Arthur Rimbaud

Arthur Rimbaud was a French poet born in Charleville, in the Ardennes, on 20 October 1854. A brilliant and restless schoolboy, he began writing remarkable verse in his mid-teens and soon left home for Paris, where his talent and difficult temper made a strong impression on the literary world. His stormy relationship with the poet Paul Verlaine became part of his legend. By about the age of twenty he had essentially stopped writing poetry. He spent his later years travelling in Europe and the Middle East, and working as a trader in Aden and Harar in East Africa. He fell ill and died in Marseille on 10 November 1891, aged thirty-seven. His short body of work, including A Season in Hell and Illuminations, broke with traditional form and helped open the way for modern poetry. He remains a lasting symbol of youthful genius and rebellion, admired by Symbolists, Surrealists and many later writers.