Rimbaud And Verlaine example essay topic

Understandably, a poets life and circumstances will affect his poetry, as poetry often speaks of experience or feelings generated by those experiences. The 19th Century, French poet Rimbaud, led a most unorthodox life. He was a homosexual, extremely antireligious and opinionated to say the least. His poetry is much like his life, that is, it is often unorthodox. ARTHUR RIMBAUD 1854-1891.

BIOGRAPHY Jean Nicholas Arthur Rimbaud was born October 24, 1854 in Chareleville, France. His father, Frederic held the rank of Captain of Infantry in the French Military, he had risen to this position from that of a mere recruit. For much of Rimbaud's early childhood he was stationed in Northern Africa. His father had also written several unpublished military works and had translated the Koran into French, which Rimbaud would later use to study Arabic. Rimbaud's mother and father separated when he was six, his mother, Marie-Catherine, was left to raise his siblings and him by herself, as Rimbaud's father was not heard from again. His mother was a stern woman who raised her children in a rigid manner, controlling even the books they read.

Rimbaud was an advanced, clever child who was also particularly religious, owing to his mother's beliefs. Whilst attending the Ross at Institute, Rimbaud, aged ten, wrote the poem: "Le Soleil etait Encore Chad". (The Sun was Still Warm). In 1868 Rimbaud was invited to address sixty Latin hexameters to the Imperial Prince on the occasion of his first communion. The prince's tutor asked Rimbaud's headmaster to thank him publicly.

In 1869 Rimbaud won a prestigious Latin poetry prize, his first French verse composition: "Les Eten nes des Orphetins", (The Orphans New Year Gift) was also printed this in year. In 1870 Rimbaud ran away from home, aiming to make it to Paris, he was however, arrested for not having a train ticket and was forced to return home. From this time onwards he ceased attending school and began to try to establish a career as a writer. Rimbaud befriended a young teacher named George Izambard who was known to have revolutionary ideals.

He encouraged Rimbaud to read Rabelais and Hugo, much to the dismay of his mother. In 1871, Rimbaud attempted to run away again, this time to Belgium to find work as a journalist. He was unsuccessful at this and adhered to his mother's wish for him to return home. Unhappy at what he saw as his "imprisonment" in Chareleville, Rimbaud began spending much of his time in the library, he would request books on alchemy, occultism, magic and socialism which scandalized the librarians.

In November 1871, Rimbaud ran away again to Paris. He spent a fortnight living in extreme poverty and was forced to return to Chareleville on foot. Upon his return, he passed through lines of Prussian soldiers who were soon to enter Paris, as part of a German unification attempt. The attempt was unsuccessful and the soldiers entered Paris on March 1st and left March 3rd, no battles were fought, no lives were lost. Rimbaud was intrigued by these foreigners and vowed he would learn German. When Rimbaud returned home he wrote a letter to Izambard, expressing his ideas for poetry.

By this time Rimbaud had become fervourantly anticlerical and antichristian. He frequently stopped priests in the streets and wrote slogans such as "MERE A DIEU". His political views, like much of those in the rest of Europe, were becoming increasingly socialist. In late 1871, Rimbaud sent his poems- "Les Effaces" and "Les Cover" to the poet Verlaine.

Upon reading them, Verlaine wrote to Rimbaud: ' Come, beloved, great soul, you are called, you are awaited. ' Rimbaud departed for Paris shortly and lived in Veraline's parents in law's house. Verlaine and his in-laws were shocked by Rimbaud youth, his personal filthiness and his opinions. Rimbaud quickly became accustomed with Paris and its customs; he began drinking absinthe and smoking marijuana, which by his first reports made him 'see white moons, black moons. ' Rimbaud and Verlaine spent their days and much of their nights in Cafes in the Quartier Latin. This caused much tension between Verlaine and his young wife who had recently given birth to a son.

Verlaine's mother-in-law accused Rimbaud of corrupting him, though Verlaine was ten years his senior. Rimbaud and Verlaine began having an affair, their relationship, always a troubled one, did not improve when the two escaped to London. They travelled together from this point and whilst in Belgium, Verlaine, in a drunken anger, shot Rimbaud in the wrist. This marked the end of their tumultuous romantic relationship. Rimbaud returned to his family and wrote "Un Saison en Enter", which speaks of his turbulent times with Verlaine. This was to be his last writing, as shortly before his 21st birthday he announced he was through with literature.

Rimbaud saw Verlaine again in London on friendly terms, but was repulsed by what he described as Verlaine's 'incessant clinginess. ' Once again, Rimbaud returned to Chareleville and began making plans to travel. He made his way east to Java and later returned to Europe by ship. He found work in Cyprus as a quarry foreman and was angered to hear that his mother had paid for a publishing of five hundred copies of his collected poems. Enraged, he returned to France and burnt four hundred and ninety five of the copies; the remaining five copies had already been given to friends. In 1879, Rimbaud saw Verlaine for the last time.

