Who have read Arthur Rimbaud`s poems ?

[phoebe.w]

WHO have read the poems ,please just say sth about your feelings of that,for communication,haha!!!

[Jassy Melson]

I read Rimbaud's two collections of poetry--Illuminations and A Season in Hell--about 35 years ago. My reaction to Rimbaud was one of utter amazement. How could a 19-year-old write like that? What a genius! He was amazing, and his life was amazing too.

[stlukesguild]

I've read Rimbaud quite a few times. His Illuminations is among my favorite books of poetry. Your suggestion that we discuss Rimbaud's poetry, however, is a bit vague and considering that you have only 2 posts to your name and we wouldn't want to think that you are just fishing for someone to do your homework for you, what exactly are you looking to discuss in Rimbaud and what poems or what aspects of his poetry strikes you?:wave:

[Alexander III]

I read Rimbaud's two collections of poetry--Illuminations and A Season in Hell--about 35 years ago. My reaction to Rimbaud was one of utter amazement. How could a 19-year-old write like that? What a genius! He was amazing, and his life was amazing too.

What he said.

(except I have read all of his poetry, and read it very often, the writer I turn to most actually, him and Shelley)

[Uroboros1989]

He was a genius indeed! His poem "Ver Erat" that he wrote when he was about 12y.o proves that he was extremely talented! (In Latin of course), His consciousness of his greatness (12 y.o. man!!!) are expressed here:

"Meanwhile the doves returned; in their beaks they bore
A crown, a laurel garland: crowned thus, Apollo
Delights to strike with his finger and sounding strings.
And when they had bound my brows with the laurel crown,
Lo, the heavens opened before me and suddenly
To my astonished eyed, hovering in the golden cloud
Phoebus! Hid divine hand offered me the sounding lyre,
And with fire from heaven he traced these words on my brow:
YOU WILL BE A POET...."

[byronhbrown]

I read some of Rimbaud's poem. Some of them are figurative that make use of nature.

[Uroboros1989]

brilliant!

[laymonite]

I can't think of an enfant terrible with more depth in any field! When I read Rimbaud, I cannot believe I'm reading poetry and prose-poems all written by age 21! I've read the Complete Works edition of the Wallace Fowlie translations, and I'm currently re-reading Rimbaud in the original.

[deryk]

I sleep with Fowlie's bilingual version. He really was standing on the fulcrum between classicism and modernism. He's one of the few poets I can read on a regular basis and actually feel myself changing from the reading. That's power!

[Alexander III]

Well instead of everyone just saying yea he is great! Lets get some discussion going. Here is a topic off the bat - Trough his youth to when he quits writing his poetry has dramatic changes. I would personally divide his poetic maturation in three periods.

First there is the classical period, where he writes beautiful verse following standards of rhyme and meter. Ophelia and Sleeper in the Valley, to me are his greatest achievements in this period.

Then he produces The Drunken Boat, using the classic conventions yet also moving towards the surrealism of his latter Illuminations.

The Illuminations for me are his poetic peak, where he abandons poetry as legible communications and attempts to break free from the confines of ineffectual language, here he attempts to make poetry and imitation of music. No meaning, no purpose no sense, simply pure aesthetic sensation. Words are no longer chosen for their meaning but for their evocativeness, images are created for ambience to attempt to communicate and express what Rilke would later call "The Unsayable".

After the Illuminations he composes his last poet work - A season in Hell. Yet this work is not merely and extended piece based on the same techniques he used in the Illuminations. In the illuminations every words is precise, every image perfect - Now he moves away from making poetry into music; he appears to go from music to madness. In my opinion this is his poetically weakest stage. It is speculated that a reason for this change in style may be his opium abuse. While composing the Illuminations he used hash extensively ( not to create poetry, but rather recreationally), in the period where he wrote The Season in Hell, he abused opium to a large extent, being on the verge of classification as an addict, this may have temporarily caused mental degeneration. This along with his final break with Verlaine and his loss of faith in poetry ( as he would soon abandon writing all together) may be the reasons for the madness and loss of the aesthetic greatness of his previous efforts.

