Delirium II: Alchemy of Words ( Délires II: Alchimie du verbe) – the narrator then steps in and explains his own false hopes and broken dreams. This section is divided more clearly and contains many sections in verse (most of which are individual poems from the ensemble later called " Derniers vers" or " Vers nouveaux et chansons", albeit with significant variations). Here Rimbaud continues to develop his theory of poetry that began with his " Lettres du Voyant" ("Letters of the Seer"), but ultimately considers the whole endeavour as a failure. [5]

Academic critics [ who?] have arrived at many varied and often entirely incompatible conclusions as to what meaning and philosophy may or may not be contained in the text.In the first lines of the introduction to ‘A Season in Hell,’ the speaker explains that there was one point in his life when he was truly happy. He uses the metaphor of a “feast” in which “all hearts opened” to describe how he felt. In the next line, the poet uses personification to describe “Beauty” sitting on his lamp, but it was not so simple. He “found her bitter” and he “reviled her”. He “fled” from his life, calling out all the elements o this life that he thinks are to blame. A Season in Hell: Introduction’ by Arthur Rimbaud this long poem is separated out into nine, complex, and sometimes baffling sections. The first of these is the Introduction. It is followed by “ Bad Blood,”“Night of Hell,”“Delirium 1” and “2” as well as “The Impossible,”“Lightning,”“Morning,” and then finally “Farewell”. The poem was written in French and has since been translated into English. This means that every translation is going to be slightly different and some of the formal choices that Rimbaud made are going to be lost.

But! Who made my tongue so deceitful that it’s guided and safeguarded my laziness till now? Without even using my body to live, and idler than a toad, I’ve lived everywhere. Not a family in Europe I don’t know. – I mean families like mine, who owe it all to the declaration of the Rights of Man. – I’ve known every son of good family! He goes on, bringing in line after line that shows how truly miserable and transformed he is. The speaker hates the world and himself so much that he summons “plagues” and stifles himself “with sand and blood”. He’s encouraging his own suffering and that of others. “Misfortune,” something that most people try to avoid at all costs, is this speaker’s “god”. Delirium I: The Foolish Virgin – The Infernal Spouse ( Délires I: Vierge folle – L'Époux infernal) – the most linear in its narrative, this section consists of the story of a man (Verlaine), enslaved to his "infernal bridegroom" (Rimbaud) who deceived him and lured his love with false promises. It is likely a transparent allegory for his relationship with Verlaine. As for established happiness: domestic or not...no, I can’t. I’m too dissipated, too feeble. Life flowers through work, an old truth: me, my life is too insubstantial, it flies off and drifts around far above the action that focus dear to the world. If the old imbeciles hadn’t discovered only the false significance of Self, we wouldn’t have to now sweep away those millions of skeletons which have been piling up the products of their one-eyed intellect since time immemorial, and claiming themselves to be their authors!

More by this poet

I listen to him make infamy of glory, charm of cruelty. “I’m of a distant race: my forefathers were Scandinavian: they slashed their sides, drank their own blood. – I’ll make cuts all over; I’ll tattoo myself, I long to be hideous as a Mongol: you’ll see, I’ll scream in the streets. I want to be mad with rage. Never show me gems, I’d crawl on the carpet and writhe. My treasure, I’d like to be stained all over with blood. I’ll never work...” On several nights, his demon seized me; we rolled about, I wrestled him! – At night, often, drunk, he lies in wait in the streets or houses, to frighten me to death. – “They’ll cut my throat, truly; it will be ‘disgusting’.” Oh, those days when he chooses to stroll about like a criminal!