Portrait of Paul Verlaine by Gustave Courbet
Today is Paul Verlaine‘s birthday (1844 – 1896). We hate to chuckle at his expense on today of all days, but this entry from Frye’s 1942 diary is too good to pass up:
About this Rimbaud-Verlaine idea: I’d have to make something more exciting out of Verlaine than he actually was. I get fed up with those people who act like bad little boys & finally collapse into the bosom of Mother Church, with a big floppy teat in each ear, and spend the rest of the time bragging about what bad little boys they used to be and how pneumatic the bliss is. Rimbaud stayed tough. (Diaries, 18)
Rimbaud collapsed into the bossom of Mother Church as well as you should know and regretted his decission to stop writing. Two totally different people,
what a rubbish to compare those two and that Rimbaud “stayed tough.” If you think that selling guns, making money and dumping your literay gift is ‘tough’ then o dear, how sad. Never mind.