Drunken Boat Essay Example

and sorrows that Rimbaud's boat has encountered, it seems tired of both the hardships and the journey itself. Like an exhausted slave after a life filled with toil, worn out and broken by the relentless tides (1173), Rimbaud's boat has lived a long life marked by magnificent experiences and despair. His life has been a perpetual struggle, an endless quest for a goal that now seems out of reach, and he is weary: "True I have wept too much! Dawns are heartbreaking; Cruel all moons and bitter the suns" (Rimbaud 1175).

In these final verses, Rimbaud departs from the typical characteristics of 19th century writers. While many writers of the time perceived the Industrial Revolution as both detrimental and beneficial, Rimbaud sees it as a system that treats individuals like machines, similar to a commercial boat. In this aspect, Rimbaud shares a belief later expressed by another notable writer, Karl Marx, who, together with his collaborator Max Engels, wrote that "The history of all previously existing society is the history of class struggles" (Marx and Engels 1329). However, where Rimbaud significantly differed from these writers was in his proposed solution: Marx and Engels advocated for revolution to liberate the working class from "slavery" and establish a society without social classes. Rimbaud's concluding verses convey an inconsolable desolation, weariness accumulated from a lifetime of toil and struggle (1175):
If I desire any European water, it is the black pond
And cold, where towards perfumed evening
A sorrowful child sets sail on his knees
A boat as fragile as a May butterfly.

Rimbaud concludes his poem by steering his boat not towards revolution, but towards death. The boat representing Rimbaud's "water-drunken carcass" is

worn out and "Covered with lichens of the sun and azure's phlegm" (Rimbaud 1175). The constant activity on the river has deteriorated his boat, shattered its resilience, and now it is unable to navigate up and down the river anymore. It also cannot "Obliterate the cotton carriers' wake" (Rimbaud 1175).

In viewing the Drunken Boat as a metaphor for the poet's life, the same desperation seems to pervade the final lines of Rimbaud's poem. After a lifetime of traversing the river of life, the poet becomes too weary to continue creating. Rimbaud, unlike other symbolist poets, pushed the boundaries in his attempt to break free from artistic and societal conventions. The preface in Western Literature in a World Context explains that Rimbaud aimed to achieve a vision that surpassed notions of good and evil. He sought to comprehend the world by disconnecting himself from his senses, enabling him to better understand their stimuli and resulting emotions. This involved embracing a lifestyle characterized by excessive indulgence and disorder. However, this degradation was not driven by a hedonistic desire for the forbidden; rather, it stemmed from a profound disdain for the noumenal world (1157-8).

Thus, after living a life of debauchery and excess for many years, it seems that Rimbaud's boat has become burdened by the barnacles. It is now weary and unable to continue. Rimbaud's goal has always been to transcend his earthly existence and understand the senses and life itself. His boat has constantly strived to break free from its aquatic restraints and soar above the world, defying gravity. Rimbaud's boat has sought to detach itself from the senses, those things that it takes for granted

but doesn't comprehend their workings. The water and tides that have guided Rimbaud's boat for so long may be the very things keeping him from truly knowing himself. Therefore, he seeks the "Ineffable wings (to give) me wings" (Rimbaud 1174). However, despite years of disorder and indulgence, Rimbaud hasn't come closer to understanding himself. His excesses brought him a "triumphant uproar" and he "seeped through all (his) seams" in green waters that were "Sweeter than sour apples to a child" (Rimbaud 1173). By the end of the poem, these things no longer hold any significance for him. He has done and seen too much, experienced too much. In his pursuit of understanding life, he has only discovered his own mortality and that it is the only certainty he can grasp.

The Drunken Boat is a 19th century piece with characteristics resembling modern or post-modern thought. When seen as an allegory for the dehumanizing aspects of the Industrial Revolution, it can be categorized with other 19th century literature. However, the concluding stanzas reveal the poet/boat's final resignation and longing for death, transforming the poem into something that goes beyond the typical of the 20th century. Rimbaud's piece hints at the radical changes, contradictory forces, language deconstruction, and pervasive doubt in all aspects of life during the 20th century, making The Drunken Boat a truly timeless poem that can bridge the gap between two eras.