Arthur Rimbaud

Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud

(/ræmˈboʊ/[2] or /ˈræmboʊ/; French: [aʁtyʁ
ʁɛ̃bo] (  listen); 20 October 1854 – 10
November 1891) was a French poet who is
known for his influence on modern
literature and arts, which prefigured
surrealism. Born in Charleville-Mézières,
he started writing at a very young age and
was a prodigious student, but abandoned
his formal education in his teenage years
to run away from home amidst the Franco-
Prussian War.[3] During his late
adolescence and early adulthood he began
the bulk of his literary output, but
completely stopped writing at the age of
21, after assembling one of his major
works, Illuminations.
 Arthur Rimbaud

Rimbaud, aged 17, by Étienne Carjat, probably

taken in December 1871.[1]
Born Jean Nicolas Arthur
Rimbaud
20 October 1854
Charleville, Ardennes,
France
Died 10 November 1891
(aged 37)
Marseille, France
Resting place Charleville-Mezieres
Cimetière, Charleville-
 Mezieres, France
Occupation Poet
Nationality French
Period 1870–75 (major
creative period)
Literary movement Symbolism

Signature

Rimbaud was known to have been a

libertine and a restless soul, having
engaged in an at times violent romantic
relationship with fellow poet Paul Verlaine,
which lasted nearly two years. After the
end of his literary career, he traveled
extensively on three continents as a
merchant before his death from cancer
just after his thirty-seventh birthday.[4] As a
poet, Rimbaud is well known for his
contributions to Symbolism and, among
other works, A Season in Hell, which was a
significant precursor to modernist
literature.[5]

Life
Family and childhood (1854–
1861)

Arthur Rimbaud was born in the provincial

town of Charleville (now part of Charleville-
Mézières) in the Ardennes department in
northeastern France. He was the second
child of Frédéric Rimbaud (7 October 1814
– 16 November 1878)[6] and Marie
Catherine Vitalie Cuif (10 March 1825 – 16
November 1907).[7]

Rimbaud's father, a Burgundian of

Provençal extraction, was an infantry
captain risen from the ranks; he had spent
much of his army career abroad.[8] From
1844 to 1850, he participated in the
conquest of Algeria, and in 1854 was
awarded the Legion of Honor[8] "by
Imperial decree".[9] Captain Rimbaud was
described as "good-tempered, easy-going
and generous".[10] with the long
moustaches and goatee of a Chasseur
officer.[11]
In October 1852, Captain Rimbaud, then
aged 38, was transferred to Mézières
where he met Vitalie Cuif, 11 years his
junior, while on a Sunday stroll.[12] She
came from a "solidly established
Ardennais family",[13] but one with its share
of bohemians; two of her brothers were
alcoholics.[13] Her personality was the
"exact opposite" of Captain Rimbaud's; she
was narrowminded, "stingy and ...
completely lacking in a sense of
humour".[10] When Charles Houin, an early
biographer, interviewed her, he found her
"withdrawn, stubborn and taciturn".[14]
Arthur Rimbaud's private name for her was
"Mouth of Darkness" (bouche d'ombre).[15]
Nevertheless, on 8 February 1853, Captain
Rimbaud and Vitalie Cuif married; their
first-born, Jean Nicolas Frédéric
("Frédéric"), arrived nine months later on 2
November.[3] The next year, on 20 October
1854, Jean Nicolas Arthur ("Arthur") was
born.[3] Three more children followed:
Victorine-Pauline-Vitalie on 4 June 1857
(who died a few weeks later), Jeanne-
Rosalie-Vitalie ("Vitalie") on 15 June 1858
and, finally, Frédérique Marie Isabelle
("Isabelle") on 1 June 1860.[16]

Though the marriage lasted seven years,

Captain Rimbaud lived continuously in the
matrimonial home for less than three
months, from February to May 1853.[17]
The rest of the time his military postings—
including active service in the Crimean
War and the Sardinian Campaign (with
medals earned in both)[18]—meant he
returned home to Charleville only when on
leave.[17] He was not at home for his
children's births, nor their baptisms.[17]
Isabelle's birth in 1860 must have been the
last straw, as after this Captain Rimbaud
stopped returning home on leave
entirely.[19] Though they never divorced, the
separation was complete; thereafter Mme
Rimbaud let herself be known as "Widow
Rimbaud" [19] and Captain Rimbaud would
describe himself as a widower.[20] Neither
the captain nor his children showed the
slightest interest in re-establishing
contact.[20]

Schooling and teen years

(1861–1871)

