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Top 10 Little Known Facts about Arthur Rimbaud

Born on 20 October 1854, in the provincial town of Charleville in northern France, Arthur Rimbaud was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts.

He was the second child of Frédéric Rimbaud and Marie Catherine Vitalie Rimbaud. His father was a French infantry officer and had spent much of his army career abroad.

As a poet, Rimbaud is well known for his contributions to the Symbolist movement, and his influence on modern poetry.

Here are the top 10 little-known facts about him.

1. He started Writing at a Very Young Age

Arthur Rimbaud started writing at a very young age and excelled in school, although he disliked schoolwork and resented his mother’s constant supervision.  When he was nine years old, he wrote a 700-word essay objecting to his having to learn Latin in school.

His mother hired a private tutor for him when he reached the third grade, which succeeded in sparking his love of Greek, Latin, and French classical literature. It was

During his late adolescence and early adulthood, he produced the bulk of his literary output. He completely stopped writing literature at age 20 after assembling his last major work, Illuminations.

2. His Parents Separated when he was a Kid

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Arthur Rimbaud’s parents, Captain Rimbaud and Vitalie Cuif got married on 8 February 1853. The marriage produced five children, born between 1953 and1960.

Though the marriage lasted for seven years, Captain Rimbaud continuously stayed away from his matrimonial home due to his military postings.

Captain Rimbaud was home only when he was on leave. This meant was mostly absent during his children’s births and baptisms, which strained his relationship with his wife and his children.

After the birth of their last child in 1860, Captain Rimbaud stopped returning home on leave altogether. Though they never divorced, the separation was complete, and neither captain nor his wife and children showed interest in re-establishing contact.

3. Rimbaud Wrote all of his Poetry in a Span of five Years

Rimbaud wrote all of his poetry in a span of about five years, from 1870 to 1875. His only writing after 1875 survives in documents and letters.

In his correspondence with family and friends, Rimbaud indicates that he spent his adulthood in a constant struggle for financial success.

He spent the final twenty years of his life working abroad, and he took jobs in African towns as a colonial tradesman.

4. He died from Bone Cancer

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In 1891, Arthur Rimbaud developed what was initially thought to be arthritis in his right knee. He was not responding to the treatment and was prepared to return from Aden to France for treatment.

Rimbaud consulted with a British doctor, who diagnosed him with tubercular synovitis and recommended amputation of his leg. He arrived in Marseille and was admitted to the Hospital de la Conception. There, his leg was amputated, and it turned out he had bone cancer. 

Arthur Rimbaud stayed at the family farm in Roche and attempted to travel back to Africa, but his health quickly deteriorated. He was admitted to the hospital in Marseille, where he died on November 10, 1891, being 37 years old. 

5. He was involved in a Torrid Relationship with a Fellow Poet

Portrait of Paul Verlaine

Arthur Rimbaud had written to several poets, but received no replies. He was advised to write to the Symbolist poet Paul Verlaine. Rimbaud sent him several pages of poems, including his The Sleeper in the Valley.

Verlaine was intrigued by Rimbaud’s work and sent him a one-way ticket to Â鶹APP. He arrived in Â鶹APP in 1871 and lived with Verlaine for a short time. Rimbaud and Verlaine led a wild social life, spiced with absinthe and hashish.

Their behavior was scandalous for the society of the time. They eventually came to London, and Verlaine abandoned his wife and son. In England the two lived in poverty, earning mostly from teaching, and the relationship between the two became increasingly bitter. 

6. Rimbaud Travelled Extensively

By the late 1870s, Rimbaud had completely given up literature in favor of a steady, working life. After studying several languages he went on to travel extensively in Europe, mostly on foot.

In May 1876 he enlisted as a soldier in the Dutch Colonial Army to get free passage to Java in the Dutch East Indies. Four months later he deserted and fled into the jungle. He managed to return secretly to France by ship.

He later traveled to Larnaca in Cyprus, where he worked for a construction company as a stone quarry foreman. In May of the following year, he left Cyprus because of a fever, and he returned to France where he was diagnosed with typhoid.

7. He did not Publish Most of his Poems

Rimbaud hardly cared about the fate of his poems, especially after 1873. He did not prepare his poems for publication and did not want to see them printed.

“One Summer in Hell” is the only poem book he published himself. Apart from several other early poems published in magazines, all his other poems were published by his friends without his knowledge.

Many of his autographs have been lost, the chronology in the collections is often not followed, and some poems are reproduced from memory by Verlaine.

8. He Lived his Final years in the Middle East and Africa

Rimbaud in Harar, Photo Source:

Rimbaud settled in Aden, Yemen, in 1880, as a main employee in the Bardey agency. He left his job and relocated to Ethiopia to become a merchant, where his commercial dealings included coffee and firearms.

He was the first European to oversee the export of the celebrated coffee of Harar from Ethiopia where coffee was born. Rimbaud was only the third European ever to set foot in the city and the first to do business there.

9. He was once Shot by his Partner

Rimbaud and his friend Verlaine, the relationship was very torrid, they argued continuously, and drank heavily. On the morning of 10 July 1873, Verlaine bought a revolver, shot, and wounded Rimbaud in a drunken rage.

Rimbaud was treated for his wound and Verlaine was arrested and charged with attempted murder. The charges were later reduced to wounding with a firearm, and he was sentenced to two years in prison.

10. Rimbaud Topped his Class in School

Rimbaud was a highly successful student in school, topping his class in all subjects except mathematics and the sciences. His schoolmasters remarked upon his ability to absorb great quantities of material.

He won eight first prizes in the French academic competitions in 1869, including the prize for Religious Education, and the following year won seven first prizes.