I’ll reinvent the rose for you
For you are that rose which cannot be described
These few words at least in the order proper to her ritual
That rose which only words distant from roses can describe
The way it is with the ecstatic cry and the terrible sadness which it translates
From the stars of pleaure above love’s deep abyss
I will reinvent for youth rose of adoring fingers
Which create a nave as they interlace but whose petals then suddenly fall away
I will reinvent for you the rose beneath the balconies
Of lovers whose only beds are their arms
The rose at the heart of sculpted stone figures dead without benefit of confession
The rose of a peasant blown to bits by a landmine in his field
The scarlet scent of a letter that has been “discovered”
In which nothing’s addressed to me neither the insult nor the compliment
Some rendezvous to which no one has come
An entire army in flight on a very windy day
A maternal footstep before prison-gates
A man’s song at siesta-time beneath the olive trees
A cock-fight in a mist-enshrouded countryside
The rose of a soldier cut off from his own home country
I’ll reinvent for you my rose as many roses
As there are diamonds in the waters of the seas
As there are past centuries adrift in the dust of the earth’s atmosphere
As there are dreams in just one childish head
As there can be reflections in one tear
In looking up some Surrealist poets on the web, I decided that it would be interesting to focus on Louis Aragon and one of his specific poems. Upon looking up information about Aragon, I learned that he was introduced to the avant-garde movements of Dadaism first and then Surrealism second through André Breton. In eventually working with Breton and then Philippe Soupault, the three founded the Surrealist review Littérature (kirjasto). This particular magazine scorned all of the bourgeois values that many intellectuals saw destroyed by the horrors of war (kirjasto). With this, many of Aragon’s earlier collections of poems portray the beliefs of Dadaism in that it is necessary to critique and destroy traditional institutions and values (kirjasto). Apart from these Dadaist views, Aragon began portraying characteristics of the Surrealists in many of his later pieces of art as this movement began to take over when André Breton came to the forefront. Surrealism was influenced by the psychoanalytic theories of Sigmund Freud for which had the purpose to create artistic works that highlighted spontaneous outburst from the unconscious mind (kirjasto). These spontaneous outbursts were a means to purposely bypass the normative and conditioned modes that modern society imposes on individuals and instead focus on and show the real, strange persona of someone (kirjasto). Along with working with these unconscious outbursts, Surrealist artists often focused on dreams in their pieces of work as they, “focused on visual imagery from the subconscious mind to create art without the intention of logical comprehensibility” (Surrealism.org).With this, it is obvious that Surrealism extended beyond the means and goals of Dadaism in the sense that it did not seem to focus on critiquing modern’s society issues but rather to create a new form of art that went against the traditional normative standards as its desire to stand out was apparent.
In looking up information about Louis Aragon as a Surrealist poet, it was insightful to learn about his life as an artist when I began analyzing a specific poem of his called, I’ll Reinvent the Rose for You. In learning that he worked with Surrealist artists such as the founder André Breton, I thought that this would influence almost every piece of work he created from that point on. In reality though, it seems that most of Aragon’s work that has been translated into English are pieces that do not really reflect any Surrealism influences but rather highlight aspects of the war or the political movements taking place at the time. Because of this, I chose this particular poem because I liked it and thought it depicted love and the sacrifices one would make for someone they love in a new and unique way. In first glancing over this poem I thought it would be somewhat easy to interpret as its language was very normal and the words were not too complicated. Considering I tend to enjoy poems that are not too far out there but rather have a general theme that is conveyed through great imagery and metaphors, I thought that this poem would work well for me.