So what do you guys think on this?

[deryk]

Well, I think it's interesting that his stylistic transformation also accompanies his journey from child to adult in many respects. His earliest work at the age of a small child basically involved emulating deeply classicist poetry. He literally shrugged off many of those conventions or outgrew them rather, as he physically developed as a human being. I feel as though I can identify with his early-to-mid works perfectly, because despite my physical age, that's the cognitive/emotional age I still occupy. I'm drawn to my own inability to totally synthesize his later Illuminations into my personal realm of experience, because it reflects on my inability to grow up in some ways. Does that make sense?

[deryk]

Now he moves away from making poetry into music; he appears to go from music to madness.
Or decadence rather, which arguably, was a step back for him.

[Alexander III]

Or decadence rather, which arguably, was a step back for him.

Yes that is what I said, his Season in Hell, appears and aesthetically weaker work compared to his Illuminations. However A Season in Hell does have glimmers of true excellence, for instance I believe this short piece from the poem is one of his finest creations:

Elle est retrouvée.
Quoi? - L'Éternité.
C'est la mer allée
Avec le soleil.

I Suppose I would translate that into english as

It is found.
What? - Eternity.
It is the sea, gone
With the sun.

Now while I do agree that the illuminations were his poetic peak, I should note that some of his earlier poems can stand head to head with pieces from the Illuminations. Ophelia, Le Batteau Ivre and Sensations - stand equal to any set poem from the Illuminations.

[deryk]

Yes that is what I said, his Season in Hell, appears and aesthetically weaker work compared to his Illuminations. However A Season in Hell does have glimmers of true excellence, for instance I believe this short piece from the poem is one of his finest creations:

Elle est retrouvée.
Quoi? - L'Éternité.
C'est la mer allée
Avec le soleil.

I Suppose I would translate that into english as

It is found.
What? - Eternity.
It is the sea, gone
With the sun.

Now while I do agree that the illuminations were his poetic peak, I should note that some of his earlier poems can stand head to head with pieces from the Illuminations. Ophelia, Le Batteau Ivre and Sensations - stand equal to any set poem from the Illuminations.
I got hung up on those lines a lot as well. It may not be possible to exhaust them in my mind. Sort of an elliptical and brutal epiphany, understanding that our concept of fate is a paradoxical mistake.

[MadCow]

Elle est retrouvée.
Quoi? - L'Éternité.
C'est la mer allée
Avec le soleil.

These lines are actually from an poem written earlier than A Season in Hell. Rimbaud is in fact quoting himself.

I realise this discussion is rather old and there may be no one taking any notice of it but I'm a great fan of Rimbaud. I've been obsessed with him for close on 40 years.

It may also be the case that some of the Illuminations were written later than A Season in Hell - and while this is considered his farewell to poetry he cared enough about it to have it published privately - so hadn't completely given up at that time.

I'm writing a book about a lost work of Rimbaud's and am always interested in a discussion about the Wonder Boy.

[Pope of Eruke]

Yes I have his full collection, and it is amazing, I constantly find myself wondering just how someone who is the same age as me write like that!

[deguonis]

I have read Arthur Symons's poems. Those who speak French are lucky because they can read Rimbaud in its original language. I find myself uncomfortable reading translations.

[hypatia_]

Elle est retrouvee!
Quoi? l'Eternite.
C'est la mer melee
Au soleil

I think it is actually closer to:

It is recovered!
What? Eternity.
It is the sea
Mixed with the sun.


I got hung up on those lines a lot as well. It may not be possible to exhaust them in my mind. Sort of an elliptical and brutal epiphany, understanding that our concept of fate is a paradoxical mistake.

I think Rimbaud is saying that they are one in the same eternally, hence solving your paradox :P It is indeed quite the epiphany though.