<< Les langues, voyages, barbes et Arthur Rimbaud >>

J'ai deux blogs, le premier à propos de mes passe-temps dans la langue et voyage, et la seconde à propos de un Français célèbre de la semaine dernière.
J'ai un grand intérêt à la langue, et maintenant j'étudie espagnol et français, mais je veux apprendre portugais, allemand, italien et hébreu. J'ai ma vie entière, mais j'apprends les langues très rapide. Je sais espagnol et j'ai un tuteur dans hébreu, puis les autres viendront plus tard. L'autre grand passe-temp j'ai, mais un que est plus un rêve que réalité est voyage.Dans ma vie, je n'ai pas argent, et c'est une problème pour beaucoup des choses, mais le grande problème dans mon esprit maintenant. Je prévois voyager à Espagne cet été, et autre pays avec l'université plus tard. J'ai autre passe-temps, comme musique, danser, cuisiner, les motos, les films, et un jour ayant une barbe comme cet homme.

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Arthur Rimbaud

Arthur Rimbaud was a pretty interesting character. Born in Charleville, France in 1854, Rimbaud was raised by a strict mother and an absent father (who flew the coop when he joined a regiment in Cambrai, for he grew tired of domestic living). At some point in his adolescence, he as well flew the coop to escape his mother's overly strict regime, became more open and excessive in his pleasures, wrote and published successful poems, and ended up with a symbolist poet, Paul Verlaine. The two grew to be lovers, though Verlaine was married and his wife was expecting a child. Verlaine, however, was a volatile character who took to drinking, and in one instance (after the two's affair had gone through a number of ups and downs) pulled a gun on Rimbaud and shot him. Rimbaud survived, but ultimately turned Verlaine in to the police, who was imprisoned for two years. During their time together, Rimbaud had composed most of his best poems, but soon after, by around 1875, he gave up poetry completely and traveled around Europe on foot. He took up different jobs, enlisting in the army to go to Indonesia (where he promptly deserted) and ended up in Ethiopia, where he took up a few lovers and lived with a mistress for some time. He continued to write letters throughout his whole life, and lived a life carried by the wind until he died of cancer at the age of 37. I found out about him when I came across a paper bound copy of one of his most famous collections of poems, "The Drunken Boat", at Edward McKay's, though it was all written in English and seemed to lack the fire it was reputed to have in its original French form. Here are the first two stanzas of the poem, "the Drunken Boat", in french:

Comme je descendais des Fleuves impassibles,
Je ne me sentis plus guidé par les haleurs :
Des Peaux-Rouges criards les avaient pris pour cibles
Les ayant cloués nus aux poteaux de couleurs.

J'étais insoucieux de tous les équipages,
Porteur de blés flamands ou de cotons anglais.
Quand avec mes haleurs ont fini ces tapages
Les Fleuves m'ont laissé descendre où je voulais.