Analyzing Rimbaud's Poetry: Themes of Nature, Revolt, and Love in 19th-Century French Literature

Extract

[...] The monarchs, under the poet's pen, appear as faded, lackluster, ridiculous, and powerless characters. They are nothing more than puppets, unable to move. He uses an irreverent tone, as in the poem 'The brilliant victory of Sarrebrück' where a soldier presents « his backsides. The familiar, vulgar words and the ironic tone are used to mock the monarchs and express his contempt for them. Poems around myths and the past Rimbaud celebrates the origin of the world when everything was innocence, love and purity. He wishes for a return to an idyllic world. [...]

[...] Poems around war These poems give rise to feelings of revolt, indignation, and sadness in the face of the absurdity of war and the violence wanted by monarchs. These poems also give the impression of being powerless in the face of human madness. We can identify with Rimbaud who denounces political calculations and incites pity for the men who are their victims and to pay homage to the dead. Creative Space of Invention Disorder, fear, and revolt, are my companions during the day, I grimace, I cry and I scream, but nothing rises, At the bottom of my being, I still hear a crystalline laugh, Who carries me, guides me and accompanies my dreams. [...]

[...] For him, the revolution passes through an alliance of workers guided by a need for fraternal love. Rimbaud is young but he is an engaged poet and aware of social disparities. The poet takes up in his poems the different sources of revolutionary conflicts: injustices, taxes, privileges or even military service. But Rimbaud is more a rebel than a true revolutionary: seizing power does not interest him. He is content with the hope of a new life against a stifling, rotten and decadent society. [...]

[...] Three steps And, all of us, we have reduced your Bastille to dust This beast sweats blood at every stoneThe blacksmith) « All the wheezing bourgeois choked by the heat Portent, Thursdays nights, their jealous nonsense (To the music) Citations that pleased me « For eight days, I had torn my boots To the pebbles of the paths. (At the Green Cabaret, five o'clock in the evening) « He sleeps in the sun, his hand on his chest Quiet. He has two red holes on the right side. (The Sleeper in the Valley) 2. [...]

[...] Rimbaud seems to be going "far, far away like a gypsy": these poems convey his desire to run away, to escape into nature and escape the city. It is not a journey but a wandering because for him, his desire to go on an adventure is aimless and he does not care what will happen to him. The quote expresses Rimbaud's determination to adopt the life of a vagabond, within a welcoming nature that he traverses in all directions. Poems around love/sensuality Of "childish loves", Rimbaud gives the image of a naive, clumsy, even sugary love. [...]