Fearing her children were being over-

influenced by the neighbouring children of
the poor, Mme. Rimbaud moved her family
to the Cours d'Orléans in 1862.[21] This
was a better neighbourhood, and the boys,
now aged nine and eight, who had been
taught at home by their mother, were now
sent to the Pension Rossat. Throughout
the five years that they attended the
school, however, their formidable mother
still imposed her will upon them, pushing
them for scholastic success. She would
punish her sons by making them learn a
hundred lines of Latin verse by heart, and
further punish any mistakes by depriving
them of meals.[22] When Rimbaud was
nine, he wrote a 700-word essay objecting
to his having to learn Latin in school.
Vigorously condemning a classical
education as a mere gateway to a salaried
position, Rimbaud wrote repeatedly, "I will
be a rentier".[22] Rimbaud disliked
schoolwork and resented his mother's
constant supervision; the children were
not allowed out of their mother's sight, and
until they were fifteen and sixteen
respectively, she would walk them home
from school.[23]

Rimbaud on the day of his First Communion.[24]

As a boy, Rimbaud was small and pale

with light brown hair, and eyes that his
lifelong best friend, Ernest Delahaye,
described as "pale blue irradiated with
dark blue—the loveliest eyes I've seen".[25]
An ardent Catholic like his mother,
Rimbaud had his First Communion when
he was eleven. His piety earned him the
schoolyard nickname "sale petit Cagot".[26]
That same year, he and his brother were
sent to the Collège de Charleville. Up to
then, his reading had been largely confined
to the Bible,[27] though he had also enjoyed
fairy tales and adventure stories, such as
the novels of James Fenimore Cooper and
Gustave Aimard.[28] At the Collège he
became a highly successful student,
heading his class in all subjects except
mathematics and the sciences; his
schoolmasters remarked upon his ability
to absorb great quantities of material. In
1869 he won eight first prizes in the
French academic competitions, including
the prize for Religious Education, and in
1870 he won seven first prizes.[29]

Hoping for a brilliant academic career for

her second son, Mme Rimbaud hired a
private tutor for Rimbaud when he reached
the third grade.[30] Father Ariste Lhéritier
succeeded in sparking in the young
scholar a love of Greek, Latin and French
classical literature, and was the first to
encourage the boy to write original verse,
in both French and Latin.[31] Rimbaud's
first poem to appear in print was "Les
Étrennes des orphelins" ("The Orphans'
New Year's Gifts"), which was published in
the 2 January 1870 issue of La Revue pour
tous.[32]

Two weeks later, a new teacher of rhetoric,

the 22-year-old Georges Izambard, started
at the Collège de Charleville.[33] Izambard
became Rimbaud's mentor, and soon a
close friendship formed between teacher
and student, with Rimbaud seeing
Izambard as a kind of older brother.[34] At
the age of 15, Rimbaud was showing
maturity as a poet; the first poem he
showed Izambard, "Ophélie", would later
be included in anthologies, and is regarded
as one of Rimbaud's three or four best
poems.[35] On 4 May 1870, Rimbaud's
mother wrote to Izambard to complain
that he had given Rimbaud Victor Hugo's
Les Misérables to read.[36]

On 19 July 1870, the Franco-Prussian War

broke out, between Napoleon III's Second
French Empire and the Kingdom of
Prussia.[37] A week later, on 24 July,
Izambard left Charleville for the summer to
stay with his three aunts – the Misses
Gindre – in Douai.[37] In the meantime,
preparations for war continued and the
Collège de Charleville became a military
hospital.[38] By the end of August, with the
countryside in turmoil, Rimbaud was bored
and restless.[38] In search of adventure he
ran away by train to Paris without funds for
his ticket.[39] On arrival at the Gare du
Nord, he was arrested and locked up in
Mazas Prison to await trial for fare evasion
and vagrancy.[39] On about 6 September,
Rimbaud wrote a desperate letter to
Izambard, who arranged with the prison
governor that Rimbaud be released into his
care.[40] As hostilities were continuing, he
stayed with the Misses Gindre in Douai
until he could be returned to Charleville.[40]
Izambard finally handed Rimbaud over to
Mme Rimbaud on 27 September 1870, but
he was at home for only ten days before
running away again.[41]

From late October 1870, Rimbaud's

behaviour became openly provocative; he
drank alcohol, spoke rudely, composed
scatological poems, stole books from
local shops, and abandoned his
characteristically neat appearance by
allowing his hair to grow long.[42] On 13
and 15 May 1871, he wrote letters (the
lettres du voyant),[43] to Izambard and to
his friend Paul Demeny respectively, 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."[44]

Life with Verlaine (1871–1875)

Plaque erected on the centenary of Rimbaud's death at

the place where he was shot by Verlaine in Brussels
Caricature of Rimbaud drawn by Verlaine in 1872.