In looking at the first stanza, it seems as if there is a specific topic, a rose, for which Aragon uses as the focal point for how the rest of the poem unravels. Although I am not sure whether or not the rose does actually signify a rose, I believe that it is a metaphor for something else. It seems as if the rose acts as a signifier for something that is much more complex as this word is used throughout the entire poem. With this, I believe that the rose is a metaphor for love and the narrator uses it as a means to show his feelings and emotions to someone specific. I interpreted this from the first two lines, ‘I’ll reinvent the rose for you/For you are that rose which cannot be described’ as these lines seem to imply that the intentional audience, most likely a woman, is so important to this narrator that he has a desire to reinvent love in order to prove to her that she means the world to him and deserves the best. Throughout this first stanza, the narrator seems to use imagery by having different descriptions of how he wants to show his love. This is apparent especially in the last two lines, “I will reinvent for you the rose beneath the balconies/Of lovers whose only beds are their arms.” I interpreted from these two lines that the narrator is relating his love to the scenes of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet as he wants to reinvent the love that was seen when Romeo confessed his love and desire for Juliet beneath her balcony. It seems that the narrator is using imagery here as he is citing a specific instance such as this traditional love story in order to help portray his love as he hopes to change what love is so that it becomes more special to the woman he loves.
In the second stanza of this poem, the narrator seems to make a drastic change in regards to tone as he begins discussing the ways in which a rose, or love, can die. This part was very confusing to me as the poem’s tone seemed to switch from being upbeat and optimistic to now having a pessimistic view on love and its effects on someone who is in love but may not be able to express it or feel it in return. This pessimistic view was seen through the lines, “The rose at the heart of sculpted stone figures dead without benefit of confession/The rose of a peasant blown to bits by a landmine in his field.” I thought that at this particular point in the poem, the idea that love is not permanent is portrayed as the first line seems to depict that a rose, or love, can die very easily if someone does not show their real feelings and desires. This was apparent even more through the specific phrase ‘dead without benefit of confession’ as it confirms that love will unfortunately die if one is incapable of confessing their feelings outwardly. This death of love is seen again in the following line as it portrays an example of where love dies as it mentions a peasant whose love is blown to bits by a landmine. I interpreted that the word landmine is used metaphorically here to represent something else that prevented the peasant from being able to show his true love which in turn resulted in the death of it. Overall, this particular stanza seems to purposely attest to and question the previous heartfelt, optimistic stanza in order to prove that love can die so easily if it is not handled with care.
In the final stanza, the tone seems to switch back to the happy, optimistic, perspective on love that was apparent in the first stanza. It seems that this final stanza seems to confirm what the narrator has been alluding to all along in regards to his constant questioning of how to transform love. It seems to imply that although love may be difficult, it is always worth it in the end if it is treated properly. I interpreted this perspective from the fact that every line in this stanza seems to discuss a positive aspect of love that contradicts the negative aspects of love seen in the middle of the poem. The three lines that eluded to this idea the most were, “As there are diamonds in the waters of the seas/As there are past centuries adrift in the dust of the earth’s atmosphere/As there are dreams in just one childish head.” These three lines seem to highlight the idea that no matter what, love is always able to exist in any form and in any way for anyone. This idea that love can exist in any way is seen through the narrator’s discussion of unimaginable aspects that still seem to exist such as it being possible to find diamonds in the water. Also, the fact that it alludes to the idea that something as simple as dust can actually be very complex and meaningful confirms that even though love may seem simple in itself, there is much more to it. Also, the fact that this final stanza has the opening line of “I’ll reinvent for you my rose as many roses” confirms that although the narrator has contemplated abandoning love, he will continue his search of trying to reinvent love so that it forms its own special meaning to him and the woman he loves.
Overall, I think my interpretations of this poem may be a complete stretch as well as completely wrong as it was difficult to try and break down this poem to see what its actual meaning is. Even though I did not expect this poem to contain many obvious aspects of Dadaism and Surrealism, I was surprised to find that nothing in this poem seemed to be influenced or related to either of these two movements. With this, I believe that Aragon did not have the intention of creating this poem to highlight ideas from these movements but rather just wanted to write a love poem to his wife Elsa Triolet as he was known to have written many poems to her. In the end, it is obvious that despite Louis Aragon being a Surrealist poet, this particular poem does not reflect any direct influences or aspects of Surrealism and instead seems to just be a love poem that explored love through a new way.
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