My Bohemia by Arthur Rimbaud: Art of Fugue

Extract

[...] We can also find exclamatory sentences that are also part of the lyrical register. The theme of love is also characteristic of lyricism. The 'muse' evokes poetic inspiration. Facing this muse, Rimbaud presents himself as a 'féal', that is, a servant. We also find the characteristics of the bohemian lifestyle with poverty: 'torn pockets', 'paletot' garment worn over others, one might say today a vest or a coat) 'ideal' no doubt because it is so worn out that it only corresponds to the idea of a paletot. [...]

[...] He only has one and it is torn, proof that the young writer is indeed in a certain state of poverty. The second line of this stanza brings a metaphor and a reference to traditional literature, the poet compares himself to Little Thumb, this character who had the ingenuity to leave pebbles behind him to find his way. If he calls himself a 'dreamer', it is precisely because he is always in a form of dreamy contemplation. Except that it is not pebbles that he leaves behind him but rather 'rhymes' that he places at the enjambment as if to highlight this term. [...]

[...] The 'dew drops' are compared to a 'wine of vigor'. We note the poet's ability to transform reality. The caesuras at the hemistich are relatively conventional in this stanza. In this stanza, we can see the young poet continuing on his journey. Fourth stanza: Poetry above all In this final stanza, the poet directly evokes his artistic activity with the verb 'rimant'. We find the instrument of 'lyre' which gave its name to the lyrical register. The poet may evoke the laces of his shoes through the elastic. [...]

[...] The 'wounded shoes' confirm the poverty in which the poet finds himself. The 'heart', seat of emotions, of feelings confirms this lyrical dimension of the poem. The caesuras at the hemistiches are anti-conventional except for the second to last verse, after 'lyres'. Conclusion This poem presents itself as the poetic expression of a poet who affirms his will to flee, to flee a bourgeois world. The art of fugue of the one nicknamed 'the man with wind soles' is perfectly expressed in this lyrical poem in which we find a large number of characteristics of this register such as the expression in the first person, the expression of feelings and emotions. [...]

[...] The Douai Notebooks, My Bohemia - Arthur Rimbaud (1870) - How does this poem represent the art of the fugue? - Oral bac exam Introduction Arthur Rimbaud is a poet born in 1854 and died in 1891. Although his life was relatively short, he is often presented as one of the greatest French poets in the history of literature. The poet is still very young when he writes 'My Bohemia', a poem taken from the famous 'Douai Notebooks' of poems that he handed to his friend Paul Demeny in the form of two bundles of poems. [...]