In this episode of pplpod, we explore the explosive and contradictory life of Arthur Rimbaud, the French poet whose transgressive themes prefigured surrealism and modern literature. We trace his journey from a brilliant but rebellious student in Charleville, where he chafed under the rule of his strict mother, to his days as a vagabond in Paris during the Franco-Prussian War.

Join us as we discuss:

• The Philosophy of the Seer: How a teenage Rimbaud sought visionary power through a "long, immense and rational derangement of all the senses".

• The "Domestic Farce": His violent, absinthe-fueled affair with fellow poet Paul Verlaine, which scandalized the Parisian literary scene and ended with Verlaine shooting Rimbaud in Brussels.

• The Great Silence: Why Ri ...