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"Rimbaud" redirects here. For other uses see Rimbaud (disambiguation)
Etienne Carjat, Portrait of Arthur Rimbaud at the age of seventeen, c.1872
Etienne Carjat, Portrait of Arthur Rimbaud at the age of seventeen, c. 1872

Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (pronounced /ˈræmboʊ/; or in French IPA: [aʁtyʁ ʁɛ̃ˈbo]) (20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet, born in Charleville. Events 1740 - Maria Theresa takes the throne of Austria. France, Prussia, Bavaria and Saxony Year 1854 ( MDCCCLIV) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common year Events 1444 - Battle of Varna: The crusading forces of King Vladislaus III of Varna (aka Ulaszlo I of Hungary and Wladyslaw Year 1891 ( MDCCCXCI) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. A poet is a person who writes Poetry. Etymology From the Ancient greek: ποιέω, poieō: "I make or compose" Charleville-Mézières is a commune in northern France, capital of the Ardennes department in the Champagne-Ardenne region As part of the decadent movement, his influence on modern literature, music and art has been enduring and pervasive. In 19th century European and especially French literature, Decadence was the name given first by hostile critics and then triumphantly adopted by some writers He produced his best known works while still in his late teens—Victor Hugo described him at the time as "an infant Shakespeare"—and gave up creative writing altogether before he reached 21. Victor-Marie Hugo ( ( February 26, 1802 – May 22, 1885) was a French Poet, Playwright, Novelist He remained a prolific letter-writer all his life. Rimbaud was a restless soul, travelling extensively on three continents before his premature death from cancer less than a month after his 37th birthday.

Contents

Life

Family and childhood (1854–1861)

Arthur Rimbaud was born into the provincial middle class of Charleville (now part of Charleville-Mézières) in the Ardennes département in northeastern France. Charleville-Mézières is a commune in northern France, capital of the Ardennes department in the Champagne-Ardenne region Ardennes is a department in the northeast part of France named after the Ardennes area In the Terminology of Political geography and Historiography a National department (département departamento is an administrative This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. He was the second child of a career soldier, Frédéric Rimbaud, and his wife Marie-Catherine-Vitalie Cuif. [1] His father, a Burgundian of Provençal extraction, rose from a simple recruit to the rank of captain and spent the greater part of his army years in foreign service. Burgundy (Bourgogne Burgund is a region historically situated in modern-day France and Switzerland, inhabited in turn by Celts ( Gauls) Provençal ( Provençau) is one of several dialects of Occitan spoken by a minority of people mostly in Provence (in southern France [2] Captain Rimbaud fought in the conquest of Algeria and was awarded the Légion d'honneur. French rule of Algeria lasted from 1830 to 1962 under a variety of governmental systems The Cuif family was a solidly established Ardennais family, but they were plagued by unstable and bohemian characters; two of Arthur Rimbaud's uncles from his mother's side were alcoholics. Alcoholism is a term with multiple and sometimes conflicting definitions [3]

Captain Rimbaud and Vitalie married in February 1853; in the following November came the birth of their first child, Jean-Nicolas-Frederick. The next year, on 20 October 1854, Jean-Nicolas-Arthur was born. Events 1740 - Maria Theresa takes the throne of Austria. France, Prussia, Bavaria and Saxony Year 1854 ( MDCCCLIV) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common year Three more children, Victorine (who died a month after she was born), Vitalie and Isabelle, followed. Arthur Rimbaud's infancy is said to have been prodigious; a common myth states that soon after his birth he had rolled onto the floor from a cushion where his nurse had put him only to begin crawling toward the door. [4] In a more realistic retelling of his childhood, Mme Rimbaud recalled when after putting her second son in the care of a nurse in Gespunsart, supplying clean linen and a cradle for him, she returned to find the nurse's child sitting in the crib wearing the clothes meant for Arthur. Gespunsart is a commune in the Ardennes department in northern France. Meanwhile, the dirty and naked child that was her own was happily playing in an old salt chest. [5]

