“Free to the new ones to hate their ancestors: one is at home and has time.”

Original: Libre aux nouveaux! d’exécrer les ancêtres: on est chez soi et l’on a le temps. — Rimbaud defends the right of new artists to reject inherited authorities and create on their own terms. · Letter to Paul Demeny, 15 May 1871 (French)

• Freedom
• Originality
• Tradition

“What a wretched existence I lead in these absurd climates and insane conditions.”

Original: Quelle existence désolante, s’écrie-t-il, je mène sous ces climats absurdes et dans ces conditions insensées! — Rimbaud’s African correspondence often records the harshness and monotony of the life he had chosen. · Letter from Aden, 1884 (French)

• Environment
• Exile
• Suffering

“I have decided to give you an hour of new literature.”

Original: J’ai résolu de vous donner une heure de littérature nouvelle. — Rimbaud announces his poetic manifesto with remarkable confidence for a sixteen-year-old writer. · Letter to Paul Demeny, 15 May 1871 (French)

• Confidence
• Innovation
• Poetry