Corbière as an ordinary poet “Matelots” and other seamen

In this article I suggest a political reading of “Matelots” and the whole section “Gens de mer”. I draw a parallel between Michelet’s Le Peuple and Corbière’s attempt to break the bourgeois stereotypes on Breton seamen. By taking inspiration from Callot’s engravings, especially Les Gueux and Les Gobbi, and criticizing the fashionable genre of Parisian opéra-comique, the poet connects his models to both plainness and monstrosity, through which he also redefines his manner and the work of art.