Arthur Rimbaud & Paul VerlaineWhen young 19th-century French poet Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud se
Arthur Rimbaud & Paul VerlaineWhen young 19th-century French poet Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud searched for mentorship, he wrote to many poets but received no replies. Then his friend, office employee Charles Auguste Bretagne, advised him to write to Paul Verlaine. The rest was (poetic) history.After Rimbaud sent Verlaine two letters filled with several of his poems, Verlaine replied, “Come, dear great soul. We await you; we desire you,” with a one-way ticket to Paris. In September of 1871, Rimbaud arrived at his soon to be lover’s home. Rimbaud was a few weeks shy of 17; Verlaine was 27.Although Verlaine’s 17-year-old wife was pregnant, the two began an affair filled with booze and drugs (e.g., hash, opium, absinthe). Still writing poems, the two moved to London. Verlaine abandoned his wife and infant son; before that, he had abused them both frequently while in drunken rages. Living in poverty, the two men got by from teaching and an allowance from Verlaine’s mother.Bitter, poor, and drunk, the two fell out of love. Desperate to win his partner back, Verlaine telegraphed Rimbaud in 1873, asking him to meet at the Hotel Liège in Brussels. That reunion became a vicious argument — afterward an intoxicated Verlaine brought a revolver and ammunition. He fired two shots at Rimbaud, one of which hit him in the wrist. Fearing being shot again, Rimbaud reported his mentor to the police, who arrested Verlaine for attempted murder and subjected him to a humiliating medical examination.Rimbaud withdrew his charges after the bullet was removed, but Verlaine was sentenced to two years in prison for wounding with a firearm. Once he was released from jail, the two moved back in together for three months and began writing again. They’d see each other once more in Germany, before Rimbaud died at the young age of 37 (after having his leg amputated). Verlaine, deep into drug addiction, received some recognition from the public in his later years, but would die at age 51. -- source link