“I have a horror of all professions.”

Original: J’ai horreur de tous les métiers. — Rimbaud rejects conventional occupation as an imposed social structure rather than a meaningful vocation. · A Season in Hell, Bad Blood, 1873 (French)

• Freedom
• Occupation
• Work

“I have finished describing my hell.”

Original: Je crois avoir fini la relation de mon enfer. — Rimbaud presents his ordeal as something that can finally be described, concluded and left behind. · A Season in Hell, Morning, 1873 (French)

• Acceptance
• Renewal
• Suffering

“I draw the bow; the symphony stirs in the depths, or leaps onto the stage.”

Original: Je lance un coup d’archet: la symphonie fait son remuement dans les profondeurs, ou vient d’un bond sur la scène. — Poetic creation is imagined as the release of something already stirring beneath conscious awareness. · Letter to Paul Demeny, 15 May 1871 (French)

• Creation
• Music
• Poetry