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Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a
French poet List of poets who have written in the French language: A * Louise-Victorine Ackermann (1813–1890) * Adam de la Halle (v.1250 – v.1285) * Pierre Albert-Birot (1876–1967) * Anne-Marie Albiach (1937–2012) * Pierre Alféri (1963) * Marc Aly ...
who also produced notable work as an essayist and
art critic An art critic is a person who is specialized in analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating art. Their written critiques or reviews contribute to art criticism and they are published in newspapers, magazines, books, exhibition brochures, and catalogue ...
. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticism inherited from Romantics, but are based on observations of real life. His most famous work, a book of lyric poetry titled '' Les Fleurs du mal'' (''The Flowers of Evil''), expresses the changing nature of beauty in the rapidly industrializing Paris during the mid-19th century. Baudelaire's highly original style of prose-poetry influenced a whole generation of poets including Paul Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud and
Stéphane Mallarmé Stéphane Mallarmé ( , ; 18 March 1842 – 9 September 1898), pen name of Étienne Mallarmé, was a French poet and critic. He was a major French symbolist poet, and his work anticipated and inspired several revolutionary artistic schools of ...
, among many others. He is credited with coining the term modernity (''modernité'') to designate the fleeting, ephemeral experience of life in an urban metropolis, and the responsibility of artistic expression to capture that experience. Marshall Berman has credited Baudelaire as being the first Modernist.


Early life

Baudelaire was born in Paris, France, on 9 April 1821, and baptized two months later at Saint-Sulpice Roman Catholic Church. His father, Joseph-François Baudelaire (1759–1827), a senior civil servant and amateur artist, was 34 years older than Baudelaire's mother, Caroline (née Dufaÿs) (1794–1871). Joseph-François died during Baudelaire's childhood, at rue Hautefeuille, Paris, on 10 February 1827. The following year, Caroline married Lieutenant Colonel , who later became a French ambassador to various noble courts. Baudelaire's biographers have often seen this as a crucial moment, considering that finding himself no longer the sole focus of his mother's affection left him with a trauma, which goes some way to explaining the excesses later apparent in his life. He stated in a letter to her that, "There was in my childhood a period of passionate love for you." Baudelaire regularly begged his mother for money throughout his career, often promising that a lucrative publishing contract or journalistic commission was just around the corner. Baudelaire was educated in Lyon, where he boarded. At 14, he was described by a classmate as "much more refined and distinguished than any of our fellow pupils...we are bound to one another...by shared tastes and sympathies, the precocious love of fine works of literature." Baudelaire was erratic in his studies, at times diligent, at other times prone to "idleness". Later, he attended the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris, studying law, a popular course for those not yet decided on any particular career. He began to frequent prostitutes and may have contracted gonorrhea and syphilis during this period. He also began to run up debts, mostly for clothes. Upon gaining his degree in 1839, he told his brother "I don't feel I have a vocation for anything." His stepfather had in mind a career in law or diplomacy, but instead Baudelaire decided to embark upon a literary career. His mother later recalled: "Oh, what grief! If Charles had let himself be guided by his stepfather, his career would have been very different...He would not have left a name in literature, it is true, but we should have been happier, all three of us." His stepfather sent him on a voyage to Calcutta, India in 1841 in the hope of ending his dissolute habits. The trip provided strong impressions of the sea, sailing, and exotic ports, that he later employed in his poetry. (Baudelaire later exaggerated his aborted trip to create a legend about his youthful travels and experiences, including "riding on elephants".) On returning to the taverns of Paris, he began to compose some of the poems of "Les Fleurs du Mal". At 21, he received a sizable inheritance but squandered much of it within a few years. His family obtained a decree to place his property in trust, which he resented bitterly, at one point arguing that allowing him to fail financially would have been the one sure way of teaching him to keep his finances in order. Baudelaire became known in artistic circles as a dandy and free-spender, going through much of his inheritance and allowance in a short period of time. During this time, Jeanne Duval became his mistress. She was rejected by his family. His mother thought Duval a "Black Venus" who "tortured him in every way" and drained him of money at every opportunity. Baudelaire made a suicide attempt during this period. He took part in the Revolutions of 1848 and wrote for a revolutionary newspaper. However, his interest in politics was passing, as he was later to note in his journals. In the early 1850s, Baudelaire struggled with poor health, pressing debts, and irregular literary output. He often moved from one lodging to another to escape creditors. He undertook many projects that he was unable to complete, though he did finish translations of stories by Edgar Allan Poe. Upon the death of his stepfather in 1857, Baudelaire received no mention in the will but he was heartened nonetheless that the division with his mother might now be mended. At 36, he wrote to her: "believe that I belong to you absolutely, and that I belong only to you." His mother died on 16 August 1871, outliving her son by almost four years.