Soon after the birth of Isabelle, when Arthur was six years old, Captain Rimbaud left to join his regiment in Cambrai and never returned. Cambrai (Dutch Kamerijk; old spelling Cambray) is a French town and commune, in the Nord département, [6] He had become irritated by domesticity and the presence of the children while Madame Rimbaud was determined to rear and educate her family by herself. [7] The young Arthur Rimbaud was therefore under the complete governance of his mother, a strict Catholic, who raised him and his older brother and younger sisters in a stern and religious household. As a Christian Ecclesiastical term Catholic —from the Greek adjective, meaning "general" or "universal"—is described After her husband's departure, Mme Rimbaud became known as "Widow Rimbaud". [6]

Schooling and teen years (1862–1871)

Fearing that her children were spending too much time with and were therefore being influenced by neighboring children of the poor, Mme Rimbaud moved her family to the Cours d'Orléans in 1862. [8] This location was quite improved from their previous home and whereas the boys were previously taught at home by their mother, they were then sent, at the ages of nine and eight, to the Pension Rossatr. For the five years that they attended school, however, their formidable mother imposed her will upon them, pushing for scholastic success. She would punish her sons by making them learn a hundred lines of Latin verse by heart and if they gave an inaccurate recitation, she would deprive them of meals. [9] When Arthur was nine, he wrote a 700-word essay objecting to his having to learn Latin in school. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Vigorously condemning a classical education as a gateway to a salaried position, Rimbaud wrote repeatedly, "I will be a capitalist". [9] He disliked schoolwork and his mother's continued control and constant supervision; the children were not allowed to leave their mother's sight, and, until the boys were sixteen and fifteen respectively, she would walk them home from the school grounds. [10]

Rimbaud at the time of his First Communion.
Rimbaud at the time of his First Communion.

As a boy, Arthur was small, brown-haired and pale with what a childhood friend called "eyes of pale blue irradiated with dark blue—the loveliest eyes I've seen". [11] When he was eleven, Arthur had his First Communion; then an ardent Catholic like his mother, he was called "sale petit cagot", a dirty little hypocrite, by his fellow schoolboys. The First Communion (First Holy Communion is a Roman Catholic ceremony [12] He and his brother were sent to the Collège de Charleville for school that same year. Until this time, his reading was confined almost entirely to the Bible,[13] but he also enjoyed fairy tales and stories of adventure such as the novels of James Fenimore Cooper and Gustave Aimard. Etymology According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word bible is from Latin biblia, traced from the same word through Medieval Latin and Late Latin James Fenimore Cooper (September 15 1789 &ndash September 14 1851 was a prolific and popular American writer of the early 19th century Gustave Aimard (1818-1883 was a French Novelist who specialized in Adventure novels set in exotic locations particularly in the Wild West. [14] He became a highly successful student and was head of his class in all subjects but sciences and mathematics. Many of his schoolmasters remarked upon the young student's ability to absorb great quantities of material. In 1869 he won eight first prizes in the school, including the prize for Religious Education, and in 1870 he won seven firsts. [15]

When he had reached the third class, Mme Rimbaud, hoping for a brilliant scholastic future for her second son, hired a tutor, Father Ariste Lhéritier, for private lessons. [16] Lhéritier succeeded in sparking the young scholar's love of Greek and Latin as well as French classical literature. He was also the first person to encourage the boy to write original verse in both French and Latin. Rimbaud's first poem to appear in print was "Les Etrennes des orphelines" ("The Orphans' New Year's Gift"), which was published in the Revue pour tous's 2 January 1870 issue. Events 366 - The Alamanni cross the frozen Rhine River in large numbers invading the Roman Empire. Year 1870 ( MDCCCLXX) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common [17] Two weeks after his poem was printed, a new teacher named Georges Izambard arrived at the Collège de Charleville. George Alphonse Fleury Izambard ( December 11, 1848 &ndash February 1931 was a French Professor, known especially as the teacher of Poet Izambard became Rimbaud's literary mentor and soon close accord formed between professor and student and Rimbaud for a short time saw Izambard as a kind of older brother figure. [18] At the age of fifteen, Rimbaud was showing maturity as a poet; the first poem he showed Izambard, "Ophélie", would later be included in anthologies as one of Rimbaud's three or four best poems. [19] When the Franco-Prussian War broke out, Izambard left Charleville and Rimbaud became despondent. The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War ( 19 July, 1870 — 10 May, 1871 He ran away to Paris with no money for his ticket and was subsequently arrested and imprisoned for a week. Paris (ˈpærɨs in English; in French) is the Capital of France and the country's largest city After returning home, Rimbaud ran away to escape his mother's wrath.

