Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891) was a youthful prodigy. He began writing poetry in his early teens and, after running away from home, met Verlaine who took him under his wing. All of Rimbaud's poetry was composed before he reached the age of twenty, when he gave up writing for the life of an adventurer. In his most advanced poetry, Rimbaud abandons logic for suggestion. Disconnected series of evocative words or phrases are used to portray in all its complexity what is in the poet's mind. Rimbaud has probably had more influence on the poetry of the twentieth century than any other poet.

• "Arthur Rimbaud." Representative French Poetry. Ed. Victor E. Graham. 2nd edn. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1965. 100-03.