Hello friends today we are discuss this question, the question is -Comment on Rimbaud’s treatment of symbol and imagery in the poem ‘Asleep in the Valley’.
Arthur Rimbaud was a great symbolist poet.His usage of imagery and symbols throughout the poem is splendid. The scenic view opens up with green, pleasant and soothing spectacle of life. The colour changes into blue with the spontaneous flow of a rivulet and wild flowers. The colour finally turns horrid red signifying violence and massacre. These colours help the poet to paint excellent images in the entire poem. In this poem the image of the ‘sun’ and the ‘valley’ serve as predominant symbols. The ‘sun’ the creator of life on earth, though keeps everything warm and lively, fails to revive the dead soldier. The recurrent images of the sun (sun’s rays, sun-soaked bed, sunlight) actually emphasises its vain effort to keep the dead soldier warm, as life can never be stirred in him again. The word ‘valley’ signifies the valley of Nature which symbolically turns into a valley of death for the young soldier. Thus, Rimbaud’s excellence in using symbols and images, has helped him to present the theme of the poem with accurate intensity.