Verlaine had recently re-converted to Catholicism and urged Rimbaud to do the same, however, he flatly refused. Verlaine died shortly after. Rimbaud departed for East Africa, which at this time was under German control. He fulfilled a youthful promise and quickly became fluent in German as well as finding work as a gunrunner and later as a slave trader. Rimbaud's popularity in France was growing steadily, owing to several publications of his work. He refused to return to France, referring to his poetry as "slop".

He remained in contact with his family and continued to send his aging Mother money. Rimbaud returned to France in 1890, as he had a tumour in his leg, which required amputation. He had the limb amputated in Marseille. Several months after the amputation, gangrene set in and left Rimbaud gravely ill. He died in Marseille, aged thirty seven in 1891. POETRY ANALYSIS The two poems below are typical of Rimbaud's earlier work before his relationship with Verlaine.

They contain none of the anger and cynicism, which is ever present in his later work. Whilst they do not follow traditional poetry constraints such as meter, in their original French they have a rhyme scheme, whilst at the same time being wonderfully descriptive and using numerous symbols. MA BOHEME (Fantasie) Je m'en allais, les points dans mes pouches creve es; Mon paletot aussi devenait ideal; J'allais sous le ciel, Muse! Et j'etais ton feal; Oh! La la!

Que d'amours spend ides j'ai revels! Mon unique culotte avait un large trou. -Petit Pouce t rev eur, j'egrenais dans ma course Des rimes. Mon auberge r etait a la Grande- Our se. -Mes etoile's au ciel avaient un doux frou-frou. Et je les ecoutais assis au bord des routes, Ces bons soir de septembre ou je sent ais des gout tes De rose a mon font, comme un vin de vaguer; Ou, riant au milieu de ombre's fantastiques, Comme des lyres, je tir rai les elastiques De mes souliers blesses, un pied pres de mon coeur!

MY BOHEMIAN EXISTENCE (A Fantasy) I went off with my hands in my torn coat pockets; my overcoat too was becoming ideal; I travelled beneath the sky, Muse! And I was your vassal; oh dear me! What marvellous loves I dreamed of! My only pair of breeches had a big hole in them. - Stargazing Tom Thumb, I sowed rhymes along the way. My tavern was at the Sign of the Great Bear.

- My stars in the sky rustled softly. And I listened to them, sitting on the roadsides on those pleasant September evenings while I felt drops of dew on my forehead like vigorous wine. And while, rhyming among the fantastical shadows, I plucked like the strings of a lyre; the elastics of my tattered boots, one foot close to my heart ANALYSIS In its original French form, the poem has a definite rhyme scheme, which in the first two stanzas is A, B, B, A and in the last two stanzas is A, A, B. This rhyme scheme further develops the rhythm of the poem, which gives it an "upbeat" tone. The poem contains no definite meter, as this was one of the "constraints" that Rimbaud broke away from. He felt that his poetry was a testimony to his visions, his visions were formless and therefore poetry should be so too. From this he also disregarded the traditional use of versification, although this may have been because he felt he had already mastered this skill, owing to his early successes in traditional French and Latin poetry.

The first line in the first sentence sets the tone of the poem and relates strongly to the title. "I went off with my hands in my torn coat pockets; my overcoat too was becoming ideal". This shows Rimbaud relishing in his Bohemian lifestyle, enjoying his poverty, happy that his coat is tattered. Rimbaud states that the sky is his muse and he is the skies' vassal.

This perhaps is a strange turn about, Rimbaud acting as a medium for the sky, bringing its magnificence from the heavens to the earth. In the second stanza Rimbaud further develops the "bohemian" nature of the poem- "My only pair of breeches had a big hole in them". Interestingly, he also makes reference to Tom Thumb, The Grim Brothers Fairy Tale character, the tiny son of a poor farmer. In this way it can be said that Rimbaud is likening himself to the minute stance of Tom Thumb when compared to the great sky. Another interpretation can be made when Rimbaud states- "I sowed rhymes along the way". This can be taken to mean a farmer sows seed for sustenance, whilst Rimbaud sows rhymes, for poetry is his sustenance.

Rimbaud creates a cyclical relationship between himself and the sky, "my tavern was at the Sign of The Great Bear". The Great Bear is a constellation in the Northern Hemisphere, Rimbaud claiming this to be his tavern, suggests a personal, intimate relationship with the sky, in the same way one would have with a real tavern that was only down the road. The poem is very descriptive, and much of the descriptiveness comes from the use of poetic techniques such as similes, "while I felt drops of dew on my forehead like vigorous wine". This line likens dew to wine, which suggests Rimbaud is becoming intoxicated with the omnificence of the sky. In the final stanza another simile is used, "I plucked like the strings of a lyre, the elastics of my tattered boots". Which elevates the boots into a charming, medieval instrument, far removed from the likes of worn boots.

