SOURCE: “Péret and the Surrealist Word,” in Romance Notes, Vol. XI, No. 2, Winter, 1969, pp. 233–37.

In the following essay, Caws examines Péret's “attitude toward the language of surrealism,” as suggested by his poetry.

… je demande la parole 

Du bout des lèvres

La Parole est à Péret¹—faithful to the surrealist movement until his death, Benjamin Péret has often been considered the most remarkable of surrealist poets. He is known for his unrelenting defense of human liberty against its clerical and capitalist “oppressors,” his constant testimonies to an “amour sublime,” and especially for the spontaneous brilliance of his poetic imagery. The most direct of all the surrealist poets, and perhaps the only one to write consistently automatic poems, he casually displays the effortless perfect language of abundance and explosion that was demanded also of the Dada poet. In view of this, it is particularly interesting to...