Selected Poems 1930-1988

by Samuel Beckett

  ‘mirlitonnades’. Poèmes, suivi de mirlitonnades (Minuit, 1978). The make-up of the sequence varies from edition to edition of Beckett’s poetry; this printing follows the original text. After this publication Beckett continued to write new poems in French and English in the sottisier notebook. Manuscripts in Trinity College, Dublin describe poems written in the late 1980s as ‘mirlitonnades’, making a case for all his short late poems to be seen as implicit additions to the sequence. A mirliton is a kazoo, and mirlitonnades doggerel verse in which to wrap the instrument. The Mare-Chaudron and rue de Courtablon are places in Ussy, whither Beckett retreated from Paris and did much of his writing in later life. The dark sister of ‘noire sœur’ is Atropos (cf. note to ‘être là sans mâchoires sans dents’). The hare of ‘à bout de songes un bouquin’ derives from La Fontaine’s ‘Le Lièvre et les grenouilles’.

  ‘one dead of night’. Composed June 1977; first published Poetry Review 86:3 1996.

  ‘there’, ‘again gone’. Composed 1981; first published (together with a third, ‘head on hands’) under the single title ‘pss’ in New Departures 14 (1982), but recourse to the sottisier notebook clarifies that they are separate poems. ‘there’ answers Petruchio’s question in The Taming of the Shrew: ‘Where is the life that late I led?’

  ‘bail bail till better/founder’. Composed 11 April 1981 (UoR sottisier notebook).

  ‘Là’. Composed 19 January 1987; first published Journal of Beckett Studies [JOBS] 1.1 and 2 1992, where it carried a dedication ‘For Jim’ (James Knowlson).

  ‘Go where never before’. Composed 24 January 1987; English version of ‘Là’, first published together in JOBS 1.1 and 2 1992.

  ‘Brief Dream’. Composed November 1987; first published JOBS 1.1 and 2 1992.

  Comment dire/what is the word. French text dated 29 October 1988, English text 23 April 1989. Composed 1988; first published Libération 1 June 1989 (‘Comment dire’) and Sunday Correspondent 31 December 1989 (‘what is the word’). ‘what is the word’ was Beckett’s last piece of writing.

  Translations

  ‘Delta’. This Quarter 2.4 April–May–June 1930. Eugenio Montale (1896–1981), Italian poet, Nobel Prize for Literature 1975.

  ‘Louis Armstrong’. From Nancy Cunard’s Negro, An Anthology (1934). Ernst Moerman (1897–1944), Belgian author and film director.

  ‘Drunken Boat’. Whiteknights Press (Reading, 1976). Arthur Rimbaud (1854–1891), French poet. Beckett offered the translation to This Quarter in 1932, but the journal ceased publication shortly afterwards. The text was believed lost for decades before resurfacing in 1975; it was first published in a limited edition the following year.

  ‘Lady Love’, ‘Out of Sight in the Direction of My Body’. First published in Thorns of Thunder: Selected Poems of Paul Éluard (London, 1936). Paul Éluard (1895–1952), French surrealist poet.

  ‘Zone’. Transition Fifty 6 (October 1950), reprinted by Dolmen Press (1972). Guillaume Apollinaire (1880–1918), Polish-born French surrealist poet.

  ‘Long after Chamfort’. First published The Blue Guitar December 1975 (maxims 1–6), Hermathena CXV 1973 (number 6), and Collected Poems (numbers 7 and 8). Nicolas-Sébastien Chamfort (1741–1794), mordant French aphorist. The last of the eight maxims derives not from Chamfort but from Pascal.

  ‘Tailpiece’. From Watt, and placed last in all previous editions of Beckett’s poetry.

  About the Author

  Samuel Beckett was born in Dublin in 1906. He was educated at Portora Royal School and Trinity College, Dublin, where he graduated in 1927. His made his poetry debut in 1930 with Whoroscope and followed it with essays and two novels before World War Two. He wrote one of his most famous plays, Waiting for Godot, in 1949 but it wasn’t published in English until 1954. Waiting for Godot brought Beckett international fame and firmly established him as a leading figure in the Theatre of the Absurd. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1961. Beckett continued to write prolifically for radio, TV and the theatre until his death in 1989.

  About the Editor

  David Wheatley teaches modern literature at the University of Hull. He has published three collections of poetry with Gallery Press.

  Titles in the Samuel Beckett series

  ENDGAME

  Preface by Rónán McDonald

  COMPANY/ILL SEEN ILL SAID/WORSTWARD HO/STIRRINGS STILL

  Edited by Dirk Van Hulle

  KRAPP’S LAST TAPE AND OTHER SHORTER PLAYS

  Preface by S. E. Gontarski

  MURPHY

  Edited by J. C. C. Mays

  WATT

  Edited by C. J. Ackerley

  ALL THAT FALL AND OTHER PLAYS FOR RADIO AND SCREEN

  Preface and Notes by Everett Frost

  MOLLOY

  Edited by Shane Weller

  HOW IT IS

  Edited by Magessa O’Reilly

  THE EXPELLED/THE CALMATIVE/THE END/FIRST LOVE

  Edited by Christopher Ricks

  SELECTED POEMS 1930–1989

  Edited by David Wheatley

  Forthcoming titles

  WAITING FOR GODOT

  Preface by Mary Bryden

  MORE PRICKS THAN KICKS

  Edited by Cassandra Nelson

  MALONE DIES

  Edited by Peter Boxall

  THE UNNAMABLE

  Edited by Steven Connor

  HAPPY DAYS

  Preface by James Knowlson

  TEXTS FOR NOTHING/RESIDUA/FIZZLES: SHORTER FICTION 1950–1981

  Edited by Mark Nixon

  MERCIER AND CAMIER

  Edited by Sean Kennedy

  Copyright

  Collected Poems in English and French published in 1977 by John Calder

  This edition first published in 2009

  by Faber and Faber Ltd

  Bloomsbury House

  74–77 Great Russell Street

  London WC1B 3DA

  This ebook edition first published in 2012

  All rights reserved

  © Samuel Beckett, 1957, 1964

  © The Estate of Samuel Beckett, 2009

  Preface © David Wheatley, 2009

  The right of Samuel Beckett to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

  The right of David Wheatley to be identified as editor of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

  This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly

  ISBN 978–0–571–26196–3