Arthur Rimbaud

A Season in Hell and The Drunken Boat

Will Vunderink

"And rainbows stretched like endless reins
To glaucous flocks beneath the seas."

Andrew John Kinney

Having never read Rimbaud, I thought I would give this slim volume a try. The relationship between Rimbaud and Verlaine is famous in literary circles, and it was scandalous in the Victorian era;
 Rimbaud's poetry is seen as a very early statement of identity from a gay poet. That said, in order to understand Une Saison en Enfer, or The Drunken Boat, one must know more than a little about Rimbaud's tumultuous affair with Verlaine; otherwise, the average reader will simply be puzzled and frustrated by the poems, and indeed, even if you have read interpretations and summaries, the poems are difficult to follow. Honestly, for most people, me included, study of Rimbaud's works is better suited to a college class on French literature in which one relates the verses to Rimbaud's life and experiences and explores the significance of the symbols in the verses. Certainly there is nothing resembling a plot or story line in these poems; it is not at all like reading The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. That said, there are quite a few quotable lines, and it is a short read unless one plans to really study the poems, which, again, is probably how these are best read, with a professor to help interpret the lines.

A Season in Hell and The Drunken Boat

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