Reverdy's favorite images are those of voyages, rooms, and barriers, which are often allegories of the poetic process; feelings of alienation and frustration are tempered by a sense of wonderment.

In addition to poetry, Reverdy wrote experimental fiction such as the novel Le Voleur de Talan (The Thief of Talan, 1917) and important reviews of Cubist...