Discovering Baudelaire

Known mainly as a poet, Baudelaire wrote criticism and essays and theoretical papers discussing the underpinnings of various Platonic forms (but never calling them that). As a poet, his output is dwarfed by contemporary Victor Hugo, and only after time has his influence proven to be far more reaching.

Taken by Etienne Carjat, circa 1862

His father was quite old and passed while he was young, but had been part of the aristocracy. There was money for him. His mother married a career military man who had been appointed an ambassador. Baudelaire grew to despise this man, but see if you can spot why:

Baudelaire, as a young man, developed a taste for laudanum and parties, and had troubles with the money that had been left for him. The General, as he came to call his step-father, set up a trust that would trickle out the cash like a pipet.

This turned Charles into a man who was constantly hard up for money and essentially begging from his friends. He needed to write to make a living, one of the earliest geniuses who was at the whim of the market. Most writers from the era, or, rather, people who were deep thinkers and able to communicate those thoughts through writing, did so because they were independently wealthy and had the time and means to polish the language they used.

Baudelaire's most famous collection of poetry, Les Fleurs du mal (The Flowers of Evil), caused a scandal with its obscenity and had poems cut by state censors. Some of the poetry that was deemed obscene I have read, and you can as well if you follow this link. It is a very good piece about the ways that humility and circumstances shaped Baudelaire's writing and helped bring about modernism in literature. He is, in fact, credited with coining the term "modernity" (modernite), about the fleeting experiences urban life yields.

Think of Les Fleurs du mal as you would Whitman's Leaves of Grass.

He died at only 46 years old, having spent the previous two years mostly paralyzed by stroke. The years of opium use and hard drinking took their toll.

This tiny piece is not meant to be a formal biography of Charles Baudelaire, more of a quick summary gleaned from a handful of sources.

Does the picture above show a man happy and pleased to be "writing for a living?"

He was a complicated man with drug issues, family issues, perpetual financial issues, but also had a genius for writing. He makes me think he's the original basis for the "drunk as a poet on payday" idiom, but then I remember all poets...

I see shades of myself in this man's history. I am blessed with a stronger support foundation that kept things the more destructive elements at bay, but the fact remains: I identify.

And then I saw his birthday: April 9th, 1821.

My birthday is April 9th.