Paroles – Jacques Prévert

"I put my cap in the cage and went out with the bird on my head."

Published in 1946, this collection became an immediate popular sensation. Prévert uses simple, everyday language to write about love, freedom, war, and the streets of Paris. He attacks authority and the church with humor and surreal imagery, celebrating the beauty of ordinary life.

Paroles is the most popular book of French poetry in the 20th century. Its accessible, anarchic spirit spoke to a generation emerging from the war. Many of its poems were set to music and became classic chansons.