![]() “Oraison du soir” (“Evening Prayer”) shows his anti-Christian venom and his desire to shock and outrage accepted ideas of good taste by depicting himself as a rebellious angel who urinates skyward in a blasphemous gesture of defiance against his Creator. “Les Effarés” (“The Frightened Ones”) reveals both his humorous, cartoonlike presentation of figures on the margins of conventional society-in this case, five Christlike children peering into a bakery-and his social conscience as a commentator on exclusion, poverty, and hunger. In “A la musique” (“To Music”) Rimbaud revels in his cherished role of observer as he satirizes the bourgeoisie through the technique of grotesque caricature. Poems such as “Le Mal” (“Evil”) and “Le Dormeur de val” (“The Sleeper in the Valley”) illustrate the absurdity of war “Le Châtiment de Tartufe” (“The Punishment of Tartuffe”) represents Molière’s eponymous impostor in sonnet form as the epitome of hypocrisy “Au Cabaret-vert” (“At the Green Tavern”), “La Maline” (“The Cunning One”), and “Ma Bohème” (“My Bohemian Existence”) celebrate the physical joys of the bohemian lifestyle as an alternative to the moral rectitude of bourgeois existence. In thematic terms, the Poésies exhibit virtually all of the subjects and preoccupations usually associated with Rimbaud. Closer inspection, however, reveals in them many indicators of a precocious poet setting out “trouver une langue” (to find a language), as he said in the letter of May 15, 1871, and, ultimately, to revolutionize the genre. They are, superficially, his most orthodox works in technical terms. Rimbaud’s early poems, the Poésies, were written between 18 and published by Paul Verlaine in 1895. A romantic relationship developed between Rimbaud and Verlaine, and Verlaine’s marriage became increasingly unstable. Rimbaud arrived in Paris in September and moved in with Verlaine and Verlaine’s wife, Mathilde Mauté. His letter to Verlaine in September 1871, which included samples of his poetry, elicited the reply, “Venez, chère grande âme, on vous appelle, on vous attend” (Come, great and dear soul, we are calling out to you, we are awaiting you). Rimbaud still felt drawn to Paris, where he might encounter the leading poets of the day: Théodore de Banville, Charles Cros, and Paul Verlaine. This theory is expressed in his much-quoted letters of to his friend and tutor, Georges Izambard, and of to Paul Demeny. During this time, he was developing his own poetic style and elaborating his theory of voyance, a visionary program in which the poetic process becomes the vehicle for exploration of other realities. In February 1871 he ran away again to join the insurgents in the Paris Commune he returned home three weeks later, just before the Commune was brutally suppressed by the army. He spent several months wandering in France and Belgium before his mother had him brought home by the police. In August he went to Paris but was arrested at the train station for traveling without a ticket and was briefly imprisoned. The outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in July 1870 led to the closing of his school, the Collège de Charleville, ending Rimbaud’s formal education. In 1870-1 Rimbaud ran away from home three times. Rimbaud’s mother was a devout Christian, and Rimbaud associated her with many of the values that he rejected: conventional religious belief and practice, the principles of hard work and scholarly endeavor, patriotism, and social snobbery. Rimbaud’s difficult relationship with his authoritarian mother is reflected in many of his early poems, such as “Les Poètes de sept ans” (“The Seven-Year-Old Poets,” 1871). The father was absent during most of Rimbaud’s childhood. He had an older brother, Frédéric, born in 1853, and two younger sisters: Vitalie, born in 1858, and Isabelle, born in 1860. Jean-Nicolas-Arthur Rimbaud was born in Charleville in northeastern France on October 20, 1854, the second son of an army captain, Frédéric Rimbaud, and Marie-Cathérine-Vitalie Rimbaud, née Cuif. English language poets including Samuel Beckett and John Ashbery have translated and been influenced by Rimbaud’s works. ![]() His works continue to be widely read and translated into numerous languages. He was the enfant terrible of French poetry in the second half of the 19th century and a major figure in symbolism. His influence on the Surrealist movement has been widely acknowledged, and a host of poets, from André Breton to André Freynaud, have recognized their indebtedness to Rimbaud’s vision and technique. The impact of Arthur Rimbaud’s poetry has been immense.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |