Éluard, Paul

Éluard, Paul (pōl ālüär`), 1895–1952, French poet. He was a leading exponent of surrealism. Among his volumes of verse are Mourir de ne pas mourir [to die of not dying] (1924) and L'Immaculée Conception (with André Breton, 1930). A member of the French resistance in World War II, Éluard is revealed as poet and man of action in the verse of Poésie et vérité (1942) and Au rendez-vous allemand (1945).

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Éluard, Paul

 orig. Eugène Grindel

(born Dec. 14, 1895, Saint-Denis, Paris, France—died Nov. 18, 1952, Charenton-le-Pont) French poet. In 1919 he met André Breton, Philippe Soupault, and Louis Aragon, with whom he founded the movement they would call Surrealism. His subsequent poetry—Capitale de la douleur (1926), Les Dessous d'une vie ou la pyramide humaine (1926), La Rose publique (1934), and Les Yeux fertiles (1936)—is considered the best to have come out of the movement. After the Spanish Civil War he abandoned Surrealist experimentation. During World War II he wrote poems dealing with suffering and brotherhood that were circulated secretly and strengthened the morale of the Resistance. His postwar poetry, including Le Phénix (1951), was more lyrical.