Charles baudelaire les fleurs du mal biography

(1821-1867)

Synopsis

Charles Baudelaire was a French poet born on April 9, 1821, in Paris, France. In 1845, he published his first work. Baudelaire gained notoriety for his 1857 volume of poems, Les Fleurs du mal (The Flowers of Evil). His themes of sex, death, lesbianism, metamorphosis, depression, urban corruption, lost innocence and alcohol not only gained him loyal followers, but also garnered controversy. The courts punished Baudelaire, his publisher and the book's printer for offending public morality, and as such, suppressed six of the poems. Baudelaire died on August 31, 1867 in Paris.

Early life

Charles Baudelaire was born in Paris, France on April 9, 1821, to François Baudelaire, a senior civil servant and amateur artist, and his wife, Caroline. After François died, in 1827, Caroline married Lieutenant Colonel Jacques Aupick, who later became a prominent ambassador.

As a young man, Baudelaire studied law at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand. Dissatisfied with his choice of profession, he began to drink daily, hire prostitutes and run up considerable debts. Upon obtaining his degree in 1839, Baudelaire chose not to pursue law—to his mother’s chagrin—and turned to a career in literature instead.

In 1841, Baudelaire's stepfather sent him on a voyage to India, in an effort to redirect his stepson's energy. The themes of the sea, sailing and exotic ports that appeared in Baudelaire's later poetry were largely inspired by this experience. Upon his return to Paris, Baudelaire became friends with other authors and artists. He also began a lifelong relationship with Jeanne Duval. When his parents rejected the coupling, a troubled Baudelaire attempted suicide.

Baudelaire soon began to publish his writing. His first published work was an 1845 art review, which attracted immediate attention. Many of his critical opinions, including his championing of Delacroix, were bold and prophetic. In 1846, Baudelaire wrote his second art review, establi

The son of Joseph-Francois Baudelaire and Caroline Archimbaut Dufays, Charles Baudelaire was born in Paris on April 9, 1821. Baudelaire’s father, who was thirty years older than his mother, died when the poet was six. Baudelaire was very close with his mother (much of what is known about his later life comes from the letters he wrote her), but was deeply distressed when she married Major Jacques Aupick. In 1833, the family moved to Lyon, where Baudelaire attended a military boarding school. Shortly before graduation, he was kicked out for refusing to give up a note passed to him by a classmate. Baudelaire spent the next two years in Paris’s Latin Quarter, pursuing a career as a writer and accumulating debt. It is also believed that he contracted syphilis around this time.

In 1841, Baudelaire’s parents sent him to India, hoping the experience would help reform his bohemian urges. He left the ship, however, and returned to Paris in 1842. Upon his return, he received a large inheritance, which allowed him to live the life of a Parisian dandy. He developed a love for clothing and spent his days in art galleries and cafés. He also experimented with hashish and opium. Baudelaire also fell in love with Jeanne Duval, who inspired the “Black Venus” section of Les Fleurs du mal. By 1844, he had spent nearly half of his inheritance. His family won a court order that appointed a lawyer to manage Baudelaire’s fortune and to pay him a small “allowance” for the rest of his life.

To supplement his income, Baudelaire wrote art criticism, essays, and reviews for various journals. His early criticism of contemporary French painters, such as Eugene Delacroix and Gustave Courbet, earned him a reputation as a discriminating, if idiosyncratic, critic. In 1847, he published the autobiographical novella La Fanfarlo. His first publications of poetry also began