Saint-John Perse, Oiseaux, II, 1963

This contribution is based on a twofold ambition, in keeping with the principles of the Saint-John Perse colloquium: to present, subjectively, the relationship between a critic and the poet, the circumstances of its first reading and discovery; and, secondly, to comment on a passage from the poetic work that offers a particular resonance. The choice fell upon the second part of Birds, a rarer poem but one that contains some pages of radiant beauty and ideal eurythmy.