Was French poet Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891) a synaesthesist ?
With Baudelaire and Verlaine, Rimbaud belongs to the “poètes maudits”
or more globally, with Oscar Wilde and many more to the “decadent
movement” (1). He was born into a poor and non artistic family, but was
brilliant at school, his first poems being written when he was 15. He had
a violent love affair with poet Paul Verlaine, ending in a quarrel, where
Rimbaud was wounded by a shot from his lover. He died at 37 of bone
cancer, but stopped writing poetry at the age of 21. One of the poems
which is often taught in schools, and is to be found in many anthologies
is Voyelles (2). The first verse is:
A noir, E blanc, I rouge, U vert, O bleu : voyelles,
At school, one is taught that this is a culmination of poetic
freedom, might it just be synaesthesia ?
Rapid Response:
Was French poet Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891) a synaesthesist ?
With Baudelaire and Verlaine, Rimbaud belongs to the “poètes maudits”
or more globally, with Oscar Wilde and many more to the “decadent
movement” (1). He was born into a poor and non artistic family, but was
brilliant at school, his first poems being written when he was 15. He had
a violent love affair with poet Paul Verlaine, ending in a quarrel, where
Rimbaud was wounded by a shot from his lover. He died at 37 of bone
cancer, but stopped writing poetry at the age of 21. One of the poems
which is often taught in schools, and is to be found in many anthologies
is Voyelles (2). The first verse is:
A noir, E blanc, I rouge, U vert, O bleu : voyelles,
At school, one is taught that this is a culmination of poetic
freedom, might it just be synaesthesia ?
(1)http://en.wikipedia.org.ezproxy.ulb.ac.be/wiki/Arthur_Rimbaud#External_l...
(2)
Full french version on :
http://mv.ezproxy.com.ezproxy.ulb.ac.be/lesgrandsclassiques/poemes/arthu...
Full translation into English:
http://mv.ezproxy.com.ezproxy.ulb.ac.be/r/the_vowels.html
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests