Poésies et autres recueils

by Arthur Rimbaud

Rimbaud voulait "changer la vie ". Révolté, sans concession, l'adolescent fièvreux a imprimé sur la poésie à venir la marque indélébile de sa précoce modernité. Des vers trop "simples exprès", une langue nouvelle, une définition très personnelle du beau, des incorrections et des dissonances marquent en effet l'autofiction poétique d'un damné et constituent autant de manières de préfigurer la modernité. Le dossier • Des groupements de textes
• Les repères historiques, culturels et littéraires
• L'étude du genre
• Une préparation au baccalauréat

Genres: Poetry, France

288 pages, Pocket Book

First published August 31, 2011

About the author

Hallucinatory work of French poet Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud strongly influenced the surrealists.

With known transgressive themes, he influenced modern literature and arts, prefiguring. He started writing at a very young age and excelled as a student but abandoned his formal education in his teenage years to run away to Paris amidst the Franco-Prussian war. During his late adolescence and early adulthood, he produced the bulk of his literary output. After assembling his last major work, Illuminations , Rimbaud completely stopped writing literature at age 20 years in 1874.

A hectic, violent romantic relationship, which lasted nearly two years at times, with fellow poet Paul Verlaine engaged Rimbaud, a libertine, restless soul. After his retirement as a writer, he traveled extensively on three continents as a merchant and explorer until his death from cancer. As a poet, Rimbaud is well known for his contributions to symbolism and, among other works, for A Season in Hell , a precursor to modernist literature.

Reviews

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

C'est juste moi qui suis nul en poésie, pas un vrai jugement des compétences de Rimbaud. Rip.

[Lau__books_ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Je dois juste apprendre à comprendre la poésie...

[anbrs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ses poèmes c’est une folie. Ils sont magnifiques, parfaits.

[rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

« Parfois il parle, en une façon de patois attendri, de la mort qui fait repentir, des malheureux qui existent certainement, des travaux pénibles, des départs qui déchirent les coeurs. Dans les bouges où nous nous enivrions, il pleurait en considérant ceux qui nous entouraient, bétail de la misère. Il relevait les ivrognes dans les rues noires. Il avait la pitié d'une mère méchante pour les petits enfants. – Il s'en allait avec des gentillesses de petite fille au catéchisme. Il feignait d'être éclairé sur tout, commerce, art, médecine. – Je le suivais, il le faut ! »
– Délires I. Vierge folle

Rimbaud's poetry is chaotic, swift, abstract and prosaic; often mercilessly confrontational and mocking, and always unapologetically realist. At times, particularly in the Cahiers de Douai and the Poésies, I found his crudeness immature, and many of his chosen subjects – as well as his manner of treating said subjects – were quite frankly boring. His style is dense and does not always aid comprehension. However, I found his evocation of child and lover figures very striking, and the poems tell the tale of his rocky passage from adolescence into adulthood, studded as they are with references to his relationship with Verlaine. I personally find the figure of Arthur Rimbaud far more fascinating than his voice as a poet, but of course, there are many excellent pieces – such as Le Dormeur du val, Villes or Aube, to name a few – which remind one why he is revered as one of the greatest poets of the French language.