Rimbaud wrote to several poets but

received no replies, so his friend, office
employee Charles Auguste Bretagne,
advised him to write to Paul Verlaine, an
eminent Symbolist poet.[45] Rimbaud sent
Verlaine two letters with several of his
poems, including the hypnotic, finally
shocking "Le Dormeur du Val" (The Sleeper
in the Valley), in which Nature is called
upon to comfort an apparently sleeping
soldier. Verlaine was intrigued by Rimbaud,
and replied, "Come, dear great soul. We
await you; we desire you," sending him a
one-way ticket to Paris.[46] Rimbaud
arrived in late September 1871 and
resided briefly in Verlaine's home.[47]
Verlaine's wife, Mathilde Mauté, was
seventeen years old and pregnant, and
Verlaine had recently left his job and
started drinking. In later published
recollections of his first sight of Rimbaud
at the age of seventeen, Verlaine
described him as having "the real head of
a child, chubby and fresh, on a big, bony,
rather clumsy body of a still-growing
adolescent", with a "very strong Ardennes
accent that was almost a dialect". His
voice had "highs and lows as if it were
breaking."[48]

Rimbaud and Verlaine began a short and

torrid affair. They led a wild, vagabond-like
life spiced by absinthe and hashish.[49] The
Parisian literary coterie was scandalized
by Rimbaud, whose behaviour was that of
the archetypal enfant terrible, yet
throughout this period he continued to
write poems. Their stormy relationship
eventually brought them to London in
September 1872,[50] a period over which
Rimbaud would later express regret.
During this time, Verlaine abandoned his
wife and infant son (both of whom he had
abused in his alcoholic rages). In England
they lived in considerable poverty in
Bloomsbury and in Camden Town,
scraping a living mostly from teaching, as
well as an allowance from Verlaine's
mother.[51] Rimbaud spent his days in the
Reading Room of the British Museum
where "heating, lighting, pens and ink were
free".[51] The relationship between the two
poets grew increasingly bitter.
Verlaine (far left) and Rimbaud (second to left) in an
1872 painting by Henri Fantin-Latour

In late June 1873, Verlaine returned to

Paris alone, but quickly began to mourn
Rimbaud's absence. On 8 July he
telegraphed Rimbaud, asking him to come
to the Hotel Liège in Brussels.[52] The
reunion went badly, they argued
continuously, and Verlaine took refuge in
heavy drinking.[52] On the morning of
10 July, Verlaine bought a revolver and
ammunition.[52] About 16:00, "in a drunken
rage", he fired two shots at Rimbaud, one
of them wounding the 18-year-old in the
left wrist.[52]

Rimbaud initially dismissed the wound as

superficial but had it dressed at the St-
Jean hospital nevertheless.[52] He did not
immediately file charges, but decided to
leave Brussels.[52] About 20:00, Verlaine
and his mother accompanied Rimbaud to
the Gare du Midi railway station.[52] On the
way, by Rimbaud's account, Verlaine
"behaved as if he were insane". Fearing
that Verlaine "might give himself over to
new excesses", Rimbaud "ran off" and
"begged a policeman to arrest him".[53]
Verlaine was charged with attempted
murder, then subjected to a humiliating
medico-legal examination.[54] He was also
interrogated about his correspondence
with Rimbaud and the nature of their
relationship.[54] The bullet was eventually
removed on 17 July and Rimbaud
withdrew his complaint. The charges were
reduced to wounding with a firearm, and
on 8 August 1873 Verlaine was sentenced
to two years in prison.[54]

Rimbaud returned home to Charleville and

completed his prose work Une Saison en
Enfer ("A Season in Hell")—still widely
regarded as a pioneering example of
modern Symbolist writing. In the work it is
widely interpreted that he refer to Verlaine
as his "pitiful brother" (frère pitoyable) and
the "mad virgin" (vierge folle), and to
himself as the "hellish husband" (l'époux
infernal) and described their life together
as a "domestic farce" (drôle de ménage).

In 1874 he returned to London with the

poet Germain Nouveau.[55] They lived
together for three months while he put
together his groundbreaking Illuminations.

Travels (1875–1880)
Rimbaud (self-portrait) in Harar in 1883.[56]

Rimbaud and Verlaine met for the last time

in March 1875, in Stuttgart, after Verlaine's
release from prison and his conversion to
Catholicism.[57] By then Rimbaud had
given up writing in favour of a steady,
working life. Some speculate he was fed
up with his former wild living, or that the
recklessness itself had been the source of
his creativity. He continued to travel
extensively in Europe, mostly on foot.

In May 1876 he enlisted as a soldier in the

Dutch Colonial Army[58] to get free
passage to Java in the Dutch East Indies
(now Indonesia). Four months later he
deserted and fled into the jungle. He
managed to return incognito to France by
ship; as a deserter he would have faced a
Dutch firing squad had he been caught.[59]

In December 1878, Rimbaud journeyed to

Larnaca, Cyprus, where he worked for a
construction company as a stone quarry
foreman.[60] 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.

