The Disappearing Poet: Arthur Rimbaud & Rosemary Tonks

Curated by the Rimbaud and Verlaine Foundation

In 1873 the French poet Arthur Rimbaud gave up writing poetry and disappeared. Having reinvented French poetry he literally disappeared off the map, becoming an explorer and arms dealer in the Horn of Africa.

In 1979 the British poet Rosemary Tonks, regarded as one of the leading poets of the time, similarly disappeared, severing all connection with the literary world, and spent the rest of her life living as a near recluse in Bournemouth.

Combining great literature with all the mystery of a Whodunit, this event will explore the creativity and psychology of these two creative souls, and will ask why two such great poets chose to disappear…