In the last two lessons you have seen examples of Romanticism (Victor Hugo), and Realism (Flaubert). To complete your brief exposure to nineteenth-century French literature you will now read an author usually identified as a symbolist: Arthur Rimbaud.
After carefully studying this lesson you will be able to place the work of Rimbaud within the context of the symbolist movement. You will be able to explain the traits of realism in his very early work (« Le dormeur du val ») and the symbolism typical of poems such as « Voyelles ». You will be able to identify how Rimbaud uses synesthesia to create a language that transcends ordinary perception.