Introduction: Mortal Lives, Immortal Souls

This introduction starts by examining a poet’s relationship to the work they create and whether their life can (or should) be reflected in it. The extent to which the work of a poet is separate from its creator is central to Cocteau’s belief that a poet with ambitions to become immortal must accept that their own work will outlive them. The introduction goes on to examine the raison d’être of Cocteau’s creative process, including the idea that the life and afterlife of a poet is contained within their poetry; that the power of a poet’s imaginative thought stems from a leap of faith into the unknown; and that human creativity thrives on accepting that there is a place for ruminating on those things which we think we know for certain but may be wrong about or things which we think we could never possibly know because they are beyond the reach of everyday life. That murky boundary line between life and death, and the cusp of that phenomenon known as the transcendent, is Cocteau’s arena for exploring the limits of the poetic imagination and the boundless possibilities of life’s meaning and purpose beyond the mortal realm of our bodies.