Paul Verlaine (1844 –1896) was a leading Symbolist poet. He was born in Metz and educated in Paris. He met Rimbaud in 1871; two years later he was imprisoned at Mons as a result of the incident in which he fired a gun at Rimbaud. In prison he converted to Catholicism. After his release Verlaine worked for a few years as a teacher in England, returning to France in 1877. His remaining years were unhappily marred by destitution.