|Born||August 26 1880 |Died||9 November 1918 (aged 38)
|Occupation||Poet, Writer, Art critic| Guillaume Apollinaire (in
French pronounced [ɡijom apɔliˈnɛʁ]) (August 26, 1880 – November
9, 1918) was a French avant-garde poet, writer, publisher,
editor, art critic and dramatic innovator who is known to have
directed French poetry into new contemporary directions as well
as promoting the art of Cubism. As a writer of periodicals and a
founder of a new magazine, Apollinaire saw life in wild almost
absurd poetic and artistic values, an example of which is viewed
in one of his poems of war: "The sky is starry with Boche
shells; The marvelous forest where I live is giving a ball."
Apollinaire became very close to artists Pablo Picasso and Andre
Derain, the playwright Alfred Jarry, and the painter Marie
Laurencin. As he used the French avant garde movement to
experiment with advanced and very daring poetic techniques and
ideas, his novel thoughts would also enliven composers and
musicians, and Francis Poulenc set Apo