Carcanet Press - The Poems

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Au Cabaret-Vert

Cinq heures du soir

Depuis huit jours, j’avais déchiré mes bottines
Aux cailloux des chemins. J’entrais à Charleroi.
– Au Cabaret-Vert: je demandai des tartines
De beurre et du jambon qui fût à moitié froid.

Bienheureux, j’allongeai les jambes sous la table
Vert e: je contemplai les sujets très naïfs
De la tapisserie. – Et ce fut adorable,
Quand la fille aux tétons énormes, aux yeux vifs,

– Celle-là, ce n’est pas un baiser qui l’épeure! –
Rieuse, m’apporta des tartines de beurre,
Du jambon tiède, dans un plat colorié,

Du jambon rose et blanc parfumé d’une gousse
D’ail, – et m’emplit la chope immense, avec sa mousse
Que dorait un rayon de soleil arriéré.

Octobre 70

At the Green Inn

Five in the evening

For a whole week I had ripped up my boots on the stones of the roads. I walked into Charleroi. – Into the Green Inn: I asked for some slices of bread and butter, and some half-cooled ham.
      Happy, I stuck out my legs under the green table: I studied the artless patterns of the wallpaper – and it was charming when the girl with the huge breasts and lively eyes,
      – a kiss wouldn’t scare that one! – smilingly brought me some bread and butter and lukewarm ham, on a coloured plate; –
      pink and white ham, scented with a clove of garlic – and filled my huge beer mug, whose froth was turned into gold by a ray of late sunshine.

The meteoric and turbulent career of Arthur Rimbaud (1854–1891) was crammed into four teenage years, in which he wrote two masterpieces, The Illuminations and A Season in Hell, and some wonderful short poems. At nineteen he then turned his back on the literary life and left France, travelling to Aden where he lived for ten years, working as a trader.

Oliver Bernard’s Rimbaud was first published in the Penguin Poets series in 1962, then as a Penguin Classic in 1986. This newly revised edition of his superb presentation incorporates corrections and revisions and adds Rimbaud’s juvenile Latin verse written as school exercises. The poems are presented in bilingual form with Bernard’s lively and accurate prose versions below the originals. As well as an outline Life of Rimbaud, Bernard has written a useful and entertaining introduction, to which he has added a new Preface and some Additional Notes. A selection of Rimbaud’s letters is also included.

This is the best and most helpful presentation of the French genius’s work for English-language readers and students of French poetry. Oliver Bernard’s translations were described in a Times review by Robert Nye as ‘quite outstanding . . . so intrinsically poetic that it comes as no surprise to find that Bernard writes original verse himself.’ Anvil has published his poetry, Verse &c. (2001) and his Apollinaire: Selected Poems (new edition 2004). He has lived in Norfolk for over 30 years.

Arthur Rimbaud

Arthur Rimbaud (1854–1891) was born in Charleville, Ardennes. His creativity coincided with his turbulent relationship with Paul Verlaine in his late teens. All his poetry was written before he was 21. He gave up writing and began to travel, spending 11 years in the port town Aden in Abyssinia (Yemen). Ill, ... read more

Oliver Bernard

Oliver Bernard, born in 1925, worked as an advisory teacher of drama, and was a director of the Speak a Poem Competition since its inception. He was a fine reader and in 2012 produced a second CD of his readings, Rimbaud, Whitman Etc . This also included his own sequence ... read more

Praise for Arthur Rimbaud 'Absolute modernity is perhaps granted by this translation, published nearly a century after the original work, infusing the poems with a newfound modernity...Rimbaud's hallucinatory visions translated as poetry and prose is beautifully rendered by Ashbery who manages to transcend the limits of language.'
Emma Kious, DURA

'One of the strongest, most exuberant and closely engaged translations of Rimbaud's work.'

