“It will be seen that in the poem [Voyelles], Rimbaud suggests that the poet is a practiser of alchemy, and “A”, the colour of black, evokes the images of dissolution and putrefaction. In alchemy one of the symbols for the white colour is the letter “E”, and also the word “vapeur”; and the images which the poet links to the vowel “I” are amongst those . . . to designate the alchemical experiment which has reached the stage of the red colour. Green is the colour of Venus, and she was born of the sea. . . . Finally, last of all, comes the blue, the suspense before the gold appears, the sound of the trumpet announcing victory. In alchemy the final achievement of the gold is often taken as a symbol of attaining the vision of God.”

—Enid Starkie, Arthur Rimbaud, 1961.