Capital of Sorrow

Like Aragon, Paul Eluard's greatest works were written before his writings became more political in nature. Capital of Sorrow, originally published in 1926, is a case in point. Although Eluard had published previous volumes of poetry, this was one of his first volumes of surrealist poetry and it helped to establish his reputation as a poet and bring attention to the surrealist movement. In Capital of Sorrow, Eluard focuses on two, diametrically opposed ideas—love and loneliness—and expounds on each with a passion and intensity for which he became famous. Invoking images of the individual and the universal, Capital of Sorrow was a key formative work in the poet's career. Of all of the French surrealists, Eluard was praised by critics as the most talented, and works like Capital of Sorrow have continued to receive favorable attention over the years.

Liberty or Love!

Liberty or...