Charles Baudelaire
Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867)
Selected Poems
French
Realism
Like the work of so many transitional authors, Charles Baudelaire’s poetry cannot be classified easily. In 1861, Gustave Flaubert wrote a letter to Baudelaire complimenting him on his poetic style: “You have found a way to inject new life into Romanticism. You are unlike anyone else” (Flaubert). Baudelaire is believed to have coined the term “modernity” (modernité), which does not necessarily carry the same connotations as being a modern poet or a product of Modernism, focusing as it does on the urban experience. Nonetheless, Baudelaire was an early inspiration for later Modernist (and Symbolist) poets, even though his poetry is now most often classified as Realism. Baudelaire saw himself as a poet of the urban life in Paris, claiming that beauty can be found in the ugliest images and most depraved situations. His most famous book of poetry, provocatively titled The Flowers of Evil, was published in 1857. Audiences were shocked by Baudelaire’s directness in his poems about sex, death, and depression, to name a few of the topics. Baudelaire, his publisher, and his printer were charged with and found guilty of public indecency, and six of the poems were banned from subsequent editions (the ban on the six poems, which discuss lesbians and vampires, was not lifted in France until 1949). Baudelaire’s life was provocative as well; he cultivated the image of a “cursed poet” (poéte maudit) with a life of drugs, prostitutes, mistresses, and wasteful spending. He squandered roughly half of his inheritance in the first two years, so his family convinced a judge to remove control of his finances and give him an allowance. Despite the many setbacks in his life, Baudelaire’s literary fame grew as time passed. He continued to innovate in his writing, experimenting with prose poetry in his later years. Those poems were published posthumously in Paris Spleen (1869), adding to Baudelaire’s influence on Modernist writers.
Consider while reading:
- Charles Baudelaire has been cited as the source for the family name of the Baudelaire orphans, the heroes in Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events book series. Looking at Baudelaire’s life and works, in what ways does he serve as an inspiration for the series? How would Baudelaire’s translations of Edgar Allen Poe contribute to that inspiration?
- Is Baudelaire’s poetry more or less shocking than the explicit song lyrics in contemporary music? Explain.
Written by Laura Getty