Rimbaud began writing poetry very early and by the age of thirteen was also composing in Latin. He had already won several prizes for his work and was encouraged by the local schoolteacher. He ran away from home, finally ending up on the streets of Paris. He sent some of his verses to the poet Paul Verlaine, who immediately recognized his talent and invited him to live with him. Rimbaud then composed Le Bateau ivre (The Drunken Boat), which is perhaps his finest poem. Rimbaud and Verlaine then had a tumultuous affair that lasted until Verlaine shot Rimbaud in the hand during a heated argument in 1873. Rimbaud travelled around Europe and held various jobs including French teacher in England and interpreter in Cyprus. In 1886, his prose poems of Les Illuminations was published by the Symbolist periodical La Vogue by Verlaine. Rimbaud's fame was assured, but he had already ceased to write by 1875. He found work with a coffee exporter in Aden and was sent to Harar in Africa in 1880, where he lived until 1891 when he returned to France with a painful tumour on his leg. It turned out to be cancerous and his leg was amputated, but unfortunately the cancer had already spread and he died later that year. Rimbaud's work has had an enormous influence on many writers, artists and musicians, including Dylan Thomas, Picasso, Bob Dylan and Henry Miller to name a few. His other works include Le Soleil Etat Encore Chaud (1866), Poesies (1869-1873), Soleil et Chair (1870), Proses Evangeliques (1872), Une Saison en Enfer (1873) and Lettres (1870-1891). |
