At least two early manuscript versions of the sonnet exist: the first is in the hand of Arthur Rimbaud, and was given to Émile Blémont [fr];[2][a] the second is a transcript by Verlaine.

[8] A noir, E blanc, I rouge, U vert, O bleu, voyelles, Je dirai quelque jour vos naissances latentes.

Blue O, great Trumpet blaring strange and piercing cries Through Silences where Worlds and Angels pass crosswise; Omega, O, the violet brilliance of Those Eyes!

[9] Many researchers, teachers, and other scholars, such as Ernest Gaubert [fr], Henri de Bouillane de Lacoste & Pierre Izambard, Robert Faurisson, Claude Lévi-Strauss, and Michel Esnault, developed diverse theories on its sources and meaning.

It has been suggested, for example, that the poem draws on Rimbaud's memories of children's coloured cubes marked with the letters of the alphabet that he may have handled in his infancy.

[14] According to Robert Faurisson, a secondary school teacher in Vichy in the early 1960s, it is an erotic poem; this interpretation provoked a debate which brought into play the national media, including Le Monde, and several academics, including René Étiemble.

While the phoneme /a/ generally evokes the colour red,[citation needed] Rimbaud associates it, like a provocation, with black.