Prévert, Jacques

Related Category: French Literature: Biographies

(zhäk prāvĕr´), 1900–1977, French poet. One of the most popular of 20th-century French writers, Prévert produced poetry ranging from the humorous to the satiric to the melancholy. Many of his poems and songs were sung in nightclubs before being collected and published. His volumes of poetry include Paroles (1946), Spectacle (1951), and, in English translation, Selections from Paroles (1958) and To Paint the Portrait of a Bird (tr. by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, 1970). Prévert wrote many important screenplays, including those for Marcel Carné's Le Jour se lève (1939) and Les Enfants du paradis (1945).