Publishing career

His first published work, under the pseudonym Baudelaire Dufaÿs, was his art review "Salon of 1845", which attracted immediate attention for its boldness. Many of his critical opinions were novel in their time, including his championing of
Delacroix Delacroix is a French surname that derives from ''de la Croix'' ("of the Cross"). It may refer to: People * Caroline Delacroix (1883–1945), French-Romanian mistress of Leopold II of Belgium * Charles-François Delacroix (1741–1805), ...
, and some of his views seem remarkably in tune with the future theories of the Impressionist painters. In 1846, Baudelaire wrote his second Salon review, gaining additional credibility as an advocate and critic of Romanticism. His continued support of
Delacroix Delacroix is a French surname that derives from ''de la Croix'' ("of the Cross"). It may refer to: People * Caroline Delacroix (1883–1945), French-Romanian mistress of Leopold II of Belgium * Charles-François Delacroix (1741–1805), ...
as the foremost Romantic artist gained widespread notice.Richardson 1994, p. 110. The following year Baudelaire's novella '' La Fanfarlo'' was published.


''The Flowers of Evil''

Baudelaire was a slow and very attentive worker. However, he often was sidetracked by indolence, emotional distress and illness, and it was not until 1857 that he published '' Les Fleurs du mal'' (''The Flowers of Evil''), his first and most famous volume of poems. Some of these poems had already appeared in the ''
Revue des deux mondes The ''Revue des deux Mondes'' (, ''Review of the Two Worlds'') is a monthly French-language literary, cultural and current affairs magazine that has been published in Paris since 1829. According to its website, "it is today the place for debates a ...
'' (''Review of Two Worlds'') in 1855, when they were published by Baudelaire's friend Auguste Poulet Malassis. Some of the poems had appeared as "fugitive verse" in various French magazines during the previous decade. The poems found a small, yet appreciative audience. However, greater public attention was given to their subject matter. The effect on fellow artists was, as Théodore de Banville stated, "immense, prodigious, unexpected, mingled with admiration and with some indefinable anxious fear". Gustave Flaubert, recently attacked in a similar fashion for '' Madame Bovary'' (and acquitted), was impressed and wrote to Baudelaire: "You have found a way to rejuvenate Romanticism...You are as unyielding as marble, and as penetrating as an English mist." The principal themes of sex and death were considered scandalous for the period. He also touched on lesbianism, sacred and profane love, metamorphosis, melancholy, the corruption of the city, lost innocence, the oppressiveness of living, and wine. Notable in some poems is Baudelaire's use of imagery of the sense of smell and of fragrances, which is used to evoke feelings of nostalgia and past intimacy. The book, however, quickly became a byword for unwholesomeness among mainstream critics of the day. Some critics called a few of the poems "masterpieces of passion, art and poetry," but other poems were deemed to merit no less than legal action to suppress them. J. Habas led the charge against Baudelaire, writing in '' Le Figaro'': "Everything in it which is not hideous is incomprehensible, everything one understands is putrid." Baudelaire responded to the outcry in a prophetic letter to his mother:
"You know that I have always considered that literature and the arts pursue an aim independent of morality. Beauty of conception and style is enough for me. But this book, whose title (''Fleurs du mal'') says everything, is clad, as you will see, in a cold and sinister beauty. It was created with rage and patience. Besides, the proof of its positive worth is in all the ill that they speak of it. The book enrages people. Moreover, since I was terrified myself of the horror that I should inspire, I cut out a third from the proofs. They deny me everything, the spirit of invention and even the knowledge of the French language. I don't care a rap about all these imbeciles, and I know that this book, with its virtues and its faults, will make its way in the memory of the lettered public, beside the best poems of V. Hugo, Th. Gautier and even Byron."
Baudelaire, his publisher and the printer were successfully prosecuted for creating an offense against public morals. They were fined, but Baudelaire was not imprisoned. Six of the poems were suppressed, but printed later as ''Les Épaves'' (''The Wrecks'') (Brussels, 1866). Another edition of ''Les Fleurs du mal'', without these poems, but with considerable additions, appeared in 1861. Many notables rallied behind Baudelaire and condemned the sentence.
Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...
wrote to him: "Your ''fleurs du mal'' shine and dazzle like stars...I applaud your vigorous spirit with all my might."Richardson 1994, p. 250. Baudelaire did not appeal the judgment, but his fine was reduced. Nearly 100 years later, on 11 May 1949, Baudelaire was vindicated, the judgment officially reversed, and the six banned poems reinstated in France. In the poem "Au lecteur" ("To the Reader") that prefaces ''Les Fleurs du mal'', Baudelaire accuses his readers of hypocrisy and of being as guilty of sins and lies as the poet: :... If rape or arson, poison or the knife :Has wove no pleasing patterns in the stuff :Of this drab canvas we accept as life— :It is because we are not bold enough! ::( Roy Campbell's translation)


