The Short But Poignant Life of Arthur Rimbaud

Dec 10, 2011
Genna Rivieccio

Rimbaud's tomb in Charleville, France. - Wikipedia

Rimbaud was and remains one of the most controversial personalities to have emerged from the decadent movement, changing the course of poetry forever.

For someone who lived a brief thirty-seven years, Arthur Rimbaud left an indelible imprint on the way poetry is written. However, at the time when his poetry was released, most people were more preoccupied with his dramatic personal life. His relationship with fellow poet Paul Verlaine was no secret to the Parisian literati, not to mention Verlaine's wife, Mathilde. The tumultuous rapport shared by Rimbaud and Verlaine influenced each man's work, most notably Rimbaud's A Season in Hell. But before Rimbaud became known as the enfant terrible of Paris, he was actually a rather malleable, well-behaved preadolescent.

Rimbaud's Early Life

Appropriately, Rimbaud was born in an apartment above a bookstore on October 20, 1854. Raised in Charleville, in the Ardennes region of France, Rimbaud started out as an acquiescent student before turning into the notorious bad boy of Paris and London that most associate his image with. His desire to flee from the quaint and mundane daily living of Charleville was instilled within him all along, but did not really come to fruition until the onset of the Prussian occupation of Paris.

According to Edmund White's Rimbaud: The Double Life of a Rebel, "Rimbaud was aware of all these dramatic events as they were beginning to build up, and he was eager to trade in the enforced boredom of Charleville for the history-making excitement of Paris" (White 42). As the second child in a family of four children, Rimbaud actually found it rather easy to win the favor and affection of his mother, Vitalie Cuif, especially since his father, Frédéric Rimbaud, was rarely a presence in the young child's life (he was a captain in the army), ultimately deserting the family when Rimbaud was six years old.

The Tutelage of Georges Izambard

At the age of sixteen, Rimbaud's mother enlisted private lessons for her son from Georges Izambard, the man largely responsible for encouraging Rimbaud's zeal for poetry and the written word. Izambard also gave Rimbaud a copy of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, a work that would influence and shape him deeply--even though his mother condemned it for being anti-Catholic.

Rimbaud Flees to Paris

In spite of excelling in school, Rimbaud grew increasingly restless with being pent up in Charleville. Especially once the Franco-Prussian War found its way into Paris, forcing Izambard to become a part of the cause. Without someone to have an intelligent dialogue with, as well as the lust to be amid the excitement of the war, Rimbaud left for Paris without a single franc to his name. He was arrested by the police for not having a train ticket and thrown in jail for a week before going back to Charleville. It established Rimbaud's consistent pattern of leaving and returning to Charleville throughout his poet years.

Meeting Paul Verlaine

Before Paul Verlaine, one could say that Rimbaud was not quite yet the sum total of his parts. Already a renowned poet, Verlaine was significant to fostering Rimbaud's growth and familiarity with the Parnassian movement, which was a precursor to the symbolist movement that RImbaud would ultimately be classified in.

Rimbaud became acquainted with Verlaine in 1871 after having written him several letters that included samples of his poetry. Instantly taken with the singularity of Rimbaud's work, Verlaine responded with an invitation to Paris that included a one-way train ticket.

Although Verlaine was married with a newborn child, the pull he felt toward Rimbaud was undeniable and the two began a passionate and obstreperous affair that would leave numerous parties up in arms in the wake of its culmination.

A Season in Hell and Illuminations

Rimbaud's most notable and lengthy works were both inspired by his romantic relationships with men, though prior and subsequent to this period he would find himself in dalliances with women. A Season in Hell is an extended poem divided into the following parts: "Introduction," "Bad Blood," "Delirium 1: The Foolish Virgin - The Infernal Spouse" (Verlaine being the foolish virgin, Rimbaud being the infernal spouse), "Delirium 2: Alchemy of Words," "The Impossible," "Lightning," "Morning," and "Farewell."

The poems contained in Illuminations were also written during Rimbaud's relationship with Verlaine, but were not completed until 1875 when he had taken up residence with Germain Nouveau. Still reliant on the opinion and guidance of his former lover, Rimbaud gave Verlaine a copy of the finished product, which Verlaine would later publish faithfully, just as he did with all of Rimbaud's works.

Verlaine's Imprisonment

By 1873, Verlaine found himself in Brussels, taking a brief reprieve from Rimbaud. But life without Rimbaud was just as unpleasant as life with him, and so Verlaine asked Rimbaud to join him in Brussels. Their reunion was not a joyous one.

Driven to within an inch of his sanity, Verlaine bought a gun and, on July 10, 1873, shot Rimbaud in the wrist, immediately regretting his decision the second the bullet made contact with Rimbaud's skin. The relationship had reached its zenith in terms of dramatic co-dependency, and this physical violence was a manifestation of Verlaine's emotional outpouring.

Verlaine was sentenced to two years in prison and subjected to an extremely degrading medical examination that led authorities to conclude that he was a homosexual, even though, in retrospect, none of the methods employed to examine Verlaine would be deemed legitimate evidence in today's legal system.

This turn of events would put a definitive end to the affair of Rimbaud and Verlaine, allowing Rimbaud to pursue another poet, Germain Nouveau.

Germain Nouveau

Just as Verlaine inspired most of A Season in Hell, Germain Nouveau would become the muse for Rimbaud's final work, Illuminations. Far fewer details are known about Rimbaud's time with Nouveau than Verlaine because the year (1874) he spent living in London with him is shrouded in mystery.

What is known, however, is that Verlaine would show Nouveau the manuscript for Illuminations in 1875, the year that Rimbaud renounced his ambitions to become a successful poet, opting instead to travel and initiate a new career path.

Rimbaud's Later Years

At the age of nineteen, Rimbaud seemed to give up on his zeal for writing and embodying what he perceived to be the life of a true poet. Instead, he ended up working a variety of jobs in African countries, including stints as a foreman at a quarry and as a gunrunner.

While working in Harar, Rimbaud's letters to his mother were particularly somber: "Alas, I'm not at all partial to living; and if I live I'm accustomed to going around being exhausted; but if I'm forced to go on exhausting myself like this and to be worn down by worries as wrenching as they are absurd in this atrocious climate, I'm afraid I'll shorten my existence..." (White 160).

It would seem that Rimbaud's wish was granted as, in 1891, he was forced to return to France due to an intense pain in his right leg that would later be diagnosed as cancer. Rimbaud's leg was amputated at a hospital in Marseille, after which he spent some time recuperating in Charleville. When Rimbaud attempted returning to Africa, his condition was exacerbated, leading to another visit to the hospital in Marseille and his eventual death on November 10, 1891.

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