Asleep In The Valley
Arthur Rimbaud
The Text
A small green valley where a slow stream flows
And leaves long strands of silver on the bright
Grass; from the mountain top stream the Sun’s
Rays; they fill the hollow full of light.
A soldier, very young, lies open-mouthed,
A pillow made of fern beneath his head,
Asleep; stretched in the heavy undergrowth,
Pale in his warm, green, sun-soaked bed.
His feet among the flowers, he sleeps. His smile
Is like an infant’s — gentle, without guile.
Ah, Nature, keep him warm; he may catch cold.
The humming insects don’t distrub his rest;
He sleeps in sunlight, one hand on his breast;
At peace. In his side there are two red holes.
About the Poet:
Arthur Rimbaud was born on October 20, 1854 at Charleville in provincial France. His full name was Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud. His parents were Frederic Rimbaud and Marie Catherine Vitalie Cuif.
He was brilliant student. He began to write poetry at the age of 15. When he was sixteen, he left his family and came to Paris. He captivated and shook the Parisian literary world with his work. He produced his best known works in his late teens.
He wrote some wonderful short poems, like ‘A season in Hell’ (1873), ‘Illuminations’ (1886) and ‘The Drunken Boat’ (1920). Victor Hugo described him as ‘an infant Shakespeare’. He stopped his writing at the age of nineteen.
The poet Rimbaud is the master of technique. He is one of the first poets to write in free verse.
Rimbaud died on November 10, 1891 at the age of 37.
Date of Composition :
Arthur Rimbaud was very young when he wrote the poem. He was a soldier in the Dutch Colonial Army in 1876. He wrote this poem a year later, when France was at war with Russia.
Original French title of the Poem:
Le Dormeur du Val
Another title of the Poem:
The Sleeper in the Valley
Form of the Poem:
The poem is written in the model of the Petrarchan Sonnet. It consists of two stanzas of four lines each and two stanzas of three lines each. The first group of eight lines is called Octave and the next group of six lines is called Sestet.
Theme of the Poem:
The theme of the poem ‘Asleep in the Valley’ is the futility and meaninglessness of war. This theme is expressed in the contrasting image of a bountiful nature as background and the tragic death of a young soldier in the midst of nature’s splendour.
Verse of the Poem:
The poem is written in free verse form.
Tone of the Poem:
The poem is noted for its change of tone. The tone is changes in accordance with the description of the setting. In the beginning of the poem, the tone is tranquil. In the middle of the poem, the tone becomes serious and at the end of the poem, the tone is sad or ironic.
The Poem as a sonnet :
The Italian or Petrarchan sonnet has two divisions — the octave of eight lines and sestet of six lines. But ‘Asleep in the Valley’ is a sonnet of four stanzas. Two triads of three lines follow two quatrains of four lines. The rhyme scheme is abcd defe ffg hhi .
The poet wonderfully alternates rhymes, consonant sounds with vowel sounds in the final syllable of each line.
The word ‘hollow’ in the first line is used to describe the natural setting of the scene. But the word ‘hole’ in the final line serves as a shocking surprise, the revelation. These two simple words render the formal construction of the sonnet even tighter.
A short discussion about the Poem :
Rimbaud’s poem, ‘Asleep in the Valley’ is s translation of the verse ‚Le Dormeur du val’. It is an anti-war poem. The poet himself was soldier. So, in the poem Rimbaud holds up his first hand experience of war.
The poem starts with a description of the serene beauty of nature’s bounty in a green valley. A slow stream flows through the valley. From the top of the mountain, the rays of the sun come out and fill the whole Valley. A young soldier sleeps there with a graceful smile on his lips. The soldier sleeps with his mouth open and ferns serves as the pillow under his head. The valley is full of flowers and herbs and the feet of the soldier rests among the flowers. The buzzing sound of insects does not affect his sleep. He appears to be sleeping peacefully with his one hand on his chest. All the scenic beauty of the nature are set in a perfect manner to take the readers to an evidently happy view of life.
However, the rude shock comes in the concluding line when the peaceful natural setting is stained with blood. The readers discover twin bullet wounds on one side of the soldier’s body and his sleep turns out to be the obvious consequence of war. The innocence of the soldier is in sharp contrast with the horror of war. The beauty of nature, the soothing sunrays, cannot revive the dead soldier.
The poem creates a shock as the imagery passes from pictures of nature’s fruition to the image of cold death. The irony comes out strongly as the poet unfolds the presence of a dead body in the midst of a beautiful, idyllic scene. This emphasises the notion of death in the middle of life. It is the intention of the poet to underline the futility manifest in war.
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