Jacques Prevert was born on the 4th February 1900 in Neuilly-sur-Seine. Famous poet, scriptwriter and close friend of artists Picasso and Motand; he was a prominent figure of the post war cultural scene in Paris. Known for the phenomenal success of his collection of poems "Paroles" and his key role in the French surrealist movement; Prevert's early childhood days were far from the successful figure he later became.

Prevert's younger childhood days were a very happy time for him. He had fond memories of this time and this was often reflected in his work. However, when Prevert was 7 years old (in 1906) his father, Andre lost his job; and the idyllic, carefree childhood young Jacques had once known, disappeared all at once. The family moved to a hotel in the poorest quarters of Paris. Prevert's world was turned upside down, into that of a working class Paris and it's Parisian street urchins.

Childhood is a recurrent metaphor of poetic imagination and eternal youth, and is a prevalent feature in his work in "Paroles". It is believed that Prevert's own childhood has had a strong influence in his idea

s - both positively and negatively. The purpose of this essay is to discuss this idea.

Similarly in the poem "le Mirror brise" - (the shattered mirror), Prevert uses the imagery of childhood. The line "le petit homme qui chantait sans cesse" gives the impression, as being from a child's perspective as, children never had worries or responsibilities, so they could sing without stopping. However in the line "le petit homme de jeunesse" - ( the little man of youth) we are led to believe that the voice of the man "qui dansait dans" his head is not in fact dancing in the head of a child, but an older, more mature figure. The man of youth could indeed be either his memory of childhood or perhaps that little part of youth and vitality left inside of him. The fact that the mirror is described as being shattered - "brise" gives the idea that it is shattered - like his youth, broken youth, he can no longer be carefree and happy like he was when he was younger.

The poem, which, in my opinion, clearly shows Prevert's own experience of childhood and youth is "Le Cancre", - "The Dunce". This poem illustrates Prevert's experience of school and his schooldays. In one sense he is indeed "le cancre"; he was a bit of a rebel who wouldn't accept the rules. The poet creates an imaginary world of his own in this poem, it has a vivid childhood feeling to it as all of the words and constructions are very simple sounding. I.e. "il dit non avec la t

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Approximate Word count = 973
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)