Final years

Baudelaire next worked on a translation and adaptation of Thomas De Quincey's '' Confessions of an English Opium-Eater''. Other works in the years that followed included ''
Petits Poèmes en prose ''Le Spleen de Paris'', also known as ''Paris Spleen'' or ''Petits Poèmes en prose'', is a collection of 50 short prose poems by Charles Baudelaire. The collection was published posthumously in 1869 and is associated with literary modernism. Bau ...
'' (''Small
Prose poems Prose poetry is poetry written in prose form instead of verse form, while preserving poetic qualities such as heightened imagery, parataxis, and emotional effects. Characteristics Prose poetry is written as prose, without the line breaks associ ...
''); a series of art reviews published in the ''Pays, Exposition universelle'' (''Country, World Fair''); studies on Gustave Flaubert (in ''
L'Artiste ''L’Artiste'' was a weekly illustrated review published in Paris from 1831 to 1904, supplying "the richest single source of contemporary commentary on artists, exhibitions and trends from the Romantic era to the end of the nineteenth century." ...
'', 18 October 1857); on Théophile Gautier (''Revue contemporaine'', September 1858); various articles contributed to Eugène Crépet's ''Poètes français''; '' Les Paradis artificiels: opium et haschisch'' (''French poets; Artificial Paradises: opium and hashish'') (1860); and ''Un Dernier Chapitre de l'histoire des oeuvres de Balzac'' (''A Final Chapter of the history of works of Balzac'') (1880), originally an article "Comment on paye ses dettes quand on a du génie" ("How one pays one's debts when one has genius"), in which his criticism turns against his friends Honoré de Balzac, Théophile Gautier, and Gérard de Nerval. By 1859, his illnesses, his long-term use of
laudanum Laudanum is a tincture of opium containing approximately 10% powdered opium by weight (the equivalent of 1% morphine). Laudanum is prepared by dissolving extracts from the opium poppy (''Papaver somniferum Linnaeus'') in alcohol (ethanol). Red ...
, his life of stress, and his poverty had taken a toll and Baudelaire had aged noticeably. But at last, his mother relented and agreed to let him live with her for a while at
Honfleur Honfleur () is a commune in the Calvados department in northwestern France. It is located on the southern bank of the estuary of the Seine across from le Havre and very close to the exit of the Pont de Normandie. The people that inhabit Honf ...
. Baudelaire was productive and at peace in the seaside town, his poem ''Le Voyage'' being one example of his efforts during that time. In 1860, he became an ardent supporter of
Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
. His financial difficulties increased again, however, particularly after his publisher Poulet Malassis went bankrupt in 1861. In 1864, he left Paris for Belgium, partly in the hope of selling the rights to his works and to give lectures. His long-standing relationship with Jeanne Duval continued on-and-off, and he helped her to the end of his life. Baudelaire's relationships with actress Marie Daubrun and with courtesan Apollonie Sabatier, though the source of much inspiration, never produced any lasting satisfaction. He smoked
opium Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: ''Lachryma papaveris'') is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which i ...
, and in Brussels he began to drink to excess. Baudelaire suffered a massive stroke in 1866 and paralysis followed. After more than a year of aphasia, he received the last rites of the Catholic Church. The last two years of his life were spent in a semi-paralyzed state in various "maisons de santé" in Brussels and in Paris, where he died on 31 August 1867. Baudelaire is buried in the
Cimetière du Montparnasse Montparnasse Cemetery (french: link=no, Cimetière du Montparnasse) is a cemetery in the Montparnasse quarter of Paris, in the city's 14th arrondissement. The cemetery is roughly 47 acres and is the second largest cemetery in Paris. The cemetery ...
, Paris. Many of Baudelaire's works were published posthumously. After his death, his mother paid off his substantial debts, and she found some comfort in Baudelaire's emerging fame. "I see that my son, for all his faults, has his place in literature." She lived another four years.


Poetry

Baudelaire is one of the major innovators in French literature. His poetry is influenced by the French romantic poets of the earlier 19th century, although its attention to the formal features of verse connects it more closely to the work of the contemporary "Parnassians". As for theme and tone, in his works we see the rejection of the belief in the supremacy of nature and the fundamental goodness of man as typically espoused by the romantics and expressed by them in rhetorical, effusive and public voice in favor of a new urban sensibility, an awareness of individual moral complexity, an interest in vice (linked with decadence) and refined sensual and aesthetic pleasures, and the use of urban subject matter, such as the city, the crowd, individual passers-by, all expressed in highly ordered verse, sometimes through a cynical and ironic voice. Formally, the use of sound to create atmosphere, and of "symbols" (images that take on an expanded function within the poem), betray a move towards considering the poem as a self-referential object, an idea further developed by the Symbolists Verlaine and
Mallarmé Mallarmé is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * André Mallarmé (1877–1956), French politician * Stéphane Mallarmé Stéphane Mallarmé ( , ; 18 March 1842 – 9 September 1898), pen name of Étienne Mallarmé, was a Fre ...
, who acknowledge Baudelaire as a pioneer in this regard. Beyond his innovations in versification and the theories of symbolism and "correspondences", an awareness of which is essential to any appreciation of the literary value of his work, aspects of his work that regularly receive much critical discussion include the role of women, the theological direction of his work and his alleged advocacy of "satanism", his experience of drug-induced states of mind, the figure of the dandy, his stance regarding democracy and its implications for the individual, his response to the spiritual uncertainties of the time, his criticisms of the bourgeois, and his advocacy of modern music and painting (e.g., Wagner,
Delacroix Delacroix is a French surname that derives from ''de la Croix'' ("of the Cross"). It may refer to: People * Caroline Delacroix (1883–1945), French-Romanian mistress of Leopold II of Belgium * Charles-François Delacroix (1741–1805), ...
). He made Paris the subject of modern poetry. He brought the city's details to life in the eyes and hearts of his readers.


