Jacques Prévert

Jacques Prévert (1900–1977) was a French poet and screenwriter from the Paris region, one of the most widely read French poets of the twentieth century. Associated in his youth with the Surrealist movement before charting his own independent course, he became known for a deceptively simple, conversational style full of wordplay, irony, and tenderness toward ordinary people, children, and outsiders, often laced with anti-authoritarian and anti-clerical humor. His verse frequently reads as spoken language set on the page, which made it unusually accessible and beloved well beyond literary circles.

His best-known collection, «Paroles» (1946), gathered poems written over the preceding years and became a cultural phenomenon in postwar France, cementing his reputation as a poet of everyday life, love, and social observation. Poems such as «Déjeuner du matin», «Barbara», and «Le chat et l'oiseau» remain widely taught and quoted in French schools. Many of his texts were set to music, most famously «Les feuilles mortes» (with music by Joseph Kosma), which became a jazz and chanson standard performed by countless singers internationally.

Beyond poetry, Prévert was a prolific screenwriter, collaborating with director Marcel Carné on landmark films of French poetic realism, including «Les Enfants du Paradis». His body of work sits at the intersection of poetry, song, and cinema, and his influence on French popular culture remains substantial.