Arthur Rimbaud

The impact of Arthur Rimbaud’s poetry has been immense. His influence on the Surrealist movement has been widely acknowledged, and a host of poets, from André Breton to André Freynaud, have recognized their indebtedness to Rimbaud’s vision and technique. He was the enfant terrible of French poetry in the second half of the 19th century and a major figure in symbolism. His works continue to be widely read and translated into numerous languages. English language poets including Samuel Beckett and John Ashbery have translated and been influenced by Rimbaud’s works.
 
Jean-Nicolas-Arthur Rimbaud was born in Charleville in northeastern France, the second son of an army captain, Frédéric Rimbaud, and Marie-Cathérine-Vitalie Rimbaud, née Cuif. He had an older brother, Frédéric, and two younger sisters: Vitalie, and Isabelle. The father was absent during most of Rimbaud’s childhood. Rimbaud’s difficult relationship with his authoritarian mother is reflected in many of his early poems, such as “Les Poètes de sept ans” (“The Seven-Year-Old Poets,” 1871). Rimbaud’s mother was a devout Christian, and Rimbaud associated her with many of the values that he rejected: conventional religious belief and practice, the principles of hard work and scholarly endeavor, patriotism, and social snobbery.