Abyssinia (1880–1891)

In 1880 Rimbaud finally settled in Aden,

Yemen, as a main employee in the Bardey
agency,[61] going on to run the firm's
agency in Harar, Ethiopia. In 1884 his
"Report on the Ogaden" was presented and
published by the Société de Géographie in
Paris.[62] In the same year he left his job at
Bardey's to become a merchant on his
own account in Harar, where his
commercial dealings included coffee and
(generally outdated) firearms.

At the same time he also engaged in

exploring and struck up a close friendship
with the Governor of Harar, Ras Makonnen
Wolde Mikael, father of future emperor
Haile Selassie.[63] He maintained friendly
relationships with the official tutor of the
young heir. Rimbaud worked in the coffee
trade. "He was, in fact, a pioneer in the
business, the first European to oversee the
export of the celebrated coffee of Harar
from the country where coffee was born.
He was only the third European ever to set
foot in the city, and the first to do business
there".[64][65] In 1885 Rimbaud became
involved in a major deal to sell old rifles to
the king of Shewa.[66] The explorer Paul
Soleillet became involved early in 1886.
The arms were landed at Tadjoura in
February, but could not be moved inland
because Léonce Lagarde, governor of the
new French administration of Obock and
its dependencies, issued an order on 12
April 1886 prohibiting the sale of
weapons.[67]

Sickness and death (1891)

Rimbaud's grave in Charleville. The inscription reads
Priez pour lui ("Pray for him").

In February 1891, in Aden, Rimbaud

developed what he initially thought was
arthritis in his right knee.[68] It failed to
respond to treatment, and by March had
become so painful that he prepared to
return to France for treatment.[68] Before
leaving, Rimbaud consulted a British
doctor who mistakenly diagnosed
tubercular synovitis, and recommended
immediate amputation.[69] Rimbaud
remained in Aden until 7 May to set his
financial affairs in order, then caught a
steamer, L'Amazone, back to France for the
13-day voyage.[69] On arrival in Marseille,
he was admitted to the Hôpital de la
Conception where, a week later on 27 May,
his right leg was amputated.[70] The post-
operative diagnosis was bone cancer—
probably osteosarcoma.[69]

After a short stay at the family farm in

Roche, from 23 July to 23 August,[71] he
attempted to travel back to Africa, but on
the way his health deteriorated, and he
was re-admitted to the Hôpital de la
Conception in Marseille. He spent some
time there in great pain, attended by his
sister Isabelle. He received the last rites
from a priest before dying on 10
November 1891 at the age of 37. The
remains were sent across France to his
home town and he was buried in
Charleville-Mézières.[72] On the 100th
anniversary of Rimbaud's birth, Thomas
Bernhard delivered a memorial lecture on
Rimbaud and described his end:

"On November 10, at two o’clock

in the afternoon, he was dead,"
 noted his sister Isabelle. The
priest, shaken by so much
reverence for God, administered
the last rites. "I have never seen
such strong faith," he said.
Thanks to Isabelle, Rimbaud was
brought to Charleville and buried
in its cemetery with great pomp.
He still lies there, next to his
sister Vitalie, beneath a simple
marble monument.[73]

Poetry
In May 1871, aged 16, Rimbaud wrote two
letters explaining his poetic philosophy.
The first was written 13 May to Izambard,
in which Rimbaud explained:

I'm now making myself as

scummy as I can. Why? I want to
be a poet, and I'm working at
turning myself into a seer. You
won't understand any of this, and
I'm almost incapable of
explaining it to you. The idea is to
reach the unknown by the
derangement of all the senses. It
 involves enormous suffering, but
one must be strong and be a born
poet. It's really not my fault.[74][75]

Rimbaud was inspired by the work of

Charles Baudelaire. This inspiration would
help him create a symbolism style of
poetry.[76] Rimbaud said much the same in
his second letter, commonly called the
Lettre du voyant ("Letter of the Seer").
Written 15 May—before his first trip to
Paris—to his friend Paul Demeny, the letter
expounded his revolutionary theories
about poetry and life, while also
denouncing most poets that preceded
him. Wishing for new poetic forms and
ideas, he wrote:

I say that one must be a seer,

make oneself a seer. The poet
makes himself a seer by a long,
prodigious, and rational
disordering of all the senses.
Every form of love, of suffering, of
madness; he searches himself, he
consumes all the poisons in him,
and keeps only their
quintessences. This is an
unspeakable torture during
which he needs all his faith and
superhuman strength, and during
which he becomes the great
patient, the great criminal, the
great accursed—and the great
learned one!—among men.—For
he arrives at the unknown!
Because he has cultivated his own
soul—which was rich to begin
with – more than any other man!
He reaches the unknown; and
even if, crazed, he ends up by
losing the understanding of his
visions, at least he has seen them!
 Let him die charging through
those unutterable, unnameable
things: other horrible workers
will come; they will begin from
the horizons where he has
succumbed![77][78]

