Crow me a river, remembering Violence About “Les Corbeaux” and “La Rivière de Cassis”

« Les Corbeaux » and « La Rivière de Cassis » both conjure up memories of the blood spilled in Paris during the « terrible year » and the Bloody Week which put an end to the Commune : for the former, the spectre of violence appears in the guise of an ostensibly patriotic poem, and in the allegorical dream-like landscapes for the latter Had Rimbaud been able to publish a volume of his most recent writings in 1872, we can rest assured these poems would have figured side by side in such a collection.