Illuminations (poetry collection): Difference between revisions

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[[Arthur Rimbaud]]'s [[1874]] ''[['''Illuminations]]''''' include some autobiographical allusions to his ''voyant'' (visionary) period, which began in [[1869]]; but ''Illuminations'' is neither a confession nor an apology. Its several dozen variously short [[prose]] and two [[free verse|free-verse]] [[poem]]s transcend prose [[grammar]] by allowing their words to drift away from their dictionary definitions. Ever-elusive, relentless, overflowing with sinuous cadences, ''Illuminations'' transcends ''Une Saison en Enfer'' as ''Une Saison en Enfer'' had transcended Rimbaud's verses. Some scholars even propose that some of the ''Illuminations'' may have been written after ''Une Saison'', which supposedly marked his farewell to literature.

The ''Illuminations'' contain so many subtle symbols and allusions that something new can be realized with each new reading. There is an inexplicable grace in its opaque [[impressionism]] and its rhythms. It never ceases to be a dazzling spectacle, and even its most mundane passages are imbued with a superreality. Admittedly these works do not obtain their full effect in isolation: Starkie's biography has been the standard introduction in [[English language|English]] since 1961; still, unlike free verse, [[lyric poetry|lyrical]] prose poetry all but began and ended with Rimbaud's ''Illuminations''. As an adolescent he expanded the vocabulary and diversified the meters of French poetry; as a young adult he became unique in world [[literature]].