Illuminations is a collection of short prose poems and a few free-verse pieces, written by Rimbaud in his late teens and early twenties. The texts move through dreamlike cities, seas, childhood scenes and strange festivals, with images that shift quickly and resist plain explanation. They have no story in the usual sense, yet they share a bold sense of invention and a hunger for a new kind of life and language. The book was not published as a whole until after Rimbaud had left poetry behind, and it is often seen as a foundation of modern poetry. It rewards slow, repeated reading.