Charles Baudelaire Analysis

Charles Baudelaire

French poet Charles Baudelaire is undisputedly one of the greatest names in poetry. Pioneer of symbolism and modernity, which is designating the fleeting experience of life in urban metropolis, he was influence to many, from Verlaine to Rimbaud. Persecuted by many, for his innovativeness and boldness to write about taboo themes such as eroticism, profane love and death, he never stopped creating until his death at age 44. Baudelaire’s most famous body of work is a collection of 140 poems, called Les Fleurs du mal. Collection is divided into 6 thematically segregated sections. Through the book, poet is confessing his dreams, hopes, failures and sins. Unlike traditional poetry, he doesn’t rely on the serene beauty of the

Baudelaire struggled with his Catholicism all his life, therefore made religion prevalent in his poetry:

When, after a decree of the supreme powers,

The Poet is brought forth in this wearisome world,

Biblical symbols can be found in most poems and it is hard to say if Baudelaire has a positive or negative relationship with God, because in the first part of Spleen and Ideal he emphasizes harmony and perfection of the ideal world through his special relationship with God, but a lot of his symbolism is turning around the original sin.

I know that you reserve a place for the Poet

Within the blessed ranks of the holy Legions,

And that you invite him to the eternal feast

Of the Thrones, the Virtues, and the Dominations.

Ultimately he is lamenting about the loss of his free will. For Baudelaire women are a symbol of temptation. It’s a conflict between secular nature of art and moralizing of his catholic faith. Contrast is build on sexes, where males are displayed as parts of anarchic animalistic realms conditioned by Satan, whereas female characters are reconstructed the way that they are the superior gender. From the speaker's point of view, they are usually described in animalistic terms and in the end the very masculine poet comes out as a victim of the scheming

And cherish even the coldness that you boast,

By which, harsh beast, you subjugate me most.

In poem “The Carcase” he’s literally comparing his lover to the old, stinking carcass lying by the side of the road, touching the inevitability of death, but he is still going to be loyal to her and love her, even after she rots into pieces.

Yet you’ll resemble this infection too

One day, and stink and sprawl in such a fashion From early poems, for instance: “Benediction”, it seems as if the author never had a good relationship with his mother, therefore the author has developed some form of Oedipal complex.

His mother terrified and full of blasphemies

Raises her clenched fist to God, who pities her :

– “Ah ! would that I had spawned a whole knot of vipers

Rather than to have fed this derisive object !

He’s looking for pure and strong female role model, but everything he sees are dishonorable, deceitful and lustful women, which are morally