Arthur Rimbaud
Arthur Rimbaud, (1854-91). French Symbolist poet. In 1871 he sent some of his work to the poet Verlaine, who invited the young Rimbaud to Paris, paying his fare. The two poets began an affair that ended a year later in a quarrel, during which Verlaine shot Rimbaud in the arm. After completing his masterpiece. A Season in Hell (1873), Rimbaud gave up poetry at the age of 19, the poems in Illuminations (1886) having been written earlier. From 1880 he travelled in Europe and Africa, where he worked for a coffee-exporter and became involved in gun-running. He returned to France in 1891 to have a leg amputated, but never recovered.
