The poem 'Liberty' here is an English translation of the 1942 poem Liberté by the French poet Paul Éluard.


It is an ode to liberty written during the Nazi German occupation of Paris and Northern France.


During the violent days of the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War, he clandestinely published several collections poetry bringing out his anti-war sentiments and love for freedom.« Liberté » (1942) is one such poem of published in « Poésie et vérité ».


The poem consists of 21 stanzas written in simple colloquial language, making brilliant use of the poetic devices like metaphors, anaphoras and refrains.


Many many copies of the poem was printed in England and dropped by parachutes of the Royal Air Force during World War II on the Nazi occupied territories of France.


Recitation of the poem was also broadcast from different pro-Allies radio stations.Since then, this poem has been translated in all the major languages of the world and adapted to music.


There have been also new songs based on the spirit of the poem but lyrics have been creatively rewritten like spanish song of Gian Franco Pagliaro "Yo te nombro libertad" made famous by the singer Nacha Guevarra.


Paul Eluard, the French surrealist poet and poet of love is also world-wide called "The Poet of Freedom"


There are many translations and adaptations of this poem in different languages. Some of the translations are very faithful literal translations where every word can be compared with the original for equivalence, others are complete rewrites adapted to new relevant situations and only the spirit and/or title are kept as the original. In this translation I tried to maintain a middle path.



This poem isn't only about political liberty, but personal and artistic liberty.

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