The poem Le bateau ivre on a wall in Paris

Rimbaud expounded the same ideas in his
poem "Le bateau ivre" ("The Drunken
Boat"). This hundred-line poem tells the
tale of a boat that breaks free of human
society when its handlers are killed by
"Redskins" (Peaux-Rouges). At first
thinking that it is drifting where it pleases,
the boat soon realizes that it is being
guided by and to the "poem of the sea". It
sees visions both magnificent ("the
awakening blue and yellow of singing
phosphorescence", "l'éveil jaune et bleu des
phosphores chanteurs") and disgusting
("nets where in the reeds an entire
Leviathan was rotting" "nasses / Où pourrit
dans les joncs tout un Léviathan). It ends
floating and washed clean, wishing only to
sink and become one with the sea.

Archibald MacLeish has commented on

this poem: "Anyone who doubts that poetry
can say what prose cannot has only to
read the so-called Lettres du Voyant and
Bateau Ivre together. What is pretentious
and adolescent in the Lettres is true in the
poem—unanswerably true."[79]

French poet Paul Valéry stated that "all

known literature is written in the language
of common sense—except Rimbaud's".[80]
His poetry influenced the Symbolists,
Dadaists, and Surrealists, and later writers
adopted not only some of his themes, but
also his inventive use of form and
language.

Letters

Bust of Rimbaud. Musée Arthur Rimbaud, Charleville-

Mézières
Rimbaud was a prolific correspondent and
his letters provide vivid accounts of his life
and relationships. "Rimbaud's letters
concerning his literary life were first
published by various periodicals. In 1931
they were collected and published by
Jean-Marie Carré. Many errors were
corrected in the [1946] Pléiade edition. The
letters written in Africa were first
published by Paterne Berrichon, the poet's
brother-in-law, who took the liberty of
making many changes in the texts."[81]

Works
Works published before 1891
Les Étrennes des orphelins (1869) –
published by Rimbaud in 1870
Comédie en trois baisers (1870) –
published by Rimbaud in 1870
Le Dormeur du val (1870) – (The Sleeper
in the Valley) poem published in
Anthologie des poètes français (1888)
Voyelles (1871) – poem published in
1883
Le Bateau ivre (1871) – poem published
by Paul Verlaine in Les Poètes maudits
(1884)
Une Saison en Enfer (1873) – poem in
prose published by Rimbaud himself as
a small booklet in Brussels. "A few
 copies were distributed to friends in
Paris ... Rimbaud almost immediately
lost interest in the work."[82]
Illuminations (1874) – published in 1886
Rapport sur l'Ogadine (1883) – published
in 1884

Posthumous works

Prologue. Le Soleil était encore chaud ...

(c. 1864-1865) – prose published by
Paterne Berrichon in 1897
Lettre de Charles d'Orléans à Louis XI
(1870) – prose published in 1891
Un Coeur sous une soutane (1870) –
prose published in 1924
Soleil et chair (1870) – poem published
in 1895 (Poésies complètes)
Album Zutique (1870) – parodies
Lettre du Voyant (15 May 1871) - letter to
Paul Demeny published in 1895 (Poésies
complètes)
Les Déserts de l'amour (c. 1871–1872) –
(Deserts of Love) prose published in
1906
Proses "évangeliques" (1872–1873) –
prose published in 1897 and 1948 (no
title is given by Arthur Rimbaud)
Reliquaire - Poésies – published by
Rodolphe Darzens in 1891
 Poésies complètes (c. 1869–1873) –
published in 1895
Lettres de Jean-Arthur Rimbaud – Égypte,
Arabie, Éthiopie (1880–1891) –
published by Paterne Berrichon in 1899

Cultural legacy

Reginald Gray's portrait (2011)

Rimbaud's poetry, as well as his life,
influenced many 20th-century writers,
musicians and artists, including André
Breton, Dylan Thomas, Mark Bolan, Henri
Cartier-Bresson, Jack Kerouac, Pier Paolo
Pasolini, Neal Cassady, Vladimir Nabokov,
Bob Dylan, Luis Alberto Spinetta, Roberto
Bolaño, Patti Smith, Pete Doherty, Tom
Verlaine, Léo Ferré,[83] Henry Miller, Van
Morrison,[84] Penny Rimbaud, Jim
Morrison,[80] and Richey Edwards.

