Actual Summary | Asleep in the Valley | by Arthur Rimbaud 2021 | facexor

Summary of the poem, “Asleep in the Valley” is written by Arthur Rimbaud.

Answer: Arthur Rimbaud's poem "Sleep in the Valley" depicts a young soldier lying happily in the clearness of a small green valley. A slow current is flowing through it and leaves a long strand of silver on the bright grass. The sun's rays flow from the top of the mountain to the valley. The soldier is lying with his face dry. Beneath his head is a dense undergrowth like a pillow and bed made of fern. The pale green bed feels warm when soaked in the sun's rays. She sleeps with her feet in the flowers and a smile on her face like a baby. Her smile is soft and there is no deceit in it. The poet asks nature to keep the young army warm because he fears that he may fall cold in the open air. His rest should not be disturbed by humming insects. The young soldier is sleeping in the peace of the sun with one hand on his chest. However, two red holes can be seen on one side of his body. They are the marks of the bullet that killed him. He is none other than war. He is dead.

About the Poet: 

Jean-Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud was a French poet who began writing poetry very early in his life and died almost completely at the age of 21. Born in Charlie, Ardennes was a Frederick Rimbaud, he was an innate infantry captain, and Mary-Katherine Vitaly Cueff, who pushed her children towards educational and moral excellence. He was the second of five children. After seven years of marriage, her parents separated. Even at the time of their marriage, Rimbaud Sr. was absent most of the time, especially in military postings. As a result of this separation, the children had just a relationship with their father

Arthur Rimbaud was an excellent student and proficient in literature. He was fluent in Latin and Greek. He showed his talent as a poet at the age of fifteen. And he was greatly encouraged by his teacher, Georges Izambard.

The literary circle in Paris considered Rimbaud a kind of ‘infant horror’. His deteriorating lifestyle and Libertine outlook did not sit well with many. Despite the harsh criticism, Rimbaud was well known for the results of his literature. The famous writer, Victor Hugo called him ‘Child Shakespeare’, this was the skill in his poetry. At the heart of Libertin, he was part of the decadent movement. He was also known to influence Surrealism.

He was an avid traveler. He is known to have traveled to three continents. He gave up writing and his declining life at the age of twenty-one and began to live permanently in Aden, Yemen, as an employee of the Bird Agency. Later, he ended up running the agency of the firm which is located in Ethiopia. Shortly thereafter, he quit his job as part of the coffee business. He passed away of bone cancer at the age of 37 in Marseille, France. It is said that his poetry influenced many writers, artists, and musicians of the twentieth century, such as Allen Ginsberg, Vladimir Novokov, Jack Keruyak, Bob Dylan, Pablo Picasso, and many more.

The poem is about the death of a young soldier, whose body lies in a valley of ferns and flowers. The poem was probably written in October 1870 but was published in 1888 in a collection called Anthology Lemare. It is said to have been composed in 1870 during the French-Prussian War. Since there is no evidence that Charlie suggested any war to fight, perhaps this poem was inspired by war but not an actual account of a real event. The original was written in French, entitled Le Dormer du Val. This English version was translated by Paul Schmidt.

The poem is set in a war-torn valley. The overall mood of the poem is depressing olic However, this abnormality is reduced by an appreciation of the acceptability of life and death. Melancholic still brings the calm mood to life with Rimbaud's attention, which is depicted in the shape of nature and in the slow, gentle pace of the poem. But in the last line the mood changes in one fell swoop, because there the speaker tells us that the soldier is actually dead and not asleep as described earlier.