Rimbaud

Arthur Rimbaud, born on 20 October 1854 in Charleville, France, was a revolutionary French poet who left a profound impact on modern literature and arts – particularly the surrealist movement.

His father was a Burgundian of Provençal heritage and an infantry captain with a distinguished military career, including participation in the conquest of Algeria. Awarded the Legion of Honor, he was known for being easy-going, and generous. By contrast, Rimbaud’s mother, Vitalie Cuif, from an Ardennais family, was described as parsimonious and humourless.

They had five children, of whom Arthur was the second. Captain Rimbaud after the birth of their last child in 1860, virtually abandoned the family. The couple effectively separated, though they never divorced.

Rimbaud’s writing career began early and he showed exceptional talent as a student before abandoning formal education to abscond to Paris following the onset of the Franco-Prussian War. He produced the bulk of his literary output during his late adolescence and early adulthood, and ceased writing altogether by age 20, after completing the “Illuminations,” and ‘Une Saison en enfer” his last significant works.

Rimbaud had a complex affair with his fellow poet Paul Verlaine, which ended when Verlaine, “in a drunken rage”, fired a gun at Rimbaud, wounding the 18-year-old in the left wrist.

After retiring from literature, Rimbaud pursued a commercial career as a trader and explorer, ultimately in Ethiopia and North Africa. He died from bone cancer at the age of 37.

As a poet, Rimbaud’s works were crucial in shaping both later symbolism and modernist literature.

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