I Am What I Am
I Am What I Am - context Summary
Published in Paroles, 1946
Published in 1946 as part of Jacques Prévert’s Paroles, this poem appears in the collection that helped define his public voice. The short, conversational lyric gives a defiant first-person speaker insisting on pleasure, shifting affections, and bodily selfhood. Within Paroles — which collects much of his plainspoken verse — the poem reads as an accessible assertion of personal freedom and sensuality more than a technical experiment. Its publication and placement point to Prévert’s aim at a broad readership responsive to plainspoken, humane verse.
Read Complete AnalysesI am what I am I’m made that way. When I want to laugh yes I erupt with laughter. I love the one that loves me. Is it my fault if it’s not the same one that I love each time? I am what I am I’m made that way. What more do you want? What do you want from me, I’m made for pleasure and nothing can change that. My heels are too high, my figure too curved, my breasts way too firm, and my eyes too darkly ringed. And then afterwards what can you do about it. I am what I am I please who I please. What can you do about it. What happened to me yes I loved someone, yes someone loved me, like children love each other simply knowing how to love love, love… Why ask me I’m here for your pleasure, and nothing can change that.
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