River House Home / Parlor Games
Exquisite Corpse
"Game of folded paper which consists of having several people compose a phrase or drawing collectively, none of the participants having any idea of the nature of the preceding contribution or contributions. The now classical example, which gave its name to the game, is the first sentence obtained in this manner: The exquisite—corpse—shall drink—the young—wine." |
—Abridged Dictionary of Surrealism (1938) |
How to play:
Three or more players equipped with paper and pens.
A sequence of grammatical structures (adjective, noun, verb, etc.) is agreed on by the players. It may be derived from a sentence or line in an established work. Each player, in turn, is prompted to write a particular structure, folds the paper and passes it on. When all the parts are written, the paper is unfolded and read. The best outcomes, called “keepers,” are saved; the rest are discarded.
Sample sequence: article, adjective, noun, adverb, verb (one that takes an object), article, adjective, noun.
The game gets its name from a keeper derived from the above formula: "Le cadavre exquis boira le vin nouveau" (The exquisite corpse will drink the young wine.)
Continued play tends to improve results.
Reminder:
Verbs that take an object are “transitive verbs”
In English, some verbs "take an object," some do not, and some can be used with or without an object. An object is something the verb acts upon: "He dropped his spoon."
Some verbs that take an object are:
hit -- The boy hit the ball.
catch -- He caught the kitten.
lay -- She laid the book on the table.
Some verbs that do not take an object are:
sleep -- He sleeps on the sofa. ("On the sofa" tells where, not what he sleeps.)
arrive -- We arrived yesterday. ("Yesterday" is when, not what, we arrived.)
lie -- He plans to lie on the grass all afternoon. ("On the grass" is where, not what, he plans to lie.") This is an easy way to distinguish between “lay” and “lie.” “Lay” takes an object; “lie” does not.
The surrealists also played a "drawing" form of exquisite corpse. The method has been applied painting, music, animation and a variety of other forms and combinations. There are a numerous sites to explore on line.
Some Links:
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