Critiques

Baudelaire was an active participant in the artistic life of his times. As critic and essayist, he wrote extensively and perceptively about the luminaries and themes of French culture. He was frank with friends and enemies, rarely took the diplomatic approach and sometimes responded violently verbally, that often undermined his cause. His associations were numerous, including Gustave Courbet, Honoré Daumier, Félicien Rops,
Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...
,
Champfleury Jules François Felix Fleury-Husson (17 September 1821, in Laon, Aisne – 6 December 1889, in Sèvres), who wrote under the name Champfleury (), was a French art critic and novelist, a prominent supporter of the Realist movement in painting ...
,
Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...
, Gustave Flaubert, and Balzac.


Edgar Allan Poe

In 1847, Baudelaire became acquainted with the works of
Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is widel ...
, in which he found tales and poems that had, he claimed, long existed in his own brain but never taken shape. Baudelaire saw in Poe a precursor and tried to be his French contemporary counterpart. From this time until 1865, he was largely occupied with translating Poe's works; his translations were widely praised. Baudelaire was not the first French translator of Poe, but his "scrupulous translations" were considered among the best. These were published as ''Histoires extraordinaires'' (''Extraordinary stories'') (1856), ''Nouvelles histoires extraordinaires'' (''New extraordinary stories'') (1857), '' Aventures d'Arthur Gordon Pym'', '' Eureka'', and ''Histoires grotesques et sérieuses'' (''Grotesque and serious stories'') (1865). Two essays on Poe are to be found in his ''Œuvres complètes'' (''Complete works'') (vols. v. and vi.).


Eugène Delacroix

A strong supporter of the Romantic painter
Delacroix Delacroix is a French surname that derives from ''de la Croix'' ("of the Cross"). It may refer to: People * Caroline Delacroix (1883–1945), French-Romanian mistress of Leopold II of Belgium * Charles-François Delacroix (1741–1805), ...
, Baudelaire called him "a poet in painting". Baudelaire also absorbed much of Delacroix's aesthetic ideas as expressed in his journals. As Baudelaire elaborated in his "Salon of 1846", "As one contemplates his series of pictures, one seems to be attending the celebration of some grievous mystery...This grave and lofty melancholy shines with a dull light.. plaintive and profound like a melody by Weber." Delacroix, though appreciative, kept his distance from Baudelaire, particularly after the scandal of ''Les Fleurs du mal''. In private correspondence, Delacroix stated that Baudelaire "really gets on my nerves" and he expressed his unhappiness with Baudelaire's persistent comments about "melancholy" and "feverishness".


Richard Wagner

Baudelaire had no formal musical training, and knew little of composers beyond Beethoven and
Weber Weber (, or ; German: ) is a surname of German origin, derived from the noun meaning " weaver". In some cases, following migration to English-speaking countries, it has been anglicised to the English surname 'Webber' or even 'Weaver'. Notable pe ...
. Weber was in some ways Wagner's precursor, using the
leitmotif A leitmotif or leitmotiv () is a "short, recurring musical phrase" associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical concepts of ''idée fixe'' or ''motto-theme''. The spelling ''leitmotif'' is an anglici ...
and conceiving the idea of the "total art work" ("Gesamtkunstwerk"), both of which gained Baudelaire's admiration. Before even hearing Wagner's music, Baudelaire studied reviews and essays about him, and formulated his impressions. Later, Baudelaire put them into his non-technical analysis of Wagner, which was highly regarded, particularly his essay "Richard Wagner et Tannhäuser à Paris".Hyslop (1980), p. 68. Baudelaire's reaction to music was passionate and psychological. "Music engulfs (possesses) me like the sea." After attending three Wagner concerts in Paris in 1860, Baudelaire wrote to the composer: "I had a feeling of pride and joy in understanding, in being possessed, in being overwhelmed, a truly sensual pleasure like that of rising in the air." Baudelaire's writings contributed to the elevation of Wagner and to the cult of Wagnerism that swept Europe in the following decades.


Théophile Gautier

Gautier, writer and poet, earned Baudelaire's respect for his perfection of form and his mastery of language, though Baudelaire thought he lacked deeper emotion and spirituality. Both strove to express the artist's inner vision, which
Heinrich Heine Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was a German poet, writer and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of '' Lied ...
earlier stated: "In artistic matters, I am a supernaturalist. I believe that the artist can not find all his forms in nature, but that the most remarkable are revealed to him in his soul." Gautier's frequent meditations on death and the horror of life are themes which influenced Baudelaire's writings. In gratitude for their friendship and commonality of vision, Baudelaire dedicated ''Les Fleurs du mal'' to Gautier.