Rimbaud's life has been portrayed in

several films. Italian filmmaker Nelo Risi's
film Una stagione all'inferno (1971) ("A
Season in Hell") starred Terence Stamp as
Rimbaud and Jean-Claude Brialy as Paul
Verlaine. Rimbaud is mentioned in the cult
film Eddie and the Cruisers (1983), along
with the storyline that the group's second
album was entitled A Season in Hell. In
1995, Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland
directed Total Eclipse, which was based on
a play by Christopher Hampton who also
wrote the screenplay. The film starred
Leonardo DiCaprio as Rimbaud and David
Thewlis as Paul Verlaine.

Rimbaud is the protagonist of the opera

Rimbaud, ou Le Fils du soleil (1978) by
Italian composer Lorenzo Ferrero.
In the 1981 Brazilian film Eu Te Amo Sonia
Braga's character is a young woman who
has a degree in art history. Shee tells her
lover, Paulo, about her degree and that
Arthur Rimbaud was "a fag who threw shit
on the wall and wrote poetry:. [85]

In 2012, composer John Zorn released a

CD titled Rimbaud, featuring four
compositions inspired by Rimbaud's work
—'"Bateau Ivre" (a chamber octet), "A
Season in Hell" (electronic music),
"Illuminations" (piano, bass and drums),
and Conneries (featuring Mathieu Amalric
reading from Rimbaud's work). Rimbaud is
also mentioned in the CocoRosie song
"Terrible Angels", from their album La
maison de mon rêve (2004). In his 1939
composition Les Illuminations British
composer Benjamin Britten set selections
of Rimbaud's work of the same name to
music for soprano or tenor soloist and
string orchestra. Hans Werner Henze set
one of the poems in Illuminations, "Being
Beauteous", as a cantata for coloratura
soprano, harp and four cellos in 1963.

In a scene in I'm Not There (2007), a young

Bob Dylan (played by Ben Whishaw) is
portrayed identifying himself as Arthur
Rimbaud by spelling Rimbaud's name and
giving 20 October as his birthday.
See also
Rimbaud and Verlaine Foundation

References
Notes

1. Robb 2000, p. 140.

2. "Rimbaud" . Random House Webster's
Unabridged Dictionary.
3. Lefrère 2001, pp. 27–28; Starkie 1973,
p. 30.
4. Robb 2000, pp. 422–426.
5. Mendelsohn, Daniel (29 August 2011).
"Rebel Rebel" . The New Yorker. Retrieved
19 June 2016.
6. Lefrère 2001, pp. 11 & 35.
7. Lefrère 2001, pp. 18 & 1193.
8. Starkie 1973, pp. 25–26.
9. Lefrère 2001, pp. 27–28.
10. Starkie 1973, p. 31.
11. Robb 2000, p. 7.
12. Lefrère 2001, pp. 16–18 & 1193.
13. Starkie 1973, pp. 27–28.
14. Lefrère 2001, p. 15: "renfermée, têtue et
taciturne".
15. Nicholl 1999, p. 94; Robb 2000, p. 50:
Refers to Victor Hugo's poem "Ce que dit la
bouche d'ombre", from Contemplations,
1856.
16. Lefrère 2001, pp. 31–32; Starkie 1973,
p. 30.
17. Lefrère 2001, pp. 27–29.
18. Lefrère 2001, p. 31.
19. Robb 2000, p. 12.
20. Lefrère 2001, p. 35.
21. Starkie 1973, p. 33.
22. Rickword 1971, p. 4.
23. Starkie 1973, p. 36.
24. Jeancolas 1998, p. 26.
25. Ivry 1998, p. 12.
26. Delahaye 1974, p. 273. Trans. "dirty
hypocrite" (Starkie 1973, p. 38) or
"sanctimonious little so and so" (Robb 2000,
p. 35)
27. Rickword 1971, p. 9.
28. Starkie 1973, p. 37.
29. Robb 2000, p. 32.
30. Starkie 1973, p. 39.
31. Rimbaud's Ver erat Archived 16 March
2015 at the Wayback Machine., which he
wrote at age 14, at the Latin Library , with
an English translation .
32. Robb 2000, p. 30.
33. Robb 2000, pp. 33–34; Lefrère 2001,
pp. 104 & 109.
34. Steinmetz 2001, p. 29.
35. Robb 2000, pp. 33–34.
36. Starkie 1973, pp. 48–49; Robb 2000,
p. 40.
37. Robb 2000, pp. 41–42.
38. Robb 2000, p. 44.
39. Robb 2000, pp. 46–50.
40. Robb 2000, pp. 46–50; Starkie 1973,
pp. 60–61.
41. Robb 2000, p. 51; Starkie 1973, pp. 54–
65.
42. Ivry 1998, p. 22.
43. Leuwers 1998, pp. 7–10.
44. Ivry 1998, p. 24.
45. Ivry 1998, p. 29.
46. Robb 2000, p. 102.
47. Robb 2000, p. 109.
48. Ivry 1998, p. 34.
49. Bernard & Guyaux 1991.
50. Robb 2000, p. 184.
51. Robb 2000, pp. 196–197.
52. Robb 2000, pp. 218–221; Jeancolas
1998, pp. 112–113.
53. Harding & Sturrock 2004, p. 160.
54. Robb 2000, pp. 223–224.
55. Robb 2000, p. 241.
56. Jeancolas 1998, p. 164.
57. Robb 2000, p. 264.
58. Robb 2000, p. 278.
59. Robb 2000, pp. 282–285.
60. Robb 2000, p. 299.
61. Robb 2000, p. 313.
62. Nicholl 1999, pp. 159–165.
63. Nicholl 1999, p. 231.
64. Goodman 2001, pp. 8-15.
65. Ben-Dror, Avishai. 2014. Arthur Rimbaud
in Harär: Images, Reality, Memory.
Northeast African Studies 14.2: 159-182.
66. Dubois 2003, p. 58.
67. Dubois 2003, p. 59.
68. Robb 2000, pp. 418–419.
69. Robb 2000, pp. 422–424.
70. Robb 2000, pp. 425–426.
71. Nicholl 1999, pp. 298–302.
72. Robb 2000, pp. 440–441.
73. Bernhard, Thomas. Lecture.
http://www.thebaffler.com/ancestors/jean-
arthur-rimbaud
74. Robb 2000, pp. 79–80.
75. "Lettre à Georges Izambard du 13 mai
1871 ". Abelard.free.fr. Retrieved on May 12,
2011.
76. Haine, Scott. The History of France (1st
ed.). Greenwood Press. p. 112. ISBN 0-313-
30328-2.
77. Kwasny 2004, p. 147.
78. "A Paul Demeny, 15 mai 1871 ".
Abelard.free.fr. Retrieved on May 12, 2011.
79. MacLeish 1965, p. 147.
80. Robb 2000, p. xiv.
81. Fowlie 1966, p. 4.
82. Fowlie & Whidden 2005, p. xxxii.
83. Ferré set to music and recorded ten
poems of Rimbaud in his 1964 double
album Verlaine et Rimbaud. He would also
set to music Le Bateau ivre later in his triple
1982 LP, and Roman in On n'est pas sérieux
quand on a dix-sept ans (1987).
84. "Van Morrison" . Wikipedia. 2017-03-30.
85. "Eu Te Amo" (1981) allmovie.com
Retrieved February 25, 2018

