Vowels

Vowels

A Black, E white, I red, U green, O blue : vowels, I shall tell, one day, of your mysterious origins: A, black velvety jacket of brilliant flies Which buzz around cruel smells, Gulfs of shadow; E, whiteness of vapours and of tents, Lances of proud glaciers, white kings, shivers of cow-parsley; I, purples, spat blood, smile of beautiful lips In anger or in the raptures of penitence; U, waves, divine shudderings of viridian seas, The peace of pastures dotted with animals, the peace of the furrows Which alchemy prints on broad studious foreheads; O, sublime Trumpet full of strange piercing sounds, Silences crossed by Worlds and by Angels: O the Omega, the violet ray of Her Eyes!

                                                                                                            by Rimbaud

    In the opening line, which gives the sonnet its name, Rimbaud simply names the five vowels, linking each to a color: “A black, E white, I red, U green, O blue: vowels.” Why does he links certain vowels to certain colors? Why does he add a texture and a picture to each of his colorful vowel?

By assigning a color to each vowel along with a word, he is also assigning said color to said word. But he takes it a step forward by adding a texture, and finalized it with an element of life. If we break down the "A" line what would we find?
A = Vowel
Black = color
Velvety = Texture
Jacket = word/ item
Brilliant = Sight/ Visual
Flies = Life
Buzz = Action/ sound
Around = Location
Crude smells = odor

As we can see every word in the line is essential to the development of the poem. Each vowel has a synesthetic effect combining different elements for a desired effect. break down the other vowel what can you find?