Arthur Rimbaud

By Tony Sutherland

Symbolist

• His work is thought to be subconsciously suggestive

Background

• Prodigy, and wrote all poetry within a five year period.

• Although he was very smart, his peers thought of him to be unsophisticated, perverse, and youthfully arrogant.

Background (cont.)

• By the age of thirteen, had won many awards for writing

• Ran away from home twice after his school closed due to the Franco-Prussian war.

• Lived on the streets as a vagabond until the poet Paul Verlaine noticed him, and took him to live with him and his wife.

Even More Background

• Living with Verlaine in his house, Rimbaud and Verlaine became lovers.

• After Verlaine’s wife had her baby, Rimbaud and Verlaine moved in together.

• After 18 months, their relationship ended due to an event involving Verlaine shooting Rimbaud’s hand with a gun.

More Background?....

• After the end of the affair, Rimbaud decided to finish the book “A Season In Hell”

• Although the book was published in 1873, it sat in Rimbaud’s basement, because he could not afford to pay the bill.

• He began traveling, and continued writing. He would return home for short stays every once in a while.

Does It End? (More Background)

• He stopped writing at the age of nineteen to make sure that his family could continue to survive and pay their bills.

• He suffered a pain in his leg, and had it amputated, however, the cancer had spread farther, and after suffering a night of hallucinations, he died on November 10, 1891

Almost Finished (More Background)

• In 1895, Verlaine published Rimbaud’s complete works

Today’s Effects

• Rimbaud’s Writing has inspired many different famous people including Bob Dylan, and Jim Morrison.