The Seekers of Lice (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Arthur Rimbaud
- First Published: 1891
- Type of Work: Lyric
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
- Subjects: Children, Family or family life, Love or romance, Nature, Brothers and sisters, Happiness, Touch, Pests
The Poem
“The Seekers of Lice” is a twenty-line poem divided into five quatrains of Alexandrines with a rhyme scheme of abab. The title suggests an unpleasant topic, playing against the beauty of the poet’s words. Sensory images are everywhere in the poem. In the first line, “the child” is introduced; his forehead is covered with “the red torment” caused by the lice. Two “tall gracious sisters” appear “with delicate hands and silvery fingernails.” In the second quatrain, these sisters remove the child from his bed and seat him by an “open...
[The entire page is 1279 words long]
