Abstract: Placed as the opening poem of most editions of Illuminations, “Après le Déluge” has been interpreted in numerous ways, which have left some difficult questions unanswered. This discussion takes a fresh look at these points, re-evaluating in particular the Romantic intertextuality of this post-biblical poetry, its relationship to the art of engraving, but also its resonances in Rimbaud’s work, and especially in the poems of 1872.
