I thought he was called Rimboard

I recently completed reading the biography of Arthur Rimbaud who apparently is famous for his poetry. At risk of sounding like a complete philistine, I knew of him as an explorer in Africa. And I'm not really keen on reading poetry even when it's written in my own language.

Rambo - his name rings a filmic bell - has inspired generations of musicians, writers, anarchists, all manner of creative and experimental types and Sylvester Stallone. I can't really say why there was so much fuss about his scribblings but he certainly had an extraordinary life and this biography by Graham Robb really gripped me. I thought it would be a dry academic tome that I might dip into and out of but I soon couldn't believe what our little Rambo Rimboard was going to do next.

And his life in Africa was so divorced from his life as a writer I think I can be forgiven for not knowing anything about him as a poet. Okay, so I thought Verlaine was Tom Verlaine out of American punk band Television but thanks to this book I know there's another famous Verlaine.

I didn't think I would enjoy this book. I picked it up in the library and decided to take a chance. I had only heard of Rambo or Rimbaud from his African adventures but this is a ripping biog by Graham Robb. He rose from obscurity by sending some of his avant-garde poetry to a fashionable set of Parisian poets who, remarkably, recognised his genius and accepted him into their circle. Verlaine seems to have been quite bewitched by Rambo and the two became lovers, even though Verlaine had recently been married.

Rambo dissolved into increasingly bad behaviour. I kept wondering what he would do next. I liked the decadence of this story but not Rimbaud's sponging. Maybe he was fed up because even the French can spell his name consistently. Rambo used Verlaine for funds and affection, although Verlaine seems to have been more than willing victim. I don't know what drove Rimbault. His mother was a very cold character and some claim that Rimbaud didn't know what affection was. Perhaps he was merely exploring the power that he had over another human being.

After being shot by Verlaine in some strange lover's tiff, Rambeaux gave up poetry altogether and become a wanderer, crossing Europe several times before embarking on an African gunrunning adventure. This was where I had learned of Rimbaud, as I read about the exploration of North Africa. To discover that he was really famous as a poet came as something of a surprise. This is actually quite in keeping with his extraordinary life because the poet and the adventurer were almost two completely different people.

In Africa, Rimboard operated on the very fringe of the known world. From what I gather of his poetry, this was pretty well what he did with his writing. The British and French governments had met in accord over the abolition of slavery in the region but Rambo cheerfully ignored all this, taking a pragmatic view that deal with the local tribes required drawing a blind eye, or even participating in, this despicable trade. He also illegally supplying guns the local chieftains, which had de-stabilised the region even further although it probably made him quite rich. We'll probably never know quite how rich he became.

Graham Robb concludes that Rambeaux's African adventures made him a considerable fortune at the age of 37 Rimbaud developed cancer. This disease began in - of all places - the knee and after returning to France he had a leg amputated but the cancer spread and he died before he was really famous. However, his legend had begun to grow. Verlaine had arranged for Rimbaud's poetry to be published just within his lifetime although Rimbaud does not seem to acknowledge this. Posthumously Rimboard's fame spread beyond that of avant-garde circles. Nowadays, he is almost a cult figure and is cited as an influence by rock musicians and artists alike.

Rimboard sounded to me like a spoiled brat who returned to his ice-maiden mother whenever anything went wrong for him. I don't like reading poetry so I don't know if his scribblings were any good. For me, it has to be read out aloud by somebody who is good at it. Only then does it really leap off the page.

What I found so interesting about Robb's the story of Rimbaud's life is the way that Rambo impressed his peers and became part of their social circle before the age of 18. In today's world, this seems impossible.

You have to be a celebrity before you attract a publisher these days and in the present financial climate, every business is risk averse.

The closest comparison in modern times that I can think of, was when the band Suede picked a new teenage lead guitarist when he sent them a tape of himself playing in his bedroom.

In addition to being a poet and an explorer, I think Rimbaud might've also helped the Taliban against the Russians in Afghanistan during the late 1980s but I could be mixing up him with someone with a similar name.