SOURCE: "Une Saison en enfer," in Rimbaud: A Critical Introduction, Cambridge University Press, 1981, pp. 85-119.

In the essay below, Hackett emphasizes the technical artistry and universal implications of Une Saison en enfer. Discussing each section in turn, the critic examines Rimbaud's language and imagery; his rhetorical method of statement and counterstatement; his use of certain structural devices to achieve coherence; and his ambiguous treatment of the motifs of time, salvation, the search for truth, and the essential duality of body and spirit.

Poésies, Derniers vers or Vers nouveaux et chansons, and Illuminations are collections or groups of poems which have been arranged in a certain order, and given those titles, by various editors. Une Saison en enfer, on the other hand, is a work which, from its inception to its publication, was under Rimbaud's control. It was he who decided the order of the nine sections, gave...