"Trans-Siberian Prose and Little Jeanne from France"

In his poem “Trans-Siberian prose and Little Jeanne from France” Blaise uses modern language to describe the round trip that he took from Moscow to Paris. Even though the poem is written back in 1913 it is still a modern poem that doesn’t rhyme. Repetition is used to emphasize certain things so that the reader and the author are on the same page. Blasie reveals several elements of his life, names every activity, and gives us something to think about while we create a picture in our mind. We come through different feelings that the author is experiencing while in train. The first feeling that he felt was the feeling of loneliness! He was separate from his common environment and felt like an ‘alien’. He has the need for power, the feeling to have everything under control, that masculine stance. 

At some point while the train was moving author mentions Russian Revolution, or basically war in which he is given a gun to protect some jewelry. This is of course him being a Hero in his own fantasy! Next thing he mentions is love, little Jeanne from France who was supposedly sitting next to him on the train. “She is completely nude, she has no body, she is too poor” the author describes her like she is nothing, but still loves her very much. As the train moves along the road several cities along Europe are mentioned as the author was trying to define life from every train movement. He seems he has lost the illusion of travel and distance.

My favorite line of the poem is: “We are a storm in the skull of the deaf”. It shows that no matter how hard he is trying to unveil the meaning of life; his efforts are not paying off!