Arthur Rimbaud: LETTER TO PAUL DEMENY, 1871. Charleville, 15 mai 1871
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The first romantics were seers without even really realizing it: their soul’s education began by accident: abandoned trains still smoking, occasionally taking to the tracks. Lamartine was a seer now and again, but strangling on old forms. Hugo, too pigheaded, certainly saw in his most recent works: Les Misérables is really a poem. I’ve got Les Chatiments with me; Stella gives some sense of Hugo’s vision. Too much Belmontet and Lamennais with their Jehovahs and colonnades, massive crumbling edifices.

— Arthur Rimbaud

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "The first romantics were seers without even really realizing it: their soul’s education began by accident: abandoned trains still smoking, occasionally taking to the tracks. Lamartine was a seer now and again, but strangling on old forms. Hugo, too pigheaded, certainly saw in his most recent works: Les Misérables is really a poem. I’ve got Les Chatiments with me; Stella gives some sense of Hugo’s vision. Too much Belmontet and Lamennais with their Jehovahs and colonnades, massive crumbling edifices." in the context of "Arthur Rimbaud: LETTER TO PAUL DEMENY, 1871. Charleville, 15 mai 1871" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Alphonse de Lamartine" (Quotes about Lamartine) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Alphonse de Lamartine

About Alphonse de Lamartine

Alphonse Marie Louise Prat de Lamartine (Alphonse-Marie-Louis de Prat de Lamartine) (October 21, 1790 – February 28, 1869) was a French writer, poet, and politician.