Cendrars always deals with a unified core of concerns or themes, and interweaving … is a necessary technique for searching out an elusive and complex centre. In the case of [Les Pâques] something of the reverse seems to obtain, for the diverse images appear to be flung away from the central image of Christ, as if he can no longer control them. (p. 92)

The centre of Les Pâques is the difficulty of resurrecting the faith we already had. While it is Easter, the celebration of the resurrection of Christ, the modern world, New York, goes about its crass and deepeningly oppressive business…. There is no especial grudge against the modern world, and the poem is more concerned with the plight of the poor, which has no doubt never been much different; but New York is particularly saddening to the poet because it brings together many different peoples...