Arthur Rimbaud started writing poetry when he was 15 years old and by the time he was 21 he had completed his entire poetic oeuvre, stopped writing and left everything and everyone behind to start a new life. He wandered through Europe and eventually settled in East Africa. From an early age, Rimbaud led a restless and turbulent life, which is clearly reflected in his poetry. He was an essentially original poet: someone who creates a new language for his poetry and who creates himself in language, so much that both his biographers and critics were often at a loss reading it. When he had said all he had to say he abandoned poetry and the old world to start a life beyond words.