Yann-Ber Kallocʼh (bornJean-Pierre Calloc'h inFrench; 21 July 1888 – 10 April 1917) was aBretonwar poet who wrote in bothBreton andFrench. Similarly to the English poetWilfred Owen and theWelsh poetHedd Wyn, Kallocʼh waskilled in action duringtrench warfare while serving as apoilu duringWorld War I. Kallocʼh's death was an equally catastrophic loss toBreton literature.
Yann-Ber Kallocʼh was born on the island ofGroix (Breton:Enez Groe), nearLorient (Breton:An Oriant), on July 24, 1888. He was the son of a fisherman (who was lost at sea in October 1902) and his wife. He describes his childhood in the autobiographical poemMe 'zo Ganet kreiz ar e mor (I was born in the middle of the sea), which also praised his native island. Kallocʼh at first wanted to become aRoman Catholic priest and entered theminor seminary ofSainte Anne d'Auray (Breton:Santez-Anna-Wened) in 1900, then themajor seminary atVannes (Breton:Gwened) in October 1905. He was forced to renounce his vocation after his two sisters and his younger brother revealed signs ofmental illness, sincecanon law forbade the priesthood to those who had relatives suffering from such diseases. Yann-Ber had dreamed of being amissionary and his exclusion from the priesthood brought him great distress.[1]
He became a tutor in various cities including Paris. During his compulsory military service, Yann-Ber made a point of teaching fellow Bretons to read and write in their own language. His earliest writings were inFrench, but from 1905 on, he wrote in theBreton language. Taking thebardic name ofBard Bleimor (lit. "Sea Wolf", orSea Bass), Kallocʼh wrote forcultural nationalist, pro-Catholic, and pro-devolved government newspapers. He often used to say, "I am not in the least bitFrench."[1]
At the same time, Kallocʼh's contribution toBreton literature was strengthened by his literacy and fluency in both Breton and French and his ability to mix and draw equally from both literatures and cultures.[2]
Beginning in 1912, Kallocʼh joined fellow Breton intellectualsIwan en Diberder andMeven Mordiern in coediting theliterary journalBrittia, which was intended, "to help incite in the cultivated classes of Brittany an intellectual movement of the first order, authentically indigenous and to make it take shape in the Breton language", as well as, "to contribute to reshaping Brittany into a nation, a Celtic nation."[3]
Brittia accordingly published Diberder'sliterary translations of stories fromIrish mythology, including the legend of thestar-crossed loversDeirdre andNaoise from theUlster Cycle andThe Voyage of Máel Dúin, into the Vannes dialect of the Breton language, but despite his role in founding the magazine, Kallocʼh felt unable to continue his involvement after Diberder began publishing attacks against the Roman Catholic clergy.[4]
At the same time, however, Kallocʼh was one of the ten Breton intellectuals who signed the May 1913 manifestoAveit Breiz-Vihan / Pour la Bretagne ("For Brittany"). While expressing their fear of an impending European war, the signatories expressed their intention to be loyal to theThird French Republic, while also calling for both a Bretonlanguage revival andcultural nationalism. They also called upon their fellow intellectuals from both Lower and Upper Brittany to commitnonviolent resistance to the Republic's continuing ban onBreton medium education and to both study and use Breton as a national language.[5]
According to Ian Higgins, "When the war came, Calloc'h, like so many others, saw it as a defense of civilization andChristianity, and immediately volunteered for the front. OnlyIreland andBrittany, he writes in one poem, still helpChrist carry the cross: in the fight to reinvigorate Christianity, the Celtic peoples are in the van. In addition, now readily fighting for France, he saw the war as the great chance to affirm the national identity of Brittany and resurrect its language and culture."[1]
On October 12, 1915, he wrote a letter toAchille Collin which became the basis for a 1919 petition in favor of Breton. In the same year, he mailed his war poetry to his friendPierre Mocaer with instructions to publish the poems in the event that Kallocʼh was to be killed in the war. Of the poems he sent, only the poemLe P'tit Poilu de 1915, was written in French. All others were in the Vannes dialect of Breton. They became the basis for his final poetry collection.[6]
While serving as apoilu, Yann-Ber Kallocʼh was reportedly a terrible foe to face in thetrench warfare of theWestern Front, as he wielded a sailor's axe formerly used in theFrench Navy for boarding enemy ships in hand-to-hand combat. His motto was "For God and Brittany". He waskilled in action when a German shell landed near his dugout nearUrvillers/Cerizy (Aisne) on April 10, 1917.[7] His body was returned to his native Groix for burial.
His name appears in thePanthéon with those of 546 other writers who were killed in theFirst World War.
TheBreton Scouting organizationBleimor is named in his honor and, inBrittany, at least six streets bear his name.[8]
The literary work which reveals Kallocʼh to be one of the greatest figures inBreton literature is his posthumous poetry collection,Ar en deulin (Kneeling), which was published by his friend Pierre Mocaer in 1925. The collection includes the famous poemMe 'zo Ganet kreiz ar e mor (I was born in the middle of the sea).[9]
In these poems composed in large part at theWestern Front, he expresses his deepRoman Catholic faith, love of his native language and passionate beliefs in favor of Bretonpolitical autonomy.
According to Ian Higgins, "His pre-war poetry is either devotional, militantly Catholic or militantly Breton. These three strands are often spun into one. Calloc'h himself selected what he thought was the best of his work, and gave the manuscript, along with his own French translations of most of the poems. If he were killed, it was to be published, under the titleAr en deulin ("Kneeling"). (The book by L. Paulus contains further texts, including two short stories revealing a touch of humour one would not have expected from the author ofAr en deulin."[1]
According to Jelle Krol, "It is not merely a collection of poems by a major Breton poet: it is a symbol of homage to Yann-Ber Kallocʼh and all those Bretons whose creative powers were cut short by their untimely deaths.Breton literature from the trenches is very rare. Only Yann-Ber Kallocʼh's poems, some war notes written byAuguste Bocher, the memoirs recounted byAmbroise Harel andLoeiz Herrieu's letters addressed to his wife survived the war."[5]
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