Baudelaire

Biography

Charles Baudelaire was called both the "first modern poet" and the "father of modern criticism." Baudelaire is the most widely read French poet around the world. Baudelaire was born in Paris on April 9, 1821. His mother, Caoline Archimbaut-Dufays gave birth to Charles when she was twenty-eight and his father was Francois Baudelaire was sixty-one. His father was an artist and Charles often watched him paint. His father died when he was only six. A year after his father died his mother married Jacques Aupick. He was a strict discipliarian and sent Charles to a boarding school. He didn't fit in there and often picked fights with students and even his teachers. In 1839 the family moved back to Paris. This was the year Baudelaire was going to get his baccalaureate, but he fell short and was expelled. In 1841 he was sent on a voyage to the Indies and after ten months called it quits and requested to go home to Paris. When he turned twenty-one he inherited a small fortune from his father. His mother and step father obtained a court order to watch how he spent his money. Charles was enraged that his mother would only give him a small allowance every month. In 1842 Charles had an affair with Jeanne Duval. She was a mixed race of black and white, or other wise known as Creole in New Orleans. Charles often used his talents of writing to shock and astonish society. He is well known for his immoral, cynical,and beauty style of writing. In 1857 Charles work was seized by the French police and he was forced to omit six of his poems and to pay a hefty fine. After he realized that he had the advantage of soceity he published his work as a critic in 1845,1846 and 1859. This work would be called Salons. Throughout his career he struggled with an Opium and hash addiction. He also was infatuated with sex and its pleasures. This is basically how he died. In 1862 he had a minor heart attack due to his syphillis. While he was in Belgium Charles contracted hemiplegia and aphasia. His final resting place is where he died in Paris on August 31, 1867.

To The Reader

Themes

1. The evils on society and the temptations that we can't resist. It seems to be a recurring that theme that the general public can't resist the temptations that the devil throws at us. "The devil, watching by our sickbeds, hissed old smut and folk-songs to our soul, until the soft and precious metal of our will boiled off in vapor for this scientist." (1544). In this stanza from the poem we can see that the devil is merely a scientist testing experiments on society. When our sins come unbearable to us the devil uses his evil ways to tempt us. "Each day his flattery makes us eat a toad, and each step forward is a step to hell," (1544). Baudelaire is expressing is pessimistic view onto society, and complains of our lack of motivation to further ourselves from evil. "It's BOREDOM. Tears have glued its eyes together." (1544).

Study Questions

1. What are the faults, or sins, that Baudelaire believes plagues the human race?

2. Why do you think, according to Baudelaire, "we play to the grandstand with our promises"?

Relating to the Author

Baudelaire had a very pessimistic outlook on society, he was continuously complaining that our free will isn't strong enough throughout the poem. He once said that "we must restrain our natural impulses in order to be good." In the 1st stanza of the poem we see that our infatuation, sadism, lust, and avarice are all natural impulses according to Baudelaire. More on our free will, in the poem he points out that the devils flattery is so strong that we would eat a toad just because he advised it.