From late October 1870, Rimbaud's behaviour became outwardly provocative; he started drinking, speaking rudely and writing scatological poems, stealing books from local stores, and instead of his previous neat appearance, he began to wear his hair long. [20] At the same time he wrote to Izambard about his method for attaining poetical transcendence or visionary power through a "long, intimidating, immense and rational derangement of all the senses. The sufferings are enormous, but one must be strong, be born a poet, and I have recognized myself as a poet. "[21] It is rumoured that he briefly joined the Paris Commune of 1871, which he portrayed in his poem L'orgie parisienne (ou : Paris se repeuple), ("The Parisian Orgy" or "Paris Repopulates"). The Paris Commune (La Commune de Paris was a Government that briefly ruled Paris from 18 March (more formally from 26 March) to 28 May Another poem, Le cœur supplicié ("The Tortured Heart"), is often interpreted as a description of him being raped by drunken Communard soldiers, but this is unlikely seeing as how Rimbaud continued to support the Communards and wrote sympathetic poems to their aims. The Communards were members and supporters of the short-lived 1871 Paris Commune formed in the wake of the Franco-Prussian War and France's defeat [22]

Life with Verlaine (1871–1875)

Caricature of Rimbaud drawn by Verlaine in 1872.
Caricature of Rimbaud drawn by Verlaine in 1872.

Rimbaud was encouraged by friend and office employee Charles Auguste Bretagne to write to Paul Verlaine, an eminent Symbolist poet, after letters to other poets failed to garner replies. Paul-Marie Verlaine (vɛʁˈlɛn March 30, 1844 &ndash January 8, 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolist Symbolism was a late nineteenth-century Art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts [23] Taking his advice, Rimbaud sent Verlaine two letters containing several of his poems, including the hypnotic, gradually shocking "Le Dormeur du Val" (The Sleeper of the Vale), in which certain facets of Nature are depicted and called upon to comfort an apparently sleeping soldier. Verlaine, who was intrigued by Rimbaud, sent a reply that stated, "Come, dear great soul. We await you; we desire you" along with a one-way ticket to Paris. [24] Rimbaud arrived in late September 1871 at Verlaine's invitation and resided briefly in Verlaine's home. [25] Verlaine, who was married to the seventeen-year-old and heavily pregnant Mathilde Mauté, had recently left his job and taken up drinking. In later published recollections of his first sight of Rimbaud, Verlaine described him at the age of seventeen as having "the real head of a child, chubby and fresh, on a big, bony rather clumsy body of a still-growing adolescent, and whose voice, with a very strong Ardennes accent, that was almost a dialect, had highs and lows as if it were breaking. "[26]