However, for Rimbaud, his boots hold the same beauty. Keeping to his bohemian demeanour, holding to unconventional views. LE BUFFET C'est un large buffet sculpt e; le chen e sombre, Tres vieux, a pris cet air si bon des vielles gens; Le buffet est overt, et verse dans son ombre Comme un foot de vin vieux, des parfuns engage ants; Tout plein, c'est un fouill is de vielles vieille ries, De lines odorant's et janes, de chiffon De femmes ou d'enfants, de dentelle's fle tries, De fichus de grand " mere ou sont points des griffons; -C'est la qu " on trouverait las medallions, les me ches De che veux b lancs ou blonds, les portraits, les fleurs sec hes Dont le parfuns se mele a des parfuns de fruits. -O buffet du vieux temps, tu sais bien des histories, Et vu voudrais center tes contest, et tu bru is Quand s'ouvrent lent ement tes grandes portes no ires. THE CUPBOARD It's a broad carved wooden cupboard, the ancient dark-coloured oak has taken on that pleasant air that old people have; the cupboard is open, and gives off from its kindly shadows inviting aromas like a breath of old wine; Full to overflowing, it's a jumble of quaint old things: fragrant yellowed linen, rag's of women or children's clothes, faded laces, grandmother's handkerchief's embroidered with griffins; -Here you could find lockets, and locks of white or blonde hair, portraits and dried flowers whose smell mingles with the smell of fruit. O cupboard of olden time, you know plenty of stories, and you'd like to tell them, and you clear your throat every time your great dark doors slowly open.

ANALYSIS This poem is more descriptive than the last and makes greater use of poetic techniques such as similes and personification. Like the first it has no definitive meter scheme and the rhyme scheme in the original French is as follows: A, B, A, B A, B, A, B A, A, B A, B, A. Rimbaud goes into great detail in describing the cupboard, which suggests maybe its significance in the household, or the sentimental value, which it holds. In the first stanza the cupboard is personified as an old person for the first time: "the ancient dark coloured oak has taken on that pleasant air that old people have". The persona of an old person, which is bestowed on the cupboard, suggests the familial stance of the cupboard, as if it has been part of the household for sometime.

The cupboard being open also suggests a friendly, inviting tone, like that of the lap of a grandparent. The pleasant simile "gives off from its kindly shadows inviting aromas like a breath of old wine". This gives the cupboard distinction, suddenly it is no longer a lowly storage facility, but an esteemed part of the household. The specification that the wine is old also shows the esteemed position, which the cupboard holds, something, which should be treasured, savoured. The second stanza is quite feminine, "fragrant yellowed linen, rags of women's or children's clothes, faded laces, grandmother's handkerchiefs". This suggests a familial relationship between all these items and their owners, which creates a "homely" tone.

Perhaps Rimbaud wrote about this cupboard from memory, as mentioning things such as "fragrant, yellowed linens", is somewhat tainted with a sense of nostalgia, looking back on the items fondly. In the third stanza, the feminine tone of the poem is continued: "Here you could find lockets, and locks of white or blonde hair, portraits and dried flowers". All of these things are distinctly feminine, which is a contrast with the actual, masculine cupboard. This mentioning of a locket is a delicate touch, a container within a container, perhaps symbolic of a woman. In the final stanza, the cupboard is given a wise, all-knowing demeanour- "you know plenty of stories, and you'd like to tell them". This use of personification creates a feeling of sentiment to the cupboard, much like one feels towards a grandparent, who knows many stories, is a testament to time, is keeping track.

The use of personification is furthered in the final line of the last stanza- "and you clear your throat every time your great dark doors open slowly". This enhances even more so the character of the old person which the cupboard has been given. Words such as "slowly' " create the feeling of someone who is aged, retiring. CONCLUSION In his short literary career of twenty-one years, Rimbaud managed to challenge the boundaries of traditional French poetry as well the constraints of French society. His unorthodox lifestyle was mirrored in his writing style. Perhaps it was the passionate 'living out' of his art that inspired and influenced many others, from rock icons Jim Morison and Patti Smith, to Australian painter Brett Whitely.

Rimbaud's challenging of the traditional ideals of beauty was more akin to the twentieth century. In this way, it can be said that he was ahead of his time. ARTHUR RIMBAUD- BIOGRAPHY AND POETRY ANALYSIS. ENGLISH LITERATURE YEAR 11. SHAM A ADAMS..