SOURCE: '"L'Activité du Songe' in the Poetry of Saint-John Perse," in Forum for Modern Language Studies, Vol. II, No. 4, October, 1966, pp. 356-67.

In the following essay, Cranston examines the role of the sea, violence, and dreams in Léger's poetry.

 Mer de la transe et du délit;
Mer de la fête et de l'éclat;
et Mer aussi de l'action!(Amers) 

Like every true poet, Saint-John Perse is forever singing but one song. For the Guadeloupean poet, this song is the song of the sea. The oneness of Perse's poetry lies in the double nature of that sea: sea of childhood, innocence and peace, but also of temptation and war. Two main principles can be derived from this ambiguity: that of violence, which rules in the world of action, and that of acquiescence, governing the sphere of dreams. These mutually oppose each other and are...