Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, LETHAL RELIEF, by ANDRE BRETON


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

LETHAL RELIEF, by             Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: The statue of lautreamont / its plinth of quinine tabloids
Last Line: Weighs anchor is tuned each night like a piano
Subject(s): Dadaism


The statue of Lautr??amont Its plinth of quinine tabloids In the open country
The statue of Lautreamont
The author of the Poetical Works lies flat on his face
Its plinth of quinine tabloids
And near at hand the hiloderm a shady customer keeps vigil
In the open country
l His left ear is glued to the ground it is a glass case it contains


A prong of lightning the artist has not failed to figure aloft
The author of the Poetical Works lies flat on his face
In the form of a Turk's head the blue balloon
The Swan of Montevideo with wings unfurled ready to flap at a moment's notice
And near at hand the hiloderm a shady customer keeps vigil
Should the problem of luring the other swans from the horizon arise
His left ear is glued to the ground it is a glass case it contains
A prong of lightning the artist had not failed to figure aloft
Opens upon the false universe two eyes of different hues
The one of sulphate of iron on vines of the lashes the other of sparkling mire
In the form of a Turk's head the blue balloon

He beholds the vast funnelled hexagon where now in no time the machines

By man in dressings rabidly swaddled
The swan of Montevideo with wings unfurled ready to flap at a moment's notice
Shall lie a-writhing
With his radium bougie he quickens the dregs of the human crucible

With his sex of feathers and his brain of bull-paper

Should the problem of luring the other swans from the horizon arise
He presides at the twice nocturnal ceremonies whose object due allowance for fire having been made

is the interversion of the hearts of the bird and the man

Convulsionary in ordinary I have access to his side
Opens upon the false universe two eyes of different hues
The ravishing women who introduce me into the rose-padded compartment
Where a hammock that they have been at pains to contrive with their tresses for

Me is reserved for

The one of sulphate of iron on vines of the lashes the other of sparkling mire
Me for all eternity
Exhort me before taking their departure not to catch a chill in the perusal of the daily

It transpires that the statue in whose latitude the squitch of my nerve terminals

He beholds the vast funneled hexagon where now in no time the machines
Weighs anchor is tuned each night like a piano



By man in dressings rabidly swaddled


Shall lie a-writhing


With his radium bougie he quickends the dregs of the human crucible
With his sex of feathers and his brain of bull-paper


He presides at the twice nocturnal ceremonies whose object due allowance for fire having been made
is the
intervention of the


hearts of the bird and the man
Convulsionary in ordinary I have access to his side


The ravishing women who introduce me into the rose-padded compartment
Where a hammock that they have been at pains to contrive with their tresses for
Me is reserved for
Me for all eternity


Exhort me before taking their departure not to catch a chill in the perusal of the daily
It transpires that the statue in whose latitude the squitch of my nerve terminals
Weighs anchor is tuned each night like a piano






Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net