The poetry of René Char emphasizes struggle and strife, rejects compromise both formally and ethically, and puts desire at the center of the poet's inspiration. Other elements are strongly associated with his works: abundant use of landscape (especially that of Provence), the aphorism as a poetic vehicle for expressing his ethics, an idyllic register that softens his view of the life struggle, and a metapoetic vein whereby his poems comment on their own internal laws and significance. His voice was as influential and dominant after World War II as that of Saint-John Perse or Francis Ponge.

René-Emile Char was born in the French town of L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, in the department of the Vaucluse, on 14 June 1907. His poetry does celebrate sites such as Autun, Lascaux, and Alsace that lie outside his native region, and occasionally they become major symbols of creativity, love, or war, but the hill...