And from that time on I bathed in the Poem Of the Sea, star-infused and churned into milk, Devouring the green azures; where, entranced in pallid flotsam, A dreaming drowned man sometimes goes down.
Arthur RimbaudRead
The poet, therefore, is truly the thief of fire. He is responsible for humanity, for animals even; he will have to make sure his visions can be smelled, fondled, listened to; if what he brings back from beyond has form, he gives it form; if it has none, he gives it none. A language must be found…of the soul, for the soul and will include everything: perfumes, sounds colors, thought grappling with thought
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the poet's role in capturing and expressing deep, intangible truths about existence and the human experience.
Rimbaud suggests that poets play a critical role in bridging the gap between the ethereal and the tangible. They are tasked with not only bringing visions and emotions from the depths of their imagination into reality but also ensuring that these expressions resonate universally, encompassing all senses and experiences. The quotation reflects the profound responsibility that comes with artistic creation, implying that poets must craft language that touches the essence of the human soul and encompasses the entirety of existence.
Themes
PoetryImaginationArtExpressionSoul
In practice
Example use cases
In a poetry reading, I could introduce this quote to discuss the importance of sensory language in poetry.
More from Arthur Rimbaud
All quotes →My wisdom is as spurned as chaos. What is my nothingness, compared to the amazement that awaits you?
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In the great glasshouses streaming with condensation, the children in mourning-dress beheld marvels.
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I turned silences and nights into words. What was unutterable, I wrote down. I made the whirling world stand still.
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Idle youth, enslaved to everything; by being too sensitive I have wasted my life.
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What a life! True life is elsewhere. We are not in the world.
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