1880 b. Nov 9th in Rome; as either Wilhelm Albert Waodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki, or William Apollinaris de Kostroswitzky known as Guillaume Apollinaire. His mother, born Angelica Kostrowicka, was a Polish noblewoman born near Navahrudak (now in Belarus). Apollinaire's father is unknown but may have been Francesco Flugi d'Aspermont, a Swiss Italian aristocrat who disappeared early from Apollinaire's life. Apollinaire was partly educated in Monaco. French poet, writer and art critic. One of the great Inspirations to the Surrealists. His influences include the Symbolist poets of the former generation: Victor Hugo, Charles Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud, Jules Laforgue, and Tristan Corbiere. He was also heavily influenced by de Sade. In his youth Apollinaire lived for a short while in Belgium, mastering the Walloon dialect sufficiently to write poetry some of which has survived. 1903 La chanson du mal-aime. Inspired by -> Anne Playden . 1904 May; he caught the boat-train from Paris-Saint Lazare to London Victoria, in a last attempt to win the love of -> Annie Playden who he had met when he was a tutor to an aristocratic family in he Rhineland. Befriends Alfred Jarry. 1907 Pablo Picasso introduces him to Marie Laurencin. Throughout the course of their relationship each would serve as a source of artistic inspiration for the other. Wrote the erotic novel Les Onze Mille Verges (The Eleven Thousand Rods) . Officially banned in France until 1970. Another erotic novel attributed to him was ; (fimed 1987). 1909 Apollinaire's first collection of poetry was L'enchanteur pourrissant. Poses with Marie Laurencin for Henri Rousseau's painting The Muse Inspiring the Poet ->. Discovers and publishes rare manuscripts by de Sade found in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. 1911 September 7, arrested and jailed on suspicion of stealing the Mona Lisa; implicated his friend Pablo Picasso, who was also brought in for questioning in the art theft and was also exonerated. Called for the Louvre to be burnt down. Joined the Puteaux Group, a branch of the cubist movement. Apollinaire was one of the most popular members of the artistic community of Montparnasse in Paris. His friends and collaborators in that period included Pablo Picasso, Gertrude Stein, Max Jacob, Andre Salmon?, Marie Laurencin, Andre Derain, Faik Konica, Blaise Cendrars, Pierre Reverdy, Alexandra Exter?, Jean Cocteau, Erik Satie, Ossip Zadkine?, Marc Chagall and Marcel Duchamp. 1912 June; Attends Roussel's play Impressions d'Afrique with Francis Picabia, Gabriella Picabia and Marcel Duchamp, later traveling through the Jura mountains with them. Collaborations with Baroness Helene d'Oettingen ((Roch Grey) and her brother Serge Jastebzoff (Serge Ferat). Travels to Berlin with Robert Delaunay and met Max Ernst. 1913 Contributed to the first issue of Les Soirees de Paris. Published an artistic manifesto, L'Esprit nouveau et les poetes. Published Alcools - Le pont Mirabeau -> and the essay Les Peintres cubistes. Ends his affair with Marie Laurencin. 1914 Enlisted after a possible short-lived affair with Louise de Coligny, then with a schoolteacher called Madeleine Pages to whom he became engaged. 1914 Giorgio de Chirico made two paintings in tribute to Apollinaire. 1916 Received a serious shrapnel wound to the temple. May; first met Andre Breton. Poet assassine was published. Met Louis Aragon. He wrote Les Mamelles de Tiresias while recovering from this wound. Invited Philippe Soupault to visit him and gave him a poem by Blaise Cendrars and another by Andre Breton. 1917 March; Calligrames published in Francis Picabia's 391. May; Coined the word Surrealism in the program notes for the ballet Parade; scenario Jean Cocteau; score Erik Satie; set, curtain and costumes Pablo Picasso and first performed on 18 May by Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. Opening of his play Les Mamelles de Tiresias. Introduces Philippe Soupault to Pierre Reverdy. 1918 May 2nd married Jacqueline Kolb, one of his nurses, the "beautiful redhead" of the last poem in Calligrammes ->. Apollinaire's poetic record of his war experiences, was published a few months before his death. Andre Breton, Tristan Tzara, Paul Eluard, Louis Aragon and other poets of the younger generation took up its call to investigate new worlds of expression. d. Nov. 9th a victim of the Spanish flu pandemic. He was interred in the Le Pere Lachaise Cemetery, Paris. "Come to the edge." "We can't. We're afraid." "Come to the edge." "We can't. We will fall!" "Come to the edge." And they came. And he pushed them. And they flew. Bibliography Apollinaire, Poet among the Painters -> - Francis Steegmuller (1963). See Wiki -> and poetry -> and Calligrams ~> See Timeline