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    The Flowers of Evil
    The Flowers of Evil
    The Flowers of Evil
    Ebook74 pages38 minutes

    The Flowers of Evil

    By Charles Baudelaire and Mint Editions

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    The Flowers of Evil (1857) is a collection of poems by Charles Baudelaire. Translated into English by Cyril Scott in 1909, Baudelaire’s poems remain lively and idiosyncratic nearly two centuries after they came into existence. Comprised mostly of sonnets and short lyrics, The Flowers of Evil captures Baudelaire’s sense of the changing role of the poet in modern life. Rather than focus on beauty and other ideals, Baudelaire explores the totality of human experience—the good, bad, and ugly of life on earth. “When by the changeless Power of a Supreme Decree / The poet issues forth upon this sorry sphere, / His mother, horrified, and full of blasphemy, / Uplifts her voice to God, who takes compassion on her.” In his opening benediction, Baudelaire reverses the typical trope of invoking the muses or celebrating poetry as a divine gift. Instead, he depicts the poet as a being cursed, a “hideous Child of Doom.” Childhood for Baudelaire is a subject of particular interest, a time described, in his poem “The Enemy,” as “a ravaging storm, / Enlivened at times by a brilliant sun…” The youthful experience of melancholy clearly informs the poet’s outlook as an adult: “Time devours our lives, / And the enemy black, which consumeth our hearts / On the blood of our bodies, increases and thrives!” While much of Baudelaire’s work deals with darkness and despair, his poems can rise to the heights of celebration and ecstasy, his voice soft and sweet as he invites his sister on a journey to an imagined land of “order and loveliness, / Luxury, calm and voluptuousness.” Ultimately, Baudelaire’s vision—however irreverent—is guided by truth and morality, which drive him on a torturous path from good to evil, beauty to death, and back. This edition of The Flowers of Evil is a classic of French literature reimagined for modern readers.

    Since our inception in 2020, Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh, professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover, all while maintaining the integrity of the original book.

    With thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMint Editions
    Release dateSep 28, 2021
    ISBN9781513297941
    Author

    Charles Baudelaire

    Charles Baudelaire, né le 9 avril 1821 à Paris, est l'un des poètes les plus influents et controversés de la poésie française. Connu pour son recueil révolutionnaire Les Fleurs du mal, Baudelaire a marqué le symbolisme par son exploration du spleen et de la modernité. Sa vie tumultueuse, marquée par des excès, des amours passionnées, et des luttes personnelles, a nourri une oeuvre où la beauté côtoie la mélancolie. Fils d'un ancien prêtre devenu fonctionnaire, Baudelaire a été profondément affecté par la mort prématurée de son père et le remariage de sa mère, ce qui a influencé sa vision du monde. Baudelaire a su capter l'essence de son époque, transformant ses expériences personnelles en une poésie intemporelle. Son influence sur la littérature classique est indéniable, faisant de lui un véritable chef-d'oeuvre de la poésie française. Ses écrits continuent d'inspirer de nouvelles générations, confirmant son statut d'icône littéraire. En plus de sa poésie, Baudelaire a également été un critique d'art perspicace, contribuant à l'émergence de l'art moderne. Il a défendu des artistes comme Eugène Delacroix et a été l'un des premiers à reconnaître le génie de Richard Wagner. Malgré les controverses et les procès pour immoralité auxquels il a dû faire face, Baudelaire a persévéré dans sa quête de l'idéal artistique, laissant derrière lui un héritage durable qui continue de résonner dans le monde littéraire et au-delà. Son exploration des thèmes de la beauté, de la déchéance, et de la rédemption, ainsi que son style unique, ont fait de lui une figure centrale du mouvement symboliste. Baudelaire est décédé à l'âge de 46 ans, laissant une empreinte indélébile sur la poésie et la culture mondiale.

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      Book preview

      The Flowers of Evil - Charles Baudelaire

      BENEDICTION

      When by the changeless Power of a Supreme Decree

      The poet issues forth upon this sorry sphere,

      His mother, horrified, and full of blasphemy,

      Uplifts her voice to God, who takes compassion on her.

      "Ah, why did I not bear a serpent’s nest entire,

      Instead of bringing forth this hideous Child of Doom!

      Oh cursèd be that transient night of vain desire

      When I conceived my expiation in my womb!"

      "Yet since among all women thou hast chosen me

      To be the degradation of my jaded mate,

      And since I cannot like a love-leaf wantonly

      Consign this stunted monster to the glowing grate,"

      "I’ll cause thine overwhelming hatred to rebound

      Upon the cursèd tool of thy most wicked spite.

      Forsooth, the branches of this wretched tree I’ll wound

      And rob its pestilential blossoms of their might!"

      So thus, she giveth vent unto her foaming ire,

      And knowing not the changeless statutes of all times,

      Herself, amid the flames of hell, prepares the pyre;

      The consecrated penance of maternal crimes.

      Yet ’neath th’ invisible shelter of an Angel’s wing

      This sunlight-loving infant disinherited,

      Exhales from all he eats and drinks, and everything

      The ever sweet ambrosia and the nectar red.

      He trifles with the winds and with the clouds that glide,

      About the way unto the Cross, he loves to sing,

      The spirit on his pilgrimage; that faithful guide,

      Oft weeps to see him joyful like a bird of Spring.

      All those that he would cherish shrink from him with fear,

      And some that waxen bold by his tranquility,

      Endeavour hard some grievance from his heart to tear,

      And make on him the trial of their ferocity.

      Within the bread and wine outspread for his repast

      To mingle dust and dirty spittle they essay,

      And everything he touches, forth they slyly cast,

      Or scourge themselves, if e’er their feet betrod his way.

      His wife goes round proclaiming in the crowded quads—

      "Since he can find my body beauteous to behold,

      Why not perform the office of those ancient gods

      And like unto them, redeck myself with shining gold?"

      "I’ll bathe myself with incense, spikenard and myrrh,

      With genuflexions, delicate viandes and wine,

      To see, in jest, if from a heart, that loves me dear,

      I cannot filch away the hommages divine."

      "And when of these impious jokes at length I tire,

      My frail but mighty hands, around his breast entwined,

      With nails, like harpies’ nails, shall cunningly conspire

      The hidden path unto his feeble heart to

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