Édouard Manet

Manet and Baudelaire became constant companions from around 1855. In the early 1860s, Baudelaire accompanied Manet on daily sketching trips and often met him socially. Manet also lent Baudelaire money and looked after his affairs, particularly when Baudelaire went to Belgium. Baudelaire encouraged Manet to strike out on his own path and not succumb to criticism. "Manet has great talent, a talent which will stand the test of time. But he has a weak character. He seems to me crushed and stunned by shock." In his painting ''
Music in the Tuileries ''Music in the Tuileries'' is an 1862 painting by Édouard Manet. It is owned by the National Gallery, London and the Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin as part of the shared Lane Bequest. The work is an early example of Manet's painterly style, inspi ...
'', Manet includes portraits of his friends Théophile Gautier, Jacques Offenbach, and Baudelaire. While it's difficult to differentiate who influenced whom, both Manet and Baudelaire discussed and expressed some common themes through their respective arts. Baudelaire praised the modernity of Manet's subject matter: "almost all our originality comes from the stamp that 'time' imprints upon our feelings." When Manet's famous ''
Olympia The name Olympia may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Olympia'' (1938 film), by Leni Riefenstahl, documenting the Berlin-hosted Olympic Games * ''Olympia'' (1998 film), about a Mexican soap opera star who pursues a career as an athlet ...
'' (1865), a portrait of a nude prostitute, provoked a scandal for its blatant realism mixed with an imitation of Renaissance motifs, Baudelaire worked privately to support his friend, though he offered no public defense (he was, however, ill at the time). When Baudelaire returned from Belgium after his stroke, Manet and his wife were frequent visitors at the nursing home and she played passages from Wagner for Baudelaire on the piano.


Nadar

Nadar Gaspard-Félix Tournachon (5 April 1820 – 20 March 1910), known by the pseudonym Nadar, was a French photographer, caricaturist, journalist, novelist, balloon (aircraft), balloonist, and proponent of Aircraft#Heavier-than-air – aerodynes, h ...
(Félix Tournachon) was a noted caricaturist, scientist and important early photographer. Baudelaire admired Nadar, one of his close friends, and wrote: "Nadar is the most amazing manifestation of vitality." They moved in similar circles and Baudelaire made many social connections through him. Nadar's ex-mistress Jeanne Duval became Baudelaire's mistress around 1842. Baudelaire became interested in photography in the 1850s, and denouncing it as an art form, advocated its return to "its real purpose, which is that of being the servant to the sciences and arts". Photography should not, according to Baudelaire, encroach upon "the domain of the impalpable and the imaginary". Nadar remained a stalwart friend right to Baudelaire's last days and wrote his obituary notice in '' Le Figaro''.


Philosophy

Many of Baudelaire's philosophical proclamations were considered scandalous and intentionally provocative in his time. He wrote on a wide range of subjects, drawing criticism and outrage from many quarters. Along with Poe, Baudelaire named the arch-reactionary Joseph de Maistre as his ''
maître à penser is a French-language phrase, denoting a teacher whom one chooses, in order to learn not just a set of facts or point of view, but a way of thinking. It translates literally as "master for thinking". To take a is therefore close to becoming a d ...
'' and adopted increasingly aristocratic views. In his journals, he wrote "There is no form of rational and assured government save an aristocracy. €¦There are but three beings worthy of respect: the priest, the warrior and the poet. To know, to kill and to create. The rest of mankind may be taxed and drudged, they are born for the stable, that is to say, to practise what they call professions."


Influence and legacy

Baudelaire's influence on the direction of modern French (and English) language literature was considerable. The most significant French writers to come after him were generous with tributes; four years after his death, Arthur Rimbaud praised him in a letter as 'the king of poets, a true God'. In 1895,
Stéphane Mallarmé Stéphane Mallarmé ( , ; 18 March 1842 – 9 September 1898), pen name of Étienne Mallarmé, was a French poet and critic. He was a major French symbolist poet, and his work anticipated and inspired several revolutionary artistic schools of ...
published "Le Tombeau de Charles Baudelaire", a sonnet in Baudelaire's memory.
Marcel Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist who wrote the monumental novel ''In Search of Lost Time'' (''À la recherche du temps perdu''; with the previous Eng ...
, in an essay published in 1922, stated that along with
Alfred de Vigny Alfred Victor, Comte de Vigny (27 March 1797 – 17 September 1863) was a French poet and early French Romanticist. He also produced novels, plays, and translations of Shakespeare. Biography Vigny was born in Loches (a town to which he never re ...
, Baudelaire was "the greatest poet of the nineteenth century". In the English-speaking world, Edmund Wilson credited Baudelaire as providing an initial impetus for the
Symbolist Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and realis ...
movement by virtue of his translations of Poe. In 1930,
T.S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National B ...
, while asserting that Baudelaire had not yet received a "just appreciation" even in France, claimed that the poet had "great genius" and asserted that his "technical mastery which can hardly be overpraised...has made his verse an inexhaustible study for later poets, not only in his own language". In a lecture delivered in French on "Edgar Allan Poe and France" (Edgar Poe et la France) in Aix-en-Provence in April 1948, Eliot stated that "I am an English poet of American origin who learnt his art under the aegis of Baudelaire and the Baudelairian lineage of poets." Eliot also alluded to Baudelaire's poetry directly in his own poetry. For example, he quoted the last line of Baudelaire's "Au Lecteur" in the last line of Section I of '' The Waste Land''. At the same time that Eliot was affirming Baudelaire's importance from a broadly conservative and explicitly Christian viewpoint, left-wing critics such as Wilson and Walter Benjamin were able to do so from a dramatically different perspective. Benjamin translated Baudelaire's ''Tableaux Parisiens'' into German and published a major essay on translation as the foreword. In the late 1930s, Benjamin used Baudelaire as a starting point and focus for '' Das Passagenwerk'', his monumental attempt at a
materialist Materialism is a form of philosophical monism which holds matter to be the fundamental substance in nature, and all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. According to philosophical materialis ...
assessment of 19th-century culture. For Benjamin, Baudelaire's importance lay in his anatomies of the crowd, of the city and of modernity. He says that, in '' Les Fleurs du mal'', "the specific devaluation of the world of things, as manifested in the commodity, is the foundation of Baudelaire's allegorical intention."
François Porche François () is a French language, French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis (given name), Francis. People with the given name * Francis I of France, King of France (), known as "the Father and Restorer of ...
published a poetry collection called ''Charles Baudelaire: Poetry Collection'' in memory of Baudelaire. The novel ''A Singular Conspiracy'' (1974) by
Barry Perowne William Philip Atkey (1908–1985) better known under the pseudonym Barry Perowne, was an English writer, best known for his crime fiction. Atkey also published books under his own name and under the pseudonym Pat Merriman. Life Atkey, a nephew of ...
is a fictional treatment of the unaccounted period in Edgar Allan Poe's life from January to May 1844, in which (among other things) Poe becomes involved with a young Baudelaire in a plot to expose Baudelaires' stepfather to blackmail, to free up Baudelaires' patrimony. Vanderbilt University has "assembled one of the world's most comprehensive research collections on...Baudelaire". ''Les Fleurs du mal'' has a number of scholarly references.