Rimbaud and Verlaine began a short and torrid affair. Whereas Verlaine likely had prior homosexual experiences, it is not known whether the relationship with Verlaine was Rimbaud's first. Homosexuality refers to sexual behavior with or attraction to people of the same sex or to a Homosexual orientation. During their time together they led a wild, vagabond-like life spiced by absinthe and hashish. Absinthe is traditionally a distilled, highly alcoholic (45%-75% ABV) beverage Hashish (from Arabic: ar حشيش, lit "grass" also hash) is a preparation of cannabis composed of the compressed [27] They scandalized the Parisian literary coterie on account of the outrageous behaviour of Rimbaud, the archetypical enfant terrible, who throughout this period continued to write strikingly visionary verse. An archetype ( pronounced: /ˈɑːkɪtaɪp/ (Brit or /ˈɑrkɪtaɪp/ (Amer L'enfant terrible (Terrible child (also spelled enfant terrible) is a French term for a child who is terrifyingly candid by saying embarrassing things to adults Defined narrowly a visionary is one who experiences a vision or Apparition connected to the supernatural Rimbaud's and Verlaine's stormy relationship took them to London in September 1872[28], Verlaine abandoning his wife and infant son (both of whom he had abused in his alcoholic rages). London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. Rimbaud and Verlaine lived in considerable poverty, in Bloomsbury and in Camden Town, scraping a living from teaching and an allowance from Verlaine's mother. Bloomsbury is an area of central London in the south of the London Borough of Camden, developed by the Russell family in the 17th and 18th centuries into Camden Town is the district of London, England around Camden High Street, in the London Borough of Camden. [29] Rimbaud spent his days in the Reading Room of the British Museum where "heating, lighting, pens and ink were free. The British Museum Reading Room, situated in the centre of the Great Court of the British Museum, used to be the main reading room of the British Library The British Museum is a Museum of human history and culture in London. "[29]

Verlaine (far left) and Rimbaud (second to left) depicted in an 1872 painting by Henri Fantin-Latour.
Verlaine (far left) and Rimbaud (second to left) depicted in an 1872 painting by Henri Fantin-Latour. Henri Fantin-Latour ( January 14, 1836 - August 25, 1904) was a French painter and lithographer.

By late June 1873, Verlaine had had enough and soon afterwards returned to Paris, where he found Rimbaud's absence hard to bear. On 8 July, he telegraphed Rimbaud, instructing him to come to the Hotel Liège in Brussels; Rimbaud complied immediately. Events 939 - The Major Occultation or Ghaybat el-Kubra of Muhammad al-Mahdi 1099 - First Crusade: 15000 Brussels (Bruxelles pronounced; Brussel pronounced) officially the Brussels Capital-Region, is [30] The Brussels reunion went badly; one argument led to another and Verlaine drank almost continuously. [30] On the morning of 10 July, Verlaine bought a revolver and ammunition. Events 48 BC - Battle of Dyrrhachium, Julius Caesar barely avoids a catastrophic defeat to Pompey in Macedonia. [30] That afternoon, "in a drunken rage," Verlaine fired two shots at Rimbaud, one of them wounding the 18-year-old in the left wrist. [30]

Rimbaud considered the wound superficial and at first did not have Verlaine charged. After this, Verlaine and his mother accompanied Rimbaud to a Brussels train station where Verlaine "behaved as if he were insane. Brussels (Bruxelles pronounced; Brussel pronounced) officially the Brussels Capital-Region, is " This made Rimbaud "fear that he might give himself over to new excesses,"[31] so he turned and ran away. In his words, "it was then I [Rimbaud] begged a police officer to arrest him [Verlaine]. "[31] Verlaine was arrested for attempted murder and subjected to a humiliating medico-legal examination. [32] He was also interrogated about his intimate correspondence with Rimbaud and about his wife's accusations about the nature of his relationship with Rimbaud. [32] Rimbaud eventually withdrew the complaint, but the judge sentenced Verlaine to two years in prison. [32]

Rimbaud returned home to Charleville and completed his Une Saison en Enfer ("A Season in Hell") in prose, widely regarded as one of the pioneering instances of modern Symbolist writing and a description of that drôle de ménage ("domestic farce") life with Verlaine, his frère pitoyable ("pitiful brother") and vierge folle ("mad virgin") to whom he was l'époux infernal ("the infernal groom"). In 1874 he returned to London with the poet Germain Nouveau[33] and put together his groundbreaking Illuminations. Germain Nouveau born and died in Pourrières, Var, in France ( 31 July 1851 - 4 April 1920) was a French poet Arthur Rimbaud 's 1886 Illuminations ( French Les Illuminations) include some autobiographical allusions to his voyant (visionary

