Quote The 19th-century French poet Arthur Rimbaud was known for his piety as a boy. Receiving his First Holy Communion at the age of 11, his reverence earned him the nickname “sale petit cagot” (snotty little prig) from his peers. Later, he would have a more complex relationship with the faith he was born to, finding himself involved with the poet Paul Verlaine, ten years his senior. Verlaine shot Rimbaud non-lethally, and they went their separate ways, with Rimbaud working as an arms dealer in Abyssinia. Before he died, it is said that he returned to the Church.
Rimbaud’s story shows us that our lives and connection to the Church can vary over time. While the faith remains the same, we humans find ourselves in a maelstrom of events which affect us. For poets, these experiences are vital as they inform the creative process, and in doing so help poets reflect the deeper meaning of life back to them. In our own times, one such poet is Shane MacGowan, frontman of the Pogues, who is currently launching the first publication of his art. I asked him about his relation to his faith, and what informs his creative process. Here +++ You have to be lucky enough to learn from other people's experiences, experienced enough to be able to avoid experience-generating encounters, and lucky enough to survive the situations from which experience is derived.