Works

* ''Salon de 1845'', 1845 * ''Salon de 1846'', 1846 * '' La Fanfarlo'', 1847 * '' Les Fleurs du mal'', 1857 * '' Les paradis artificiels'', 1860 * ''Réflexions sur Quelques-uns de mes Contemporains'', 1861 * ''Le Peintre de la Vie Moderne'', 1863 * ''Curiosités Esthétiques'', 1868 * ''L'art romantique'', 1868 * ''
Le Spleen de Paris ''Le Spleen de Paris'', also known as ''Paris Spleen'' or ''Petits Poèmes en prose'', is a collection of 50 short prose poems by Charles Baudelaire. The collection was published posthumously in 1869 and is associated with literary modernism. B ...
'', 1869. ''Paris Spleen'' (Contra Mundum Press: 2021) * ''Translations from Charles Baudelaire'', 1869 (Early English translation of several of Baudelaire's poems, by Richard Herne Shepherd) * ''Oeuvres Posthumes et Correspondance Générale'', 1887–1907 * ''Fusées'', 1897 * ''Mon Coeur Mis à Nu'', 1897. ''My Heart Laid Bare & Other Texts'' (Contra Mundum Press: 2017; 2020) * ''Oeuvres Complètes'', 1922–53 (19 vols.) * ''Mirror of Art'', 1955 * ''The Essence of Laughter'', 1956 * ''Curiosités Esthétiques'', 1962 * ''The Painter of Modern Life and Other Essays'', 1964 * ''Baudelaire as a Literary Critic'', 1964 * ''Arts in Paris 1845–1862'', 1965 * ''Selected Writings on Art and Artists'', 1972 * ''Selected Letters of Charles Baudelaire'', 1986 * ''Twenty Prose Poems'', 1988 * ''Critique d'art; Critique musicale'', 1992 * ''Belgium Stripped Bare'' (Contra Mundum Press: 2019)


