LE CANCRE

In the following poem, Prévert recalls his childhood days and in particular
how he feels about school and the adult world.

1. What is a ‘cancre’?

A dunce

2. Short summary of the story in French.

Le poème raconte l’histoire d’un cancre dans une salle de classe. Il est
debout au tableau et son professeur lui pose des questions. Il ne connait
pas la réponse et est pris d’un fou rire. Il refuse d’obéir à son professeur
et dessine un visage heureux sur le tableau.

3. What general impression of school comes through in this poem?

School is not a happy place. It is a scary place where you can feel lost,
confused and isolated.

 We find many negative terms within the poem.

les problèmes, les pièges, les menaces du maître, les huées des enfants
prodiges, le tableau noir du malheur.

 All the child wants is to be happy and show it (le fou rire).
However the teacher does not permit this and threatens him
because all he is interested in is figures, words, dates etc….

 School is a form of regimentation of children by adults. Prevert

could have used the word ‘instituteur’ to talk about the primary
school teacher but chose instead ‘maître’ which also means ‘master’
to reinforce this idea of supremacy of the adult over the child. ‘il
est debout on le questionne’ – it’s like being interrogated by a
policeman or a jailor.

5. What is Prévert’s attitude towards “le cancre”?

He is very fond of him. ‘Le cancre’ is at the centre of the poem (title,
subject of most verbs). It’s him against the others (teacher and pupils)
so we feel sympathy for him. He is at the centre of the story. He has
the last ‘words’ in the story.
6. Prévert uses no punctuation at all in the whole poem. Why do you
think this is and in which way does it contribute to the overall style of
the poem?

Prévert is like ‘le cancre’, refusing to abide by the rules set to him by the
teacher. He sees them as restricting. He writes his poem without
worrying about the length of each line or whether they rime or not. He
does use rhymes but not on a systematic basis, only when it suits him
(bonheur / malheur – stricking contrast)

7. What makes this poem visual?

Very little is spoken in the poem ‘il dit non au professeur’, ‘on le
questionne’, ‘sous les huées des enfants prodiges’. Everything else
describes the scene and what the child is doing. This poem is a bit like a
story-board.

‘Jacques Prévert dessine ses personnages, avant d'écrire les mots

qui les caractérisent. Il est un des pionniers du story-board.’ Carole
Aurouet