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Few poets have had the lasting impact that Jean Nicholas Arthur Rimbaud has. Today, over one-hundred years after his death, his mark of modern
literature, poetry, music and mindset can still be felt.
I began creating this site a little over three months ago, aggravated by the fact that there were so few sites available about this influential and extremely important poet. The sites I did
find were in French, mainly, and even they seemed less than satisfactory.
My intent in creating THE DRUNKEN BOAT is not to outline every aspect of Rimbaud's life in pain-staking detail (though that would be ideal, if time permitted) but, instead,
to offer a jumping board for anyone interested in learning more about this man.
What I find so interesting about Rimbaud's poetry is the complete innocence of its nature. He was a sixteen year old coming to terms with the world around him, trying
to make sense of things before the world got its cynical, blinding claws on him. He wasn't writing to be published, he wasn't creating to impress the bourgeosie of 19th century France, nor for monetary gain.
All that seemed to matter to Arthur
Rimbaud was the process of writing, the actual act of putting pen to paper and capturing the images in his young head. Rimbaud was doing this for no one but himself. That's artistry. In his time, Rimbaud was considered a filthy, cocky child with
a small talent and a big mouth. His works weren't appreciated until long after he stopped writing (at the terribly young age of 19.) Many of his works were considered obscene; so much so, that after his death, his sister attempted to stop the publishing
of many of his more risque works.
However, thanks to his one-time partner, poet Paul Verlaine , the majority of his works have remained intact and are available to this day. |
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