Musical adaptations

* French composer
Claude Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 â€“ 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...
set five of Baudelaire's poems to music in 1890: ''
Cinq poèmes de Charles Baudelaire The ''Cinq poèmes de Charles Baudelaire'' ( L 64) constitute a song cycle for voice and piano by Claude Debussy, on poems taken from ''Les Fleurs du mal'' by Charles Baudelaire. Composed from December 1887 to March 1889, these five highly deve ...
'' (''Le Balcon'', ''Harmonie du soir'', ''Le Jet d'eau'', ''Recueillement'' and ''La Mort des amants''). * French composer Henri Duparc set two of Baudelaire's poems to music: "L'Invitation au voyage" in 1870, and "La vie antérieure" in 1884. * English composer Mark-Anthony Turnage composed settings of two of Baudelaire's poems, "Harmonie du soir" and "L'Invitation au voyage", for soprano and seven instruments. * American electronic musician
Ruth White (composer) Ruth S. White (September 1, 1925 – August 26, 2013) was an American composer known for her electronic music compositions. While most of her career was dedicated to educational recordings, she is best known for being an electronic music pioneer, ...
recorded some of Baudelaire's poems in '' Les Fleurs du Mal'' as chants over electronic music in a 1969 recording, ''Flowers of Evil''. * French singer-songwriter
Léo Ferré Léo Ferré (24 August 1916 – 14 July 1993) was a French-born Monégasque poet and composer, and a dynamic and controversial live performer, whose career in France dominated the years after the Second World War until his death. He released s ...
devoted himself to set Baudelaire's poetry into music in three albums: '' Les Fleurs du mal'' in 1957 (12 poems), ''
Léo Ferré chante Baudelaire ''Léo Ferré chante Baudelaire'' (English: "''Léo Ferré sings Baudelaire''") is an album by Léo Ferré, released in 1967 by Barclay Records. It is his fourth LP dedicated to a poet, after a first Baudelaire effort in 1957 (''Les Fleurs du m ...
'' in 1967 (24 poems, including one from ''Le Spleen de Paris''), and the posthumous ''
Les Fleurs du mal (suite et fin) ''Les Fleurs du mal (suite et fin)'' (English: "''The Flowers of Evil (last and final)''") is an album by Léo Ferré, posthumously released in 2008 by La Mémoire et la Mer. It is his third musical effort dedicated to Charles Baudelaire's poet ...
'' (21 poems), recorded in 1977 but released in 2008. * Soviet/Russian composer David Tukhmanov has set Baudelaire's poem to music (cult album ''On a Wave of My Memory'', 1975). * American avant-garde composer, vocalist and performer Diamanda Galás made an interpretation in original French of ''
Les Litanies de Satan "Les Litanies de Satan" ("The Litanies of Satan") is a poem by Charles Baudelaire, published as part of ''Les Fleurs du mal''. The date of composition is unknown, but there is no evidence that it was composed at a different time to the other poems o ...
'' from '' Les Fleurs du mal'', in her debut album titled ''
The Litanies of Satan ''The Litanies of Satan'' is the debut album by American avant-garde artist Diamanda Galás, released in the United Kingdom by Y Records in 1982; it was released in her home country in 1989. Content The text for "The Litanies of Satan" is tak ...
'', which consists of tape and electronics effects with layers of her voice. * French singer David TMX recorded the poems "Lesbos" and "Une Charogne" from ''The Flowers of Evil''. * French metal/shoegaze groups Alcest and
Amesoeurs Amesoeurs was a French post-punk/post-black metal band. A side project of Neige of Alcest, the group was formed in the summer of 2004 in Bagnols-sur-Cèze with the purpose of creating music that "reflects the dark side of the industrial era and ...
used his poetry for the lyrics of the tracks "Élévation" (on '' Le Secret'') and "Recueillement" (on ''
Amesoeurs Amesoeurs was a French post-punk/post-black metal band. A side project of Neige of Alcest, the group was formed in the summer of 2004 in Bagnols-sur-Cèze with the purpose of creating music that "reflects the dark side of the industrial era and ...
''), respectively.
Celtic Frost Celtic Frost () was a Swiss extreme metal band from Zürich. They are known for their strong influence on the development of extreme metalBukszpan, Daniel. ''The Encyclopedia of Heavy Metal''. Barnes & Noble Publishing, 2003. p.43 and avant-ga ...
used his poem '' Tristesses de la lune'' as a lyrics for song on album ''
Into the Pandemonium ''Into the Pandemonium'' is the second studio album by Swiss extreme metal band Celtic Frost, released in 1987. It is the first album to feature bassist and backing vocalist Martin Eric Ain, who appeared on 1984's Morbid Tales EP, but not the b ...
''. * French Black Metal bands Mortifera and
Peste Noire Peste Noire are a French black metal band from La Chaise-Dieu, France. The band was formed by "La sale Famine de Valfunde" (Ludovic Faure), also known simply as "Famine", in 2000. Their music uses standard black metal elements mixed with traditi ...
used Baudelaire's poems as lyrics for the songs "Le revenant" and "Ciel brouillé" (on ''Vastiia Tenebrd Mortifera'' by Mortifera) and "Le mort joyeux" and "Spleen" (on '' La Sanie des siècles – Panégyrique de la dégénérescence'' by Peste Noire) * Israeli singer Maor Cohen's 2005 album, the Hebrew name of which translates to French as "Les Fleurs du Mal", is a compilation of songs from Baudelaire's book of the same name. The texts were translated to Hebrew by Israeli poet Dori Manor, and the music was composed by Cohen. * Italian singer Franco Battiato set ''Invitation au voyage'' to music as ''Invito Al Viaggio'' on his 1999 album ''Fleurs (Esempi Affini Di Scritture E Simili)''. * American composer Gérard Pape set ''Tristesses de la lune/Sorrows of the Moon'' from ''Fleurs du Mal'' for voice and electronic tape. * French band Marc Seberg wrote an adaptation of Recueillement for their 1985 album ''Le Chant Des Terres''. *Dutch composer
Marjo Tal Marjo Tal (15 January 1915 - 27 August 2006) was a Dutch composer and pianist who wrote the music for over 150 songs and often performed them while accompanying herself on the piano. Life and career Early life Tal was born in The Hague, the oldest ...
set several of Baudelaire’s poems to music. * Russian heavy metal band Black Obelisk used Russian translations of several Baudelaire poems as lyrics for their songs. * French singer
Mylène Farmer Mylène Jeanne Gautier (; born 12 September 1961), known professionally as Mylène Farmer (), is a Canadian-born French singer, songwriter, occasional actress, writer, and entrepreneur. Having sold more than 30 million records in France, she is ...
performed "L'Horloge" to music by Laurent Boutonnat on the album ''Ainsi soit je'' and the opening number of her 1989 concert tour. On her latest album "Désobéissance" (2018) she recorded Baudelaire's preface to "Les Fleurs du Mal", "Au lecteur". The French journalist Hugues Royer mentioned several allusions and interpretations of Baudelaire's poems and quotations used by Farmer in various songs in his book "Mylène" (published in 2008). * In 2009 the Italian rock band
C.F.F. e il Nomade Venerabile C.F.F. e il Nomade Venerabile is an Italian alternative rock band formed in 1999 in Gioia del Colle (Bari, Apulia). Musical style The band stands out for its experimental approach, which combines New wave music, new wave rock music with Concer ...
released ''Un jour noir'', a song inspired by ''Spleen'', contained in the album ''Lucidinervi'' (Otium Records / Compagnia Nuove Indye). The video clip is available on YouTube. * German aggrotech band C-Drone-Defect used the translation of "Le Rebelle" by Roy Campbell as lyrics for the song "Rebellis" on their 2009 album ''Dystopia''. * English rock band The Cure used the translation of "Les yeux des pauvres" as lyrics for the song "How Beautiful You Are". * French singer-songwriter and musician
Serge Gainsbourg Serge Gainsbourg (; born Lucien Ginsburg; 2 April 1928 â€“ 2 March 1991) was a French musician, singer-songwriter, actor, author and filmmaker. Regarded as one of the most important figures in French pop, he was renowned for often provoca ...
has set Baudelaire's poem "Dancing Snake" (Le serpent qui danse) to music in his 1964 song "Baudelaire". * Greek black metal band Rotting Christ adapted Baudelaire's poem "Les Litanies De Satan" from ''Fleurs du Mal'' for a song of the same name in their 2016 album ''Rituals''. * Belgian female-fronted band Exsangue released the debut video for the single "
A une Malabaraise A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...
", and the lyrics are based on Baudelaire's same-named sonnet in 2016. * Belgian electronic music band Modern Cubism has released two albums where poems of Baudelaire are used as lyrics, ''Les Plaintes d’un Icare'' in 2008, and live album ''Live Complaints'' in 2010. * American rapper Tyler, the Creator released his album '' Call Me If You Get Lost'' in 2021. Throughout the album, Tyler, the Creator refers to himself as "Tyler Baudelaire". * Canadian singer-songwriter
Pierre Lapointe Pierre Lapointe (born 23 May 1981) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. His work largely follows in the tradition of French chanson, though he is influenced by modern pop music. Defining himself as a "popular singer", he has built an egocentric pe ...
set Baudelaire's poem "Le serpent qui danse" to music on his 2022 album ''
L'heure mauve ''L'heure mauve'' is the twelfth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Pierre Lapointe, released on February 7, 2022, through Pépiphonie and Bonsound. It was made to soundtrack Swiss artist Nicolas Party's exhibition ''L'heure mauve'' at the ...
''.


