Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Arthur Rimbaud's "Ophelia" pays homage to the character from Shakespeare's "Hamlet," reimagining her not just as a tragic figure, but as an eternal and ethereal presence that haunts the natural world. Rimbaud crafts a poem of haunting beauty, embedding Ophelia in a setting full of dark waters, fluttering stars, and whispering winds. He captures her both as a victim and a sublime entity, a juxtaposition that adds complexity and depth to our understanding of this classic character.

The opening stanza depicts Ophelia's body floating "on the calm black wave where the stars sleep," introducing the image of her as a "great lily." Here, Rimbaud uses nature as a medium for representing her ethereal beauty and purity, echoing the Shakespearean view but extending it into an everlasting vision. This is not merely a moment of death but a transcendental state that has endured "for more than a thousand years."

In the second section, Rimbaud delves into why Ophelia has reached this state. He attributes her fate to the tempestuous "winds falling from the great cliffs of Norway," the "voice of mad seas," and also to the mortal love that she experienced. These elements resonate with the original tale's themes, particularly her unrequited love for Hamlet and the twisted court politics that subsumed her. Rimbaud paints her as an impressionable soul, "too sweet and too human," seduced by the immense visions of "Heaven! Love! Freedom!" but ultimately frightened by "the terrible Infinite."

Notably, Ophelia's mortal love is referred to as "a handsome pale courtier, a sorry fool," likely an allusion to Hamlet. The phrase encapsulates her tragedy-falling for a man who, despite his charms and intellect, was lost in his own existential contemplations. Her visions of love and freedom were left "strangled," and her innocent idealism becomes her undoing.

The poem concludes with an enigmatic reference to the Poet, who claims to have seen Ophelia gathering flowers "in the rays of the stars." This could imply that the imagination of artists keeps Ophelia's spirit alive. Her death, while tragic, has transformed her into an everlasting muse, inspiring endless reimaginings and eternal beauty. She continues to float, "like a great lily," forever part of our collective memory and continually inspiring new visions in the minds of poets.

Rimbaud's "Ophelia" serves both as an epitaph and a rebirth for this iconic character. Through intricate imagery and a profound understanding of human complexities, Rimbaud recasts Ophelia's tragic tale into a timeless narrative, where she transcends the limitations of life and death to become a symbol of eternal beauty and tragic innocence. With this poem, Rimbaud not only critiques the idealized notions of love and freedom that led to Ophelia's demise but also rescues her from her tragic end, granting her a kind of poetic immortality