The Disinherited Child in the Poetry of Arthur Rimbaud

Abstract

This article looks closely at the theme of childhood in the work of Rimbaud. It explores his identification with the child, his fertile imagination, his lonely revolt and his role as a disinherited pariah. The child's sense of exclusion from the family is explored through the poems 'Les Poetes de sept ans' and 'Les Etrennes des orphelins'. In this latter poem we find an early insight into Rimbaud's preoccupation with the theme of the broken family and the idea of orphanhood is again apparent in 'Les Effares' where the urchins are excluded from the warmth of the bakery symbolizing the womb. 'Les Poetes de sept ans' is a key text in the Rimbaud canon in that it displays the child-poet's rebellion againats maternal authority and at the same time his emergence into visionary and creative channels. The Derniers vers develop these elements from the earlier verse and 'Comedie de la soif' seems to theatricalize the child's separation from familial influences while' Memoire', in a highly complex manner, evokes the formative moments in childhood that forever haunt the adult consciousness. In the Illuminations the poem 'Enfance' represents a five-part examination of the whole subject investigating the innocence of the child's imagination, the theme of orphanhood, the child's ability to play many roles and adopt endless identities and the ultimate bitterness of the disinherited child. Finally, the paper looks at the ebullience of 'Aube' where the child pursues the goddess of the dawn in an allegory of success and failure leading to a brutal awakening from his dream. The paper concludes by suggesting a link between childhood and the poet's pursuit of a new language.