Arthur Rimbaud, The Sleeper in the Valley, Franco-Prussian War, anti-war poem, French literature, poetry analysis, war denunciation, idyllic nature, contrast, sonnet structure
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Abstract
Analysis of Arthur Rimbaud's poem 'The Sleeper in the Valley', describing the horror of the Franco-Prussian War through a contrast between idyllic nature and the reality of war.
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[...] The soldier's youth, the fact that we do not know his past actions, make him a sacrificed angel by war. Arthur Rimbaud offers us a tableau, where everything is immobile. The eyes are first amazed by the overall scene: a young man is sleeping, rocked by nature; finally, the detail comes to catch the eye: the wound is still warm, he was shot. It's in this contrast that Arthur Rimbaud tells us the horror of war. Thus, he denounces Napoleon III and the war he makes against Prussia. [...]
[...] The Douai Notebooks, The Sleeper in the Valley - Arthur Rimbaud (1870) - How does this poem describe the horror of war in an implicit way? - Oral baccalaureate Introduction: Arthur Rimbaud is still very young when he writes 'The Sleeper in the Valley'. It's a poem that will be published in the Douai Notebook, posthumously, in 1919, when it was written in 1870. 'The Sleeper in the Valley' is a poem that tells the horror of the Franco-Prussian War, a war lived by Arthur Rimbaud, through a verdant setting. [...]
[...] Calls upon the imagination. v.1: 'hole of verdure' Double meaning Can refer to a cozy cocoon or a tomb. v.1: 'sing a river' Personification of nature. Carefree nature, beauty of nature, positive connotation. Life is present in nature. v.3-4: 'Silver', 'Ray' Lexical field of light + rejection: 'silver' / 'oil' Emphasis on light. Image of harmony. Light = joyful. Strophe Conclusion By all these procedures Vibrant, reassuring, harmonious frame where nature symbolizes joy. v.5: young soldier' Un = indefinite article Anteposition of the qualifying adjective epithet We don't know who he is, so he can be all the soldiers and symbolize the soldiers in general. [...]
[...] Denial comes to emphasize that it is no longer. The soldier is dead. « Calmly Rejection The position of rejection of the word 'calmly' comes to insist on the surrounding calm and on the immobility of the soldier. « it has two red holes on the right side Euphemism The holes are caused by bullets. The soldier is not sleeping, he is dead. This euphemism refers to that of sleep. He is asleep but in a definitive manner. « Hole First line and last line of verse. [...]
[...] Opposition between the young man's pallor and the shimmering light of nature. Soldier who seems to be cold in a warm nature. « He sleeps Vocabulary of sleep. The soldier is asleep. « Gladiolus" Connotation Flower used to decorate cemeteries. « Like a smile from a sick child Comparison: The soldier is compared to a sick child Intrusion of the disease that refers to the paleness and cold that runs through the soldier. « Nature, cradle him Apostrophe Nature is called, personified, living, in opposition to the soldier who cannot be awakened. [...]
