VERLAINE, PAUL

Verlaine, Paul: translation

(1844-1896)

French poet Paul Verlaine arrived in Brussels in July 1873 and wrote to his protégé Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891) that he was planning to enlist in the Spanish army. Rimbaud arrived post haste and, in the course of frequenting severalcafés, the two poets argued vociferously. Verlaine threatened to commit suicide. He bought a revolver in an armory in theGaleries Saint-Hubertand, on 10 July, he proceeded to fire two shots at Rimbaud in their lodging at rue des Brasseurs 1. Wounded in the wrist, Rimbaud lodged a formal complaint with the authorities and returned to Paris. Verlaine was arrested and incarcerated in theprisonof the Petits Carmes. He was sentenced to two years' imprisonment during which time he returned to the Roman Catholic faith of his childhood and wrote religious poetry, which later appeared inSagesse(Wisdom [1881]).