Raised in a working class suburb, Eluard interrupted his studies to spend two years in a tuberculosis sanitorium, where he read widely in French, German, and American poetry. Associated early with the surrealists, he later fought in the resistance and joined the Communist party. His work combines the dreamlike techniques of surrealism, a political humanism, and an attention to the transforming power of love. Eluard remains one of the contemporary poets most widely read and appreciated in France.
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