Rimbaud and Ginsberg as Modern Poets
             Anyone who has read a fair sampling of modernist poetry or studied some representative visionary poets has found the experience something of a revelation. Immediately exhilarating for some, initially intimidating for others and, for all of us, a profound departure from traditional literature. According to Rimbaud, for a poet to be absolutely modern he must become a visionary and "a poet makes himself a visionary through a long, boundless and systematized disorganization of all the senses. All forms of love, of suffering, of madness, he searches himself, he exhausts within himself all poisons and preserves their quintessences." Rimbaud's most notable work, "A Season in Hell" is the perfect example of how his choice of lifestyle lent the necessary experiences to be closer to God and ultimately creative poetry. Through the use drugs and other devices, Rimbaud was able to unearth the core of his soul while still being able to capture divine inspiration on paper before delirium set in.
             Allen Ginsberg's greatest work "Howl" is similar to "A Season in Hell" in that it ultimately captures Ginsberg's life experiences as the reader can but only grasp the means by which such a seemingly chaotic life is conducive to ingenious literature. Among the many similarities between these two poets, the first would be that there was an absent father and a domineering mother. For most, this situation would lead to a child trying to attain control over his surroundings. For Ginsberg and Rimbaud, however, this family life helped create the starting point for their need to understand their world around them.
             Both Ginsberg and Rimbaud had many mentors in their early years. Rimbaud's relationship with Verlaine allowed him to express himself sexually and poetically thus giving him the necessary material to fuel his disorganization of the senses. Among Ginsberg's many mentors, Jack
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