Abstract: The “power of irony” that Verlaine recognised in Rimbaud is there from the beginning of his œuvre. Yet Rimbaud did not make critical use of this notion ; neither did he refer to the notion of Romantic irony. His employment of it increased in complexity as the seasons went by, from sarcasm to certain ambiguous practices which make the reader responsible for interpretation. Rimbaud was not a sceptical ironist and his œuvre encourages us to examine the notion of irony in so far as it is illuminated by it.