Sources
Adam, Antoine, ed. (1999) [1972],
Rimbaud: Œuvres complètes (in French),
Paris: Pléiade (Éditions Gallimard),
ISBN 978-2070104765
Bernard, Suzanne; Guyaux, André (1991),
Œuvres de Rimbaud (in French), Paris:
Classiques Garnier, ISBN 2-04-017399-4
Bousmanne, Bernard (2006), Reviens,
reviens, cher ami. Rimbaud – Verlaine.
L'Affaire de Bruxelles (in French), Paris:
Éditions Calmann-Lévy, ISBN 978-
2702137215
Brunel, Pierre, ed. (2004), Rimbaud:
Œuvres complètes (in French), Paris: Le
Livre de Poche, ISBN 978-2253131212
Delahaye, Ernest (1974) [1919],
Delahaye, témoin de Rimbaud (in French),
Geneva: La Baconnière, ISBN 978-
2825200711
Fowlie, Wallace; Whidden, Seth (2005),
Rimbaud, Complete Works, Selected
Letters (Revised and updated ed.),
Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
ISBN 0-226-71977-4
Dubois, Colette (2003-02-01), L'or blanc
de Djibouti. Salines et sauniers (XIXe-XXe
siècles) (in French), KARTHALA
Editions, ISBN 978-2-8111-3613-0,
retrieved 2017-12-10
Goodman, Richard (2001), "Arthur
Rimbaud, Coffee Trader" , Saudi Aramco
World (published September 2001), 52
(5), retrieved 23 August 2015
Guyaux, André, ed. (2009), Rimbaud
Œuvres complètes (in French) (New
revised ed.), Paris: Gallimard /
Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, ISBN 978-
2070116010
Hackett, Cecil Arthur (2010) [1981],
Rimbaud: A critical introduction (Digital
ed.), Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, ISBN 978-0521297561
Harding, Jeremy; Sturrock, John (2004),
Arthur Rimbaud: Selected Poems and
Letters, Penguin, ISBN 0-14-044802-0
Ivry, Benjamin (1998), Arthur Rimbaud,
Bath, Somerset: Absolute Press, ISBN 1-
899791-55-8
Jeancolas, Claude (1998), Passion
Rimbaud: L'Album d'une vie (in French),
Paris: Textuel, ISBN 978-2-909317-66-3
Kwasny, Melissa (2004), Toward the
Open Field: Poets on the Art of Poetry,
Middletown, Conn: Wesleyan University
Press, ISBN 0-8195-6606-3
Lefrère, Jean-Jacques (2001), Arthur
Rimbaud (in French), Paris: Fayard,
ISBN 978-2-213-60691-0
Lefrère, Jean-Jacques (2007),
Correspondance de Rimbaud (in French),
Paris: Fayard, ISBN 978-2-213-63391-6
Lefrère, Jean-Jacques (2014), Arthur
Rimbaud: Correspondance posthume
(1912-1920) (in French), Paris: Fayard,
ISBN 978-2213662749
Leuwers, Daniel (1998), Rimbaud: Les
Lettres du voyant, Textes Fondateurs (in
French), Paris: Éditions Ellipses,
ISBN 978-2729867980
MacLeish, Archibald (1965), Poetry and
Experience, Baltimore: Penguin,
ISBN 978-0140550443
Mason, Wyatt (2003), Poetry and prose,
Rimbaud Complete, 1, New York:
Modern Library, ISBN 978-0-375-7577-09
Mason, Wyatt (2004), I Promise to Be
Good: The Letters of Arthur Rimbaud,
Rimbaud Complete, 2, New York:
Modern Library, ISBN 978-0-679-64301-2
Miller, Henry, The Time of the Assassins,
A Study of Rimbaud, New York 1962.
Nicholl, Charles (1999), Somebody Else:
Arthur Rimbaud in Africa 1880–91,
Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
ISBN 0-226-58029-6
Peyre, Henri (1974), A Season in Hell and
The Illuminations, New York: Oxford
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The Boy and the Poet, New York: Haskell
House Publishers, ISBN 0-8383-1309-4
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York: W.W. Norton & Co, ISBN 978-
0330482820
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Complete Works, New York: Perennial
(HarperCollins), ISBN 978-0-06-095550-
2
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Abyssinia, Berkeley: Creative Arts,
ISBN 978-0887392931
 Starkie, Enid (1973), Arthur Rimbaud,
London: Faber and Faber, ISBN 0-571-
10440-1
Steinmetz, Jean-Luc (2001), Arthur
Rimbaud: Presence of an Enigma, Jon
Graham (trans), New York: Welcome
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Rimbaud et l'Angleterre (in French), Paris:
A G Nizet, ISBN 978-2707804082
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Double Life of a Rebel, London: Grove,
ISBN 978-1-84354-971-0

