“If brass wakes up as a bugle, it is not its fault.”

Original: Si le cuivre s’éveille clairon, il n’y a rien de sa faute. — The metaphor presents the poet as an instrument through which something beyond conscious intention finds expression. · Letter to Paul Demeny, 15 May 1871 (French)

• Consciousness
• Creation
• Poetry

“I have explored these regions and spent a year there, employed by a French commercial house.”

Original: Je suis resté un an dans ces contrées, en emploi dans une maison de commerce française. — Rimbaud describes his African experience in the practical language of work and exploration rather than literary adventure. · Letter to Ernest Delahaye, 18 January 1882 (French)

• Discovery
• Travel
• Work

“I am a slave to my baptism.”

Original: Je suis esclave de mon baptême. — The statement expresses Rimbaud’s conflicted relationship with inherited religious and cultural identity. · A Season in Hell, Bad Blood, 1873 (French)

• Freedom
• Identity
• Religion