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Eiffel Tower - Apollinaire - Calligram Poetry Poster

Eiffel Tower - Apollinaire - Calligram Poetry Poster

Regular price €35,00 EUR
Regular price Sale price €35,00 EUR
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  • Poster created in France
  • 100% eco-friendly paper100% eco-friendly paper
  • Printed and shipped from a studio near you : most orders arrive in 3 to 5 business daysDelivery within 3 to 4 business days.

"Greetings, world, whose eloquent tongue I am"

What this poster shows

Apollinaire's words draw the silhouette of the Eiffel Tower: "Salut monde dont je suis la langue éloquente que sa bouche ô Paris tire et tirera toujours aux Allemands". Below the drawing, the caption carries the title and the author: La Tour Eiffel, Guillaume Apollinaire.

What is a calligram?

A calligram is a poem whose words are arranged to draw its subject. Guillaume Apollinaire gave the genre its name with his collection Calligrammes (1918): here, the letters form the tower itself, and the poem is looked at as much as it is read.

What does this Eiffel Tower calligram tell us?

Written during the First World War, the poem turns the tower into the tongue of Paris: it greets the world and sticks its tongue out at the enemy, with Apollinaire's panache and mischief. In a single tower-shaped sentence, the poet blends Parisian wit, pride and wartime humor.

What size should I choose for this calligram poster?

This poster is available in 30 x 40 cm, 40 x 50 cm and 50 x 70 cm. The 30 x 40 cm size suits an entrance, an office or a gallery wall; the 50 x 70 cm size stands alone above a sofa or a bed. The frame is not included, the sizes are standard and easy to find in shops.

Gift idea for a lover of Paris, an Apollinaire reader, or someone who likes poetry with wit.

Lean in close and you'll see the letters aren't perfectly crisp. That's because they come from a page printed more than 100 years ago. Between a clean copy in a modern font and the real type of the period, we chose the real thing.

Features and formats

Available sizes: 30 x 40 cm, 40 x 50 cm, 50 x 70 cm
Paper: thick eco-friendly matte paper
Printing: high resolution, colorfast over time
Frame: not included
Print medium: poster, art print on matte paper
Theme: poetry, literature
Average delivery times observed: 3 business days, careful packaging

Posters sold individually

These posters need to be framed by you :)
We choose standard formats that are easy to frame!

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Close-up of the grain of our thick eco-friendly matte 170 gsm paper
The paper grain, up close.

Heure d'été Editions

Beautiful words deserve beautiful paper

These verses are set to be hung: a chosen typeface, measured margins, white space worked around the text. It is this layout that makes you want to read them again.

The paper is an uncoated matte 170 gsm. Its surface stays slightly fibrous, the ink sinks in, the light spreads across it. You read it the way you read a book.

It is eco-friendly paper from sustainably managed forests, and printed as close to you as possible to shorten transport.

Hanging a poem is not the same as reading it once. The text stays there, you catch two lines in passing, and the day pauses for a second. It is a moment you give yourself, and offer to those who live with you.

There is a quiet pleasure in living with French literature in the original. The poem keeps the language it was written in, and with it the sound the writer chose, which no translation quite carries over. On an English-speaking wall it stops being decoration and becomes something with a little cachet: a piece of France you can read on your way past, every morning.

It earns the large format. At 50x70 cm the text is read from across the room, and the page holds a wall the way a painting does.

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    Responsible & local printing

    We print the posters as close to your home as possible!

  • Careful, fast delivery

    Careful and fast delivery

    Fast and careful delivery, worldwide!

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