See also

* Épater la bourgeoisie


References


Notes


Sources

* *


External links


Charles Baudelaire's CatsThe Baudelaire Song Project
– site of The Baudelaire Song Project, a UK-based AHRC-funded academic project examining song settings of Baudelaire's poetry
Twilight to Dawn: Charles Baudelaire – Cordite Poetry Reviewwww.baudelaire.cz
– largest Internet site dedicated to Charles Baudelaire. Poems and prose are available in English, French and Czech.
Charles Baudelaire
– site dedicated to Baudelaire's poems and prose, containing ''Fleurs du mal'', ''Petit poemes et prose'', ''Fanfarlo'' and more in French
Charles Baudelaire International AssociationNikolas Kompridis on Baudelaire's poetry, art, and the "memory of loss"
(Flash/HTML5)
baudelaireetbengale.blogspot.com
– the influence of Baudelaire on Bengali poetry *
Harmonie du soir
– Tina Noiret


Online texts

* * * *
Charles Baudelaire
– largest site dedicated to Baudelaire's poems and prose, containing ''Fleurs du mal'', ''Petit poemes et prose'', ''Fanfarlo'' and more in French

– selected works at Poetry Archive
Baudelaire's poems
at Poems Found in Translation

– Sean Bonney's experimental translations of Baudelaire (humor)


Baudelaire par ses Amis


Single works


FleursDuMal.org
– Definitive online presentation of ''Fleurs du mal'', featuring the original French alongside multiple English translations
An illustrated version (8 Mb) of ''Les Fleurs du Mal'', 1861 edition
(Charles Baudelaire / une édition illustrée pa
inkwatercolor.com


– poem by Baudelaire

– English translation {{DEFAULTSORT:Baudelaire, Charles 1821 births 1867 deaths 19th-century French journalists French male journalists 19th-century French poets 19th-century French translators English–French translators Translators of Edgar Allan Poe Burials at Montparnasse Cemetery Deaths from syphilis Decadent literature French art critics Lycée Louis-le-Grand alumni Obscenity controversies in literature Poètes maudits French psychedelic drug advocates Sonneteers Symbolist poets Writers from Paris 19th-century male writers Philosophical pessimists