Kosovel has been compared to Rimbaud, sharing the young age at which they were exposed to human suffering during war. The Isonzo Front—one of the worst engagements of the First World War, which began when Kosovel was 12 and officially ended when he was 17—was near Kosovel's native village, and Rimbaud's native village was near the battles of the Franco-Prussian War. Kosovel had regular contacts with wounded soldiers and saw corpses because the battlefield was only some 15 kilometers from his home, which had a traumatizing effect on him. His parents wanted him to be removed from the vicinity of the war, and so in 1916 both he and his sister moved to Ljubljana, where he stayed until his early death.