Abstract: Maurice de Guérin followed in Rimbaud’s footsteps and “bathed in the Poem . . .” From springs, to rivers, to the ocean, he was inspired by water in all its forms, seeking in a deeply romantic way some inaccessible land that might reconnect him with his divine nature. He envisioned a calm refuge, a sanctuary-like cave far away from the dismal day-to-day. He could almost see a lost Eden, and dreamt of a mythological death that would grant him redemption from his vagrancies.