Travels (1875–1880)

Rimbaud and Verlaine met for the last time in March 1875, in Stuttgart, Germany, after Verlaine's release from prison and his conversion to Catholicism. Stuttgart (ˈʃtʊtgaɐ̯t is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. [34] By then Rimbaud had given up writing and decided on a steady, working life; some speculate he was fed up with his former wild living, while others suggest he sought to become rich and independent to afford living one day as a carefree poet and man of letters. He continued to travel extensively in Europe, mostly on foot.

In May 1876 he enlisted as a soldier in the Dutch Colonial Army[35] to travel free of charge to Java (Indonesia) where he promptly deserted, returning to France by ship. Java (Jawa is an Island of Indonesia and the site of its Capital city Jakarta. [36] At the official residence of the mayor of Salatiga, a small city 46 km south of Semarang, capital of Central Java Province, there is a marble plaque stating that Rimbaud was once settled at the city. Salatiga is a city in Central Java, Indonesia, located between the cities of Semarang and Surakarta. Semarang is a city on the north coast of the island of Java, Indonesia.

In December 1878, Rimbaud arrived in Larnaca, Cyprus, where he worked for a construction company as a foreman at a stone quarry. Larnaca, ( Greek: Λάρνακα, Turkish: Larnaka) is a City of the Republic of Cyprus situated on the southern coast Cyprus (Κύπρος transliterated: Kýpros,; Kıbrıs officially the Republic of Cyprus (Κυπριακή Δημοκρατία Kypriakī́ Dīmokratía [37] In May of the following year he had to leave Cyprus because of a fever, which on his return to France was diagnosed as typhoid. Typhoid fever, also known as enteric fever, bilious fever, Yellow Jack or commonly just typhoid, is an illness caused by the Bacterium

Abyssinia (1880–1891)

In 1880 Rimbaud finally settled in Aden as a main employee in the Bardey agency. Aden (ˈeɪdən Arabic: عدن) is a city in Yemen, 170 kilometers east of Bab-el-Mandeb. [38] He took several native women as lovers and for a while he lived with an Ethiopian mistress. NOTE This intro is the result of careful NPOV work Please do not make potentially controversial edits to it without first discussing on the talk page In 1884 he left his job at Bardey's to become a merchant on his own account in Harar, Ethiopia. Harar (var Harrar, Hārer, Harer; Adari) is an eastern city in Ethiopia, and the capital of the modern Harari NOTE This intro is the result of careful NPOV work Please do not make potentially controversial edits to it without first discussing on the talk page Rimbaud's commercial dealings notably included coffee and weapons. In this period, Rimbaud struck up a very close friendship with the Governor of Harar, Ras Makonnen, father of future Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie. Ras Mäkonnen Wäldä-Mika'él KCMG ( May 8, 1852 &ndash March 21, 1906) was a general and the governor of Harar province Haile Selassie I ( Ge'ez: am ኃይለ፡ ሥላሴ "Power of the Trinity " 23 July 1892 &ndash 27 August 1975 born Tafari Makonnen, was [39]

Death (1891)

Rimbaud's grave in Charleville
Rimbaud's grave in Charleville

In February 1891, Rimbaud developed what he initially thought was arthritis in his right knee. [40] It failed to respond to treatment, became agonisingly painful, and by March the state of his health forced him to prepare to return to France for treatment. [40] In Aden, Rimbaud consulted a British doctor who mistakenly diagnosed tubercular synovitis and recommended immediate amputation. Synovitis is the medical term for Inflammation of a Synovial membrane, which line those Joints which possess cavities namely Synovial joints [41] Rimbaud delayed until 9 May to set his financial affairs in order before catching the boat back to France. Events 1457 BC - Battle of Megiddo (15th century BC between Thutmose III and a large Canaanite coalition under the King of [41] On arrival, he was admitted to hospital in Marseille, where his right leg was amputated on 27 May. Marseille, ( English alt Marseilles mɑrˈseɪ — French: maʁsɛj locally — Provençal Occitan: Marselha maʀˈsijɔ Events 927 - Simeon the Great, Tsar of Bulgaria, dies 1120 - Richard III of Capua is anointed [42] The post-operative diagnosis was cancer. [41]

