Can anyone explain to me what the poem, "A Season in Hell" by Arthur Rimbaud, means (poem text inside)?

Question

Exactly as my title asks.
Can anyone explain (or attempt to interpret) what is trying to be written here?
Apparently, Arthur was writing a description about his relationship with his wife, his pitiful brother, and himself as an infernal groom.

Thanks in advance ye.


A Season in Hell by Arthur Rimbaud

A while back, if I remember right, my life was one long party where all hearts were open wide, where all wines kept flowing.

One night, I sat Beauty down on my lap.—And I found her galling.—And I roughed her up.

I armed myself against justice.

I ran away. O witches, O misery, O hatred, my treasure's been turned over to you!

I managed to make every trace of human hope vanish from my mind. I pounced on every joy like a ferocious animal eager to strangle it.

I called for executioners so that, while dying, I could bite the butts of their rifles. I called for plagues to choke me with sand, with blood. Bad luck was my god. I stretched out in the muck. I dried myself in the air of crime. And I played tricks on insanity.

And Spring brought me the frightening laugh of the idiot.

So, just recently, when I found myself on the brink of the final squawk! it dawned on me to look again for the key to that ancient party where I might find my appetite once more.

Charity is that key.—This inspiration proves I was dreaming!

"You'll always be a hyena etc. . . ," yells the devil, who'd crowned me with such pretty poppies. "Deserve death with all your appetites, your selfishness, and all the capital sins!"

Ah! I've been through too much:-But, sweet Satan, I beg of you, a less blazing eye! and while waiting for the new little cowardly gestures yet to come, since you like an absence of descriptive or didactic skills in a writer, let me rip out these few ghastly pages from my notebook of the damned.

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

The poem you wrote out is not "Une saison en enfer". "A Season in Hell" is the name of the whole book. This is only what is usually called "Prologue". You have to imagine these words as being morally symbolic but also referring to actual facts. He was very young when he wrote this (19, but he was young when he wrote everything, anyway). And by the way, to my knowledge Rimbaud never got married. Are you thinking about Verlaine rather? He didn't have a brother either but a sister.
It is a sort of address to Satan ("sweet Satan") because he feels he has done some things wrongs and the whole piece has to do with the notion of sin.
He is looking back on his short life and finds himself at a point where he has to take a decision ("It dawned on me to look again for the key...").
The very beginning ("a while back") is about childhood seen as an ideal time. THen he started writing poetry ("I sat beauty down on my lap"). He found her "galling": maybe because his youth was a rebellious one, or because he discovered sexuality in a rough way. He "ran away": he literally did, walking from Charleville to Paris. It is just about his life. "the brink of the final squawk" is probably about the time when his lover Paul Verlaine tried to kill him (the rest of the book is mainly about his relationship with Verlaine). And so now he is wondering what path he shall take.

Source(s):

Just a few clues, but have in mind the importance of the notions of sin and the religious background.

Asker's Rating:

Asker's Comment:

Thank you very much.
Your explanation was clear and easy to understand, and it also makes sense.

I also thank you for correcting me. What I provided in my question was merely stuff I got off of Wikipedia, in hopes for a higher chance of someone to help me.

Answer 2

the guy got drunk and sexed up some girl.

Answer 3

um.. i think he got went to a party, got drunk banged some girl and it was wrong. either cause it was his friends girlfriend or she was underage. anyway he felt guilty and it was eating him on the inside . so he was like oh noone will find out so he just like went back to normal begging noone would find out of his sin .