Anabasis by Saint-John Perse

First published:Anabase, 1924 (English translation, 1930)

Type of work: Poetry

Type of plot: Allegory

Time of plot: Indeterminate

Locale: The East

Principal characters

• The Speaker, the poet
• The Leader, an unidentified man who tells the story
• The Stranger, an unidentified man
• The Women, a group of young women met by the Leader and his troops

The Poem:

In the opening song, the Leader, unidentified, describes the foaling of a colt under bronze tree leaves. A passing Stranger places bitter berries in the Speaker’s hands. The Speaker’s exclamations evoke far-off provinces, the call of a trumpet, and winged movement. From the bronze tree comes a great noise, forces of life and death expressing themselves, as the Stranger beckons to roads leading to unknown destinations.

In canto 1, the Leader recounts how, with honor and dignity, he founded his law and built a primitive society in a coastal region, not yet knowing the name of the sun but realizing the potential of humanity to dream of achieving glory. The Leader declares that he will spend one more year among his followers, not because he wishes to trace towns along the sloping landscape but because he desires to live in the community he created. The Leader communicates the aspirations of his people, spiritual and eternal, to strive to discover the unknown, to uncover the cosmic forces that feed humanity’s desires. He repeats his intent to stay for one more year among his own, although recognizing that his glory is upon the seas.

In canto 2, the Leader and his followers walk along slopes covered in the linen of the Greats, exposed to the air. The Leader speaks of a man’s desire for a woman and her daughter, a primordial impulse liberated by a sea breeze that blows inland, scattering the linen like a priest torn into pieces.

In canto 3, at barley harvest, the Leader recounts how visiting foreign dignitaries ate at a table at his door. The Assayer of Weights and Measures, with the remains of insects and bits of straw in his beard, returns after surveying the flora and fauna of the region. A society that is no longer nomadic is being founded. Illuminated by the Sun’s power, the natural order is challenged by the newly organized forces of civilization. The Leader speaks of the danger of illusion, of questioning the reality of things. As a man of action, the Leader condemns idle contemplation of one’s sadness and begins to specify the members of this new society: princes, ministers, captains, priests, grammarians, and tailors. Finally, the Leader, enveloped by the strong smells of the world around him, condemns the contemplation of death in the present.

The founding of the City, built of stone and bronze, is described by the Leader in canto 4. No longer surrounded by encampments on the hills, the unidentified port city receives tall ships laden with grain. However, in the midst of the bustling activity, a dead ass floats in the port’s dead water, a sign of the stagnation and destruction that might befall this civilization. Blacksmiths, mules, bankers, the druggist’s wares, festivals, and tumults are contrasted to those who, keeping watch on the hillside, refuse to become part of the City. A dealer in flasks like his father, a sole man strides forth toward the beginning of the desert.

Following the foundation of the City, the Leader feels the need of solitude and the desire to depart in canto 5. Squadrons of stars beckon to him, and at dawn the Stranger of the opening song reappears, and the colt, born in the opening song, nuzzles its chin into the hands of a child. The sudden presence of the Stranger, embodiment of transcendental forces, suggests the imminent departure of those wishing to continue their nomadic discoveries.

The Leader, now a powerful military governor, enjoys omnipotence and triumph against invading forces. In canto 6, a call to the horsemen, now dismounted among the crops, is heard. Future expeditions to impoverished, weakened countries are near at hand.

The Leader describes the ephemeral nature of civilization. In canto 7, all is transient; of this the Leader is acutely aware. Like camels, hills march in silence toward this civilization, kneeling at the plains as a beckoning force. Evoking deserts, they invite nomadic wanderings. Voices proclaim the erection of protecting walls as the shadow of a great bird, a symbol of life and movement, pass over the Leader’s face.

Canto 8 recounts the long march of humanity, begun once again. Nomads’ laws and visions of swaying grass and horsemen on the move: These are the fundamental elements of this voyage whose Leader remains an eternal wanderer, committed to the quest, not for personal glory but for the progress of civilization.

Moving westward through the desert in canto 9, having forsaken the temporal nature of his own society, the Leader is addressed by one of a group of young women who greet the expedition and announce great blessings. The woman speaks of the vine of the womb, the fecundity of the female body, and earthly pleasures. A union between men and women creates a new order.

In the final canto, the tenth, this new union is celebrated. Sacrifice of colts on the tombs of children, purification of widows, consecration of monuments and flags, and a general rebuilding of this formerly ruined society are the first activities. Diverse vocations are enumerated to show the array of duties and interests among the citizens, from the toll gatherer to the man with the falcon to he who dwells in a country of great rains to the man learned in science. Finally, the Leader, who incarnated the conquering spirit of humanity, remained conscious of the call from faraway lands in dream, of the eternal beckoning from exotic, fertile countries.

In the song that closes Anabasis, the Leader and his horse stop by a tree full of turtledoves. The young colt of the introductory song is carried forward by time toward maturation. The Leader, supremely fulfilled, whistles sweetly and wishes peace to the dying.

Bibliography

Galand, René. Saint-John Perse. New York: Twayne, 1972. A complete general introduction to Perse’s poetry. Includes a concise study of Anabasis, as well as a short, annotated bibliography of the major critical studies, mostly in French, of his work.

Gallagher, Mary. “Seminal Praise: The Poetry of Saint-John Perse.” In An Introduction to Caribbean Francophone Writing: Guadeloupe and Martinique, edited by Sam Haigh. New York: Berg, 1999. Analyzes the “highly complex connection” between the Caribbean and Perse’s poetry.

Knodel, Arthur. Saint-John Perse: A Study of His Poetry. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1966. An excellent study of all of Perse’s poetry. Includes some biographical details and in-depth analyses of Anabasis.

Little, Roger. Saint-John Perse. London: Athlone Press, 1973. A brief overview of Perse’s work, including some comments on Anabasis. Includes a short biographical sketch.

Mehlman, Jeffrey. “Saint-John Perse: Discontinuities.” In Émigré New York: French Intellectuals in Wartime Manhattan, 1940-1944. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000. Chronicles the lives of Perse and other French writers who spent World War II living in exile in New York City.

Rigolot, Carol. Forged Genealogies: Saint-John Perse’s Conversations with Culture. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, Department of Romance Languages, 2001. Rigolot likens reading Perse’s poetry to “eavesdropping on a telephone conversation in which only one side is audible.” She analyzes his use of dialogue in his poetry, focusing on his conversations with a range of historical figures. Chapter 3 focuses on Anabasis.