"Novel" by Arthur Rimbaud

I chose the poem "Novel" by Arthur Rimbaud to memorize. Originally written in French, the English translation I chose has been translated by Wyatt Mason. The poem expresses the carefree, unserious nature of the world of a seventeen-year-old, a budding adult. It demonstrates an excitement with life that accompanies the ripe age of someone on the verge of adulthood. The problems one faces at this age seem insignificant and are breezily and quickly forgotten  about.  Rimbaud wrote all of his poetry during his teenage years, so the poem effortlessly retains the emotions that one feels at this incipient time in his or her life. One line in particular perfectly conveys this overarching carefree tone: “Sometimes the air is so sweet that you close your eyes” The tone in this line is light-hearted and untroubled. The narrator has no apparent worries or tribulations, only bliss with the simplicities of the world. Rimbaud also uses synesthesia by describing the air as sweet. He touches on the universal, child-like affinity for sweets and adapts it into a description of nature and the outdoors.  The next line continues  with the air and wind motif: “the wind brings sounds – the town is near.” Using personification to describe the wind, Rimbaud further emphasizes the lack of seriousness that the poem celebrates. He then introduces a nearby town, which signifies people, life, and excitement. The poem celebrates the seemingly trivial aspects of life, such as wind softly blowing on one’s face. By using surrealistic language, the reader can relate much more strongly to this lighthearted, cheerful feeling.

I.

No one’s serious at seventeen.
--On beautiful nights when beer and lemonade
And loud, blinding cafés are the last thing you need
--You stroll beneath green lindens on the promenade.

Lindens smell fine on fine June nights!
Sometimes the air is so sweet that you close your eyes;
The wind brings sounds--the town is near--
And carries scents of vineyards and beer. . .

II.

--Over there, framed by a branch
You can see a little patch of dark blue
Stung by a sinister star that fades
With faint quiverings, so small and white. . .

June nights! Seventeen!--Drink it in.
Sap is champagne, it goes to your head. . .
The mind wanders, you feel a kiss
On your lips, quivering like a living thing. . .

III.

The wild heart Crusoes through a thousand novels
--And when a young girl walks alluringly
Through a streetlamp’s pale light, beneath the ominous shadow
Of her father’s starched collar. . .

Because as she passes by, boot heels tapping,
She turns on a dime, eyes wide, 
Finding you too sweet to resist. . .
--And cavatinas die on your lips.

IV.

You’re in love. Off the market till August.
You’re in love.--Your sonnets make Her laugh.
Your friends are gone, you’re bad news.
--Then, one night, your beloved, writes. . .!

That night. . .you return to the blinding cafés;
You order beer or lemonade. . .
--No one’s serious at seventeen 
When lindens line the promenade.