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Arthur Rimbaud (1854 - 1891)
Wandering through France, the teen-age Rimbaud began writing his first poems, some of which he sent to the poet Paul Verlaine in Paris. Impressed by the young man's talent and passion, Verlaine invited him to stay in Paris. Wild, unruly, and uncouth, Rimbaud made a poor impression on both Verlaine's wife and his fellow poets. Verlaine's infatuation with the boy's genius however, soon blossomed into love. Verlaine abandoned his wife for Rimbaud, and the two poets began a tempestuous two-year relationship, wandering around Europe and engaging in arguments whose violence was often accentuated by their regular indulgence in absinthe. Rimbaud continued to write during this period. His works included a collection of prose poems, Illuminations, one of the earliest examples of free verse, Sonnet of the Vowels, which assigned a different color to each vowel in an example of synesthesia, or describing one sense experience in the context of another, and The Drunken Boat (Le Bateau Ivre), in which a toy boat is set adrift on the ocean to symbolize Rimbaud's own quest for spiritual identity. Letter from the Seer summed up Rimbaud's artistic belief that to be visionaries poets must make themselves visionaries by entering a state of sensory disorder, an early concept of surrealism. The Spiritual Hunt was considered by Verlaine to be Rimbaud's greatest work, but vanished during the pair's constant wanderings. Throughout the relationship Rimbaud dominated and abused Verlaine, at one point even stabbing him in the hand. Rimbaud's relationship with Verlaine ended violently when, during an argument in Brussels, the elder poet shot his lover through the hand. Forced during the inquest to undergo a medical exam which showed he had had anal intercourse with Rimbaud, Verlaine was imprisoned for both attempted murder and sodomy, while Rimbaud, considered the young innocent victim, was allowed to return home to Charleville. Soon afterwards, Rimbaud wrote his last work, A Season in Hell (Un Saison d'Enfer), a cathartic account of his tumultuous and difficult life, including his relationship with Verlaine. His mother oversaw the printing of 500 copies, but only five in the hands of friends survived, as Rimbaud burned the rest. By now disgusted with his bohemian experiences, Rimbaud ceased writing and devoted himself to other interests. After meeting and quarreling with Verlaine again in 1875, Rimbaud spent the next year studying several languages, including English, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Arabic and Greek. Following brief stints as a teacher in Germany and loading cargo in Marseilles, he enlisted as a mercenary in the Dutch army and served for a time in Java and Sumatra, before deserting and returning secretly to France. Staying with his mother for a time, Rimbaud soon became restless again and hiked first through Switzerland and then to Genoa before catching a ship to Alexandria. Eventually he found his way to Suez and Aden before settling in Ethiopia. Setting up a trading post near Harare, Rimbaud traded in guns, porcelains, and other items including, perhaps, slaves, with an Ethiopian boy named Djani serving as his assistant, companion, and lover. During this time he studied the Koran, which he enthusiastically discussed at length with Islamic holy men, and learned the languages of three native Ethiopian tribes. Rimbaud became the first European to visit the Ogadain region of East Africa, and traveled extensively throughout Ethiopia, Egypt, the Sudan, and Yemen to conduct his trade. His reports on East Africa were published by the French Geographical Society. Around the same time, Paul Verlaine published Rimbaud's Illuminations, which inaugurated a huge following for Rimbaud's poems in France. Rimbaud, however, dismissed this and his other works as "slop," and refused all invitations to return to his native country. While climbing through the Harare hills, Rimbaud suffered a knee injury which developed into synovitis. His sister brought him back to France, where doctors in Marseilles amputated his lower right leg, which by now was cancerous. The operation unfortunately served merely to postpone the inevitable, and Rimbaud died soon afterwards, on 10 November. He was buried quietly in Charleville. Though his works were few and he was his own worst critic, Rimbaud proved to be a major influence on modern poetry. He anticipated surrealism, free verse, and stream of consciousness writing. Among those who claimed to be influenced by Rimbaud were Jim Morrison, Henry Miller, William S. Burroughs, Anne Rice, Patti Smith and Tom Verlaine. A fairly accurate but woodenly acted cinematic portrayal of Rimbaud's life and relationship with Verlaine, Total Eclipse, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Rimbaud and David Threwlis as Verlaine, was produced in 1995, and is currently available on both video and DVD. Another film, Athar, by Jean-Phillipe Perrot, documents Rimbaud's life and travels in East Africa. Links:
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