Poet in the City has recently been involved in a campaign to ensure that the house at 8 Royal College Street in Camden, once occupied by the French poets Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine, should become a venue for poetry and culture.
In 1873 the two poets lived for a year in the house near Kings Cross and St Pancras stations. The poets had scandalized French literary society by running away together to the grubby streets of Victorian London, where they were astounded and fascinated by the uninhibited advance of industrialisation and urbanization. Their period living in Camden gave birth to some of their most important and influential poetry, as well as to the some of the most fascinating anecdotes about their lives. Most famously the poets eventually fell out over a herring, purchased by Verlaine from Camden Market!
Rimbaud in particular, the original enfant terrible, revolutionized French poetry and served as a harbinger for the modern age. Behaving rather like a Rock Star, long before such musical prodigies appeared, Rimbaud took drugs, trashed rooms and went out of his way to scandalize those in authority. As a result he has not only been celebrated by poets and writers but also by musicians like Jim Morrison and Patti Smith. My friend at Christie’s tells me that Rimbaud manuscripts, on the rare occasions on which they come up for sale, reach very high process at auction.
For a number of years Gerry Harrison, a former Camden councillor, has been championing the idea of turning the house, which retains many of its original features, into a cultural centre. Starting with the modest proposal of a blue plaque (approved by Camden Council in 2003) the campaign later attracted the support of many actors and writers, including Simon Callow and Julian Barnes. At one point it even looked as though a purchase of the house might be possible. More recently the poets Aidan Dun and Niall McDevitt have been active in organising public manifestations and a new round of press coverage about the house. Gerry Harrison, in particular, deserves enormous praise for his superb efforts.
It is possible that all these efforts may be about to bear fruit at last. The house was purchased recently by a freeholder who combines business pragmatism with a long-standing commitment to the arts. Poet in the City is actively involved in the search for a development plan for the property that will meet both the legitimate business requirements of the new owner and realise the potential of the property as a centre for the promotion and study of poetry.
In the meantime the modern map of London is changing. 8 Royal College Street, a reminder of two of France’s greatest poets, is situated a mere 500 yards from the new Eurostar terminal at St Pancras, which will shortly be disgorging millions of French visitors onto the streets of the capital. It would be great if – in the future - a small metal sign could draw some of these visitors to the house where two of their compatriots once transformed the poetic landscape, and helped to give birth to the modern age.
Comments