Baudelaire Charles Baudelaire Was Born in Paris

Baudelaire

Charles Baudelaire was born in Paris in 1821. He originally pursued a career in law, but became dissatisfied and instead embarked on his writing career. Baudelaire is well-known for addressing "themes of sex, death, lesbianism, metamorphosis, depression, urban corruption, lost innocence and alcohol," ("Charles Baudelaire: Biography"). These were not only subjects Baudelaire understood himself, but were also reflective of the public experience with modernization and urbanization. Baudelaire's most famous work is a book, which is a compilation of poems entitled Les Fleurs du Mal. Baudelaire referred to the items in Les Fleurs du Mal as "scraps," indicating that Les Fleurs du Mal is a collection of diverse materials that together reflect the entire corpus of the poet's work. As one biographer points out, "Baudelaire struggled with poor health and pressing debts throughout his adult life. He moved frequently to escape creditors, making it difficult to devote himself to any one project." This is why Baudelaire's work Les Fleurs du Mal seems disjointed. The disjointed nature of the work reflects the poet's internal mental state. Depression is a major theme of the work, as evidence in the title, which is usually translated to English as "The Flowers of Evil." At the time of his writing, Baudelaire's work was praised for raising Romanticism to a new level, but ultimately Baudelaire's work can be viewed more as capturing the spirit of modernity with all of the attendant angst associated with urbanization, loss of traditional family structures, the ongoing experience of war, and the foregone importance of religion. Baudelaire also embodies bohemian life in modern Paris, and relates to prevailing existential philosophy and nihilism. In Les Fleurs du Mal, as in his other work, Baudelaire explores the theme of depression within the context of his personal experience with alcohol, sex, and urban decay.

Les Fleurs du Mal exemplifies the theme of depression in the modern world, showing how Baudelaire understood the psychological reactions to experiences like urbanization and moral depravity. It was also personal experiences that caused Baudelaire to become focused on expressing depression in his poetry. "Financial constraint, alienation, and complex emotions defined Baudelaire's life, and it is against this backdrop of complicated family relations that some of the best poetry in the French language was written," (Mills, n.d.). Diction in the various poems in Les Fleurs du Mal continues to refer to themes alluded to in the opening line of "To the Reader," in which Baudelaire writes, "Folly, depravity, greed, mortal sin / Invade our souls and rack our flesh; we feed / Our gentle guilt, gracious regrets, that breed / Like vermin glutting on foul beggars' skin." When Baudelaire speaks of sin, he does not do so in a religious sense and does not suggest that the modern reader should focus on religious repentance. On the other hand, Baudelaire has become resigned to sin as a natural feature of modern life. "Our sins are stubborn; our repentance, faint. / We take a handsome price for our confession, / Happy once more to wallow in transgression, / Thinking vile tears will cleanse us of all taint." Baudelaire submits to sin and Satan, but he is psychologically conflicted by doing so. He uses religious imagery like that of Satan on a throne, showing that Baudelaire was concerned about morality on some level. At the same time, the poet's work reflects a fascination with the seduction of evil and sin. The poem "The End of the Day" encompasses Baudelaire's depression as he submits to "darkness." The word "dark" is used twice in this brief poem, which also includes imagery of death. Baudelaire's obsession with darkness and depression as themes in literature were controversial, but they did capture the spirit of modernity and its "ennui," (Baudelaire, 1861; 1998, "The End of the Day").