The Guardian, 2011

Arthur Rimbaud, the 19th-century French poet, was a ferocious malcontent, who free-wheeled towards self-destruction with the help of hashish and quantities of alcohol. Rimbaud's most thouroughly modern masterpiece, Illuminations, is now translated by John Ashbury, who brilliantly captures the volume's dizzy-making, metropolitan imagery of subways, viaducts, raised canals and bridges. - Ian Thompson, The Spectator, Books of the Year It is always a pleasure to have the extraordinary poetry of Arthur Rimbaud, teenage prodigy and (in later life) gun-runner, rendered anew into English: this version of the late poem cycle Illuminations translated by the American poet John Ashbery, is vertiginous, exhilarating and mildly hallucinogenic. - Michael Glover, The Tablet One of the strongest, most exuberant and closely engaged translations of Rimbaud's work. - Guardian, 2011 It is always a pleasure to have the extraordinary poetry of Arthur Rimbaud, teenage prodigy and (in later life) gun-runner, rendered anew into English: this version of the late poem cycle Illuminations translated by the American poet John Ashbery, is vertiginous, exhilarating and mildly hallucinogenic. - Michael Glover, The Tablet Arthur Rimbaud, the 19th-century French poet, was a ferocious malcontent, who free-wheeled towards self-destruction with the help of hashish and quantities of alcohol. Rimbaud's most thouroughly modern masterpiece, Illuminations, is now translated by John Ashbury, who brilliantly captures the volume's dizzy-making, metropolitan imagery of subways, viaducts, raised canals and bridges. - Ian Thompson, The Spectator, Books of the Year