After a short stay at his family home in Charleville, he attempted to travel back to Africa, but on the way his health deteriorated and he was readmitted to the same hospital in Marseille where his surgery had been carried out, and spent some time there in great pain, attended by his sister Isabelle. Rimbaud died in Marseille on 10 November 1891, at the age of 37, and his body was interred in the family vault at Charleville. Events 1444 - Battle of Varna: The crusading forces of King Vladislaus III of Varna (aka Ulaszlo I of Hungary and Wladyslaw [43]

Works

Themes

Critical reception

Publication history

Une Saison en Enfer was published in October 1873 by Rimbaud himself as a small booklet in Brussels. Le Bateau ivre ( The Drunken Boat) is a 100-line verse-poem written by Arthur Rimbaud, then aged 17 in the summer of 1871 at his childhood home in Charleville Events Awards Works published Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass, including "Jabberwocky" Edward Events Awards Works published William Morris, Love is Enough Arthur Rimbaud, Une Saison en Arthur Rimbaud 's 1886 Illuminations ( French Les Illuminations) include some autobiographical allusions to his voyant (visionary Events Awards Works published Arthur Rimbaud, Illuminations J The Lettres of the French visionary poet and traveller Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891 provide vivid accounts of his life and relationships Although "a few copies were distributed to friends in Paris. . . Rimbaud almost immediately lost interest in the work. "[44]

Influences

Cultural legacy

Main article: Rimbaud and modern culture

References

Notes

  1. ^ Ivry (1998), 11. Rimbaud and modern culture - The influence of 19th century French Poet Arthur Rimbaud on modern literature music and art has been pervasive
  2. ^ Starkie (1973), 25.
  3. ^ Starkie (1973), 28.
  4. ^ Starkie (1973), 30.
  5. ^ Robb (2000), 8.
  6. ^ a b Robb (2000), 12.
  7. ^ Rickword (1971), 3.
  8. ^ Starkie (1973), 33.
  9. ^ a b Rickword (1971), 4.
  10. ^ Starkie (1973), 36.
  11. ^ Ivry (1998), 12.
  12. ^ Rickword (1971), 8.
  13. ^ Rickword (1971), 9.
  14. ^ Starkie (1973), 37.
  15. ^ Robb (2000), 32.
  16. ^ Starkie (1973), 39.
  17. ^ Robb (2000), 30.
  18. ^ Steinmetz (2001), 29.
  19. ^ Robb (2000), 33–34.
  20. ^ Ivry (1998), 22.
  21. ^ Ivry (1998), 24.
  22. ^ Ivry (1998), 26.
  23. ^ Ivry (1998), 29.
  24. ^ Robb (2000), 102.
  25. ^ Robb (2000), 109.
  26. ^ Ivry (1998), 34.
  27. ^ Bernard (1991).
  28. ^ Robb (2000), 184.
  29. ^ a b Robb (2000), 196–197.
  30. ^ a b c d Robb (2000), 218–221.
  31. ^ a b Harding (2004), 160.
  32. ^ a b c Robb (2000), 223–224.
  33. ^ Robb (2000), 241.
  34. ^ Robb (2000), 264.
  35. ^ Robb (2000), 278.
  36. ^ Robb (2000), 282–285.
  37. ^ Robb (2000), 299.
  38. ^ Robb (2000), 313.
  39. ^ Nicholl (1999), 231.
  40. ^ a b Robb (2000), 418–419.
  41. ^ a b c Robb (2000), 422–424.
  42. ^ Robb (2000), 426.
  43. ^ Robb (2000), 440–441.
  44. ^ Fowlie (2005), xxxii.

Secondary sources

External links

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