Paul Eluard holds a special place in the hearts of fellow French patriots. He is known, appreciated, and remembered for his great compassion in the face of the suffering and human adversity caused by wars and dictatorships; as a poet supremely inspired by the three women who, consecutively, became his wives; and, finally, for his contribution to the Surrealist movement, which he abandoned later in life to concentrate on a less abstract and more humanistic approach to poetry. Eluard's poetry shines with refined and luminous imagery evoking ordinary objects that take on new images and meaning.

Born in Saint-Denis, a small working-class industrial center north of Paris, on 14 December 1895, Paul-Eugène Grindel was the only child of Clément Eugène Grindel, an accountant who later became a successful real estate developer, and Jeanne Marie Cousin, a seamstress. Initially, the small family lived in polluted...