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The Poems Arthur Rimbaud Edited by Oliver Bernard Translated by Oliver Bernard Imprint: Anvil Press Poetry Publisher: Carcanet Press Available as: Paperback (456 pages) (Pub. Jan 2012) 9780856464409 Out of Stock Digital access available through Exact Editions Description Excerpt Author Reviews Au Cabaret-Vert Cinq heures du soir Depuis huit jours, j’avais déchiré mes bottines Aux cailloux des chemins. J’entrais à Charleroi. – Au Cabaret-Vert: je demandai des tartines De beurre et du jambon qui fût à moitié froid. Bienheureux, j’allongeai les jambes sous la table Vert e: je contemplai les sujets très naïfs De la tapisserie. – Et ce fut adorable, Quand la fille aux tétons énormes, aux yeux vifs, – Celle-là, ce n’est pas un baiser qui l’épeure! – Rieuse, m’apporta des tartines de beurre, Du jambon tiède, dans un plat colorié, Du jambon rose et blanc parfumé d’une gousse D’ail, – et m’emplit la chope immense, avec sa mousse Que dorait un rayon de soleil arriéré. Octobre 70 At the Green Inn Five in the evening For a whole week I had ripped up my boots on the stones of the roads. I walked into Charleroi. – Into the Green Inn: I asked for some slices of bread and butter, and some half-cooled ham. Happy, I stuck out my legs under the green table: I studied the artless patterns of the wallpaper – and it was charming when the girl with the huge breasts and lively eyes, – a kiss wouldn’t scare that one! – smilingly brought me some bread and butter and lukewarm ham, on a coloured plate; – pink and white ham, scented with a clove of garlic – and filled my huge beer mug, whose froth was turned into gold by a ray of late sunshine. The meteoric and turbulent career of Arthur Rimbaud (1854–1891) was crammed into four teenage years, in which he wrote two masterpieces, The Illuminations and A Season in Hell, and some wonderful short poems. At nineteen he then turned his back on the literary life and left France, travelling to Aden where he lived for ten years, working as a trader. Oliver Bernard’s Rimbaud was first published in the Penguin Poets series in 1962, then as a Penguin Classic in 1986. This newly revised edition of his superb presentation incorporates corrections and revisions and adds Rimbaud’s juvenile Latin verse written as school exercises. The poems are presented in bilingual form with Bernard’s lively and accurate prose versions below the originals. As well as an outline Life of Rimbaud, Bernard has written a useful and entertaining introduction, to which he has added a new Preface and some Additional Notes. A selection of Rimbaud’s letters is also included. This is the best and most helpful presentation of the French genius’s work for English-language readers and students of French poetry. Oliver Bernard’s translations were described in a Times review by Robert Nye as ‘quite outstanding . . . so intrinsically poetic that it comes as no surprise to find that Bernard writes original verse himself.’ Anvil has published his poetry, Verse &c. (2001) and his Apollinaire: Selected Poems (new edition 2004). He has lived in Norfolk for over 30 years. Arthur Rimbaud Arthur Rimbaud (1854–1891) was born in Charleville, Ardennes. His creativity coincided with his turbulent relationship with Paul Verlaine in his late teens. All his poetry was written before he was 21. He gave up writing and began to travel, spending 11 years in the port town Aden in Abyssinia (Yemen). Ill, ... read more Oliver Bernard Oliver Bernard, born in 1925, worked as an advisory teacher of drama, and was a director of the Speak a Poem Competition since its inception. He was a fine reader and in 2012 produced a second CD of his readings, Rimbaud, Whitman Etc . This also included his own sequence ... read more Praise for Arthur Rimbaud 'Absolute modernity is perhaps granted by this translation, published nearly a century after the original work, infusing the poems with a newfound modernity...Rimbaud's hallucinatory visions translated as poetry and prose is beautifully rendered by Ashbery who manages to transcend the limits of language.' Emma Kious, DURA 'One of the strongest, most exuberant and closely engaged translations of Rimbaud's work.' The Guardian, 2011 Arthur Rimbaud, the 19th-century French poet, was a ferocious malcontent, who free-wheeled towards self-destruction with the help of hashish and quantities of alcohol. Rimbaud's most thouroughly modern masterpiece, Illuminations, is now translated by John Ashbury, who brilliantly captures the volume's dizzy-making, metropolitan imagery of subways, viaducts, raised canals and bridges. - *Ian Thompson, The Spectator,* Books of the Year It is always a pleasure to have the extraordinary poetry of Arthur Rimbaud, teenage prodigy and (in later life) gun-runner, rendered anew into English: this version of the late poem cycle Illuminations translated by the American poet John Ashbery, is vertiginous, exhilarating and mildly hallucinogenic. - Michael Glover, The Tablet** One of the strongest, most exuberant and closely engaged translations of Rimbaud's work. - Guardian, 2011 It is always a pleasure to have the extraordinary poetry of Arthur Rimbaud, teenage prodigy and (in later life) gun-runner, rendered anew into English: this version of the late poem cycle Illuminations translated by the American poet John Ashbery, is vertiginous, exhilarating and mildly hallucinogenic. - Michael Glover, The Tablet Arthur Rimbaud, the 19th-century French poet, was a ferocious malcontent, who free-wheeled towards self-destruction with the help of hashish and quantities of alcohol. Rimbaud's most thouroughly modern masterpiece, Illuminations, is now translated by John Ashbury, who brilliantly captures the volume's dizzy-making, metropolitan imagery of subways, viaducts, raised canals and bridges. - *Ian Thompson, The Spectator,* Books of the Year**	Share this... Quick Links Carcanet Poetry Carcanet Classics Carcanet Fiction Carcanet Film Lives and Letters PN Review Video Carcanet Celebrates 50 Years! The Carcanet Blog One Little Room: Peter McDonald read more Collected Poems: Mimi Khalvati read more Invisible Dog: Fabio Morbito, translated by Richard Gwyn read more Dante's Purgatorio: Philip Terry read more Billy 'Nibs' Buckshot: John Gallas read more Emotional Support Horse: Claudine Toutoungi read more
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The Poems

Arthur Rimbaud

Edited by Oliver Bernard

Translated by Oliver Bernard