Further reading
Capetanakis, J. Lehmann, ed. (1947),
"Rimbaud", Demetrios Capetanakis: A
Greek Poet In England, pp. 53–71,
ASIN B0007J07Q6
Everdell, William R. (1997), The First
Moderns: Profiles in the Origins of
Twentieth Century Thought, Chicago:
University of Chicago Press
Godchot, Colonel [Simon] (1936), Arthur
Rimbaud ne varietur I: 1854–1871 (in
French), Nice: Chez l'auteur
Godchot, Colonel [Simon] (1937), Arthur
Rimbaud ne varietur II: 1871–1873 (in
French), Nice: Chez l'auteur
 James, Jamie (2011), Rimbaud in Java:
The Lost Voyage, Singapore: Editions
Didier Millet, ISBN 978-981-4260-82-4
Magedera, Ian H. (2014), Outsider
Biographies; Savage, de Sade,
Wainewright, Ned Kelly, Billy the Kid,
Rimbaud and Genet: Base Crime and
High Art in Biography and Bio-Fiction,
1744–2000., Amsterdam and New York:
Rodopi, ISBN 978-90-420-3875-2
Ross, Kristin (2008), The Emergence of
Social Space: Rimbaud and the Paris
Commune, Radical thinkers, 31, London:
Verso, ISBN 978-1844672066

External links
Works by Arthur Rimbaud at Project
Gutenberg
Works by or about Arthur Rimbaud at
Internet Archive
Works by Arthur Rimbaud at LibriVox
(public domain audiobooks)
"Arthur Rimbaud" . Find a Grave.
Retrieved 10 August 2010.
Arthur Rimbaud – Poets.org
Arthur Rimbaud's Life and Poetry –
French and English
(in French) Rimbaud Illuminations –
from the original Publications de la
Vogue, 1886
(in French) The poem "Ophélie"
 (in French) "Rimbaud's holes in space"
project launched for the 150th
anniversary (Charleville-Mézières)
(in French) Website for the 150th
anniversary (Charleville-Mézières)
(in French) Arthur Rimbaud, his work in
audio version

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