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Arthur Rimbaud

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Arthur Rimbaud

via Wikipedia: Arthur Rimbaud · see source

Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud, a French poet whose work featured transgressive and surreal elements, had an influence that anticipated surrealism.[1]

Life and work

Rimbaud was born in Charleville in northeastern France, the second child of Frédéric Rimbaud and Marie Catherine Vitalie Rimbaud.[2] Rimbaud's mother moved the family to a better neighborhood in 1862 and pushed her sons for scholastic success.[3][4] At age 15, his first poem "Les Étrennes des orphelins" was published in La Revue pour tous on 2 January 1870.[5] He ran away to Paris without funds for his ticket, was arrested, and locked in Mazas Prison.[6]

Rimbaud gave Paul Demeny the first Cahiers de Douai, a sheaf of fifteen poems including "Ophélie" and "Soleil et chair".[7] He wrote letters in May 1871 about attaining visionary power through a "long, immense and rational derangement of all the senses".[8] Rimbaud died on 10 November 1891 at age 37 after his right leg was amputated for bone cancer.[9][10] Captain Rimbaud, the poet's father, was present in the family home for a total of under three months during the seven-year marriage.[11]

Rimbaud and Verlaine quickly started an intense affair, and their existence together was a wandering one, enhanced by absinthe, opium, and hashish.[12] Verlaine fired a gun at Rimbaud, hitting him in the wrist, and subsequently received a prison term of two years.[13][10]

What the cited sources add

The Independent article notes that Rimbaud was "delighted and astonished" by London during his stay there.[14] Rimbaud's biographer Graham Robb stated that after mutilation "they put the knives away and went to the pub".[14] Picasso, André Breton, Jean Cocteau, Allen Ginsberg, Bob Dylan, and Jim Morrison all named Rimbaud as an influence.[14] A 1998 London Review of Books article by Harding describes Rimbaud as "more of a provincial bourgeois than a peasant".[15]

Harding also quotes Rimbaud writing to his teacher that Charleville "is the most supremely idiotic of all provincial towns".[15] Alain Borer's work states that "Rimbaud thought as he walked" and that he "never stopped thinking" even after stopping writing poems.[15] Rimbaud's acquaintances gave his mother the nicknames "la Mother," "Mère Rimbe," and "la bouche d'ombre".[15]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Arthur Rimbaud" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ; (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Arthur Rimbaud" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Lefrère 2001, p. 11 & 35; Lefrère 2001, p. 11 & 35 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Arthur Rimbaud" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Starkie 1973, p. 25–26 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Arthur Rimbaud" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Rickword 1971, p. 4 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Arthur Rimbaud" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Starkie 1973, p. 25–26; Rimbaud's Ver erat , which he wrote at age 14, at the Latin Library, with an English translation.; Robb 2000, p. 140 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Arthur Rimbaud" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Robb 2000, p. 140; Robb 2000, p. 140; Robb 2000, p. 140; Robb 2000, p. 140; Robb 2000, p. 140; Robb 2000, p. 140; Rimbaud, "Lettre de Rimbaud à Georges Izambard – 5 septembre 1870 – Wikisource", fr.wikisource.org, 5 September 1870 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Arthur Rimbaud" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Rimbaud - Le Recueil de Douai", abardel.free.fr; Georges Izambard, Rimbaud tel que je l'ai connu, Mercure de France, 1963, chap. IV, p. 33-34. (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Arthur Rimbaud" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Leuwers 1998, p. 7–10 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Arthur Rimbaud" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Robb 2000, p. 140; Robb 2000, p. 140; Robb 2000, p. 140; Robb 2000, p. 140; Robb 2000, p. 140; Robb 2000, p. 140 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Arthur Rimbaud" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Robb 2000, p. 140 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Wikipedia, "Arthur Rimbaud" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Lefrère 2001, p. 11 & 35; Lefrère 2001, p. 11 & 35; Lefrère 2001, p. 11 & 35; Lefrère 2001, p. 11 & 35; Robb 2000, p. 140; Robb 2000, p. 140; Lefrère 2001, p. 11 & 35; Lefrère 2001, p. 11 & 35 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  12. Wikipedia, "Arthur Rimbaud" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Bernard Guyaux 1991 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  13. Wikipedia, "Arthur Rimbaud" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Harding Sturrock 2004, p. 160; Robb 2000, p. 140; Robb 2000, p. 140 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  14. "Verlaine and Rimbaud: Poets from hell", The Independent, 2006-02-08. facts only, no text reused. independent.co.uk
  15. Harding, "Delirium", London Review of Books, 1998-07-30. facts only, no text reused. lrb.co.uk

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Arthur Rimbaud (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Test yourself

Three questions drawn from this entry’s sources. Pick an answer to check it.

1. In which place was Arthur Rimbaud born?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is Charleville, France.

2. In what year was Arthur Rimbaud born?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is 1854.

3. In what year did Arthur Rimbaud die?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is 1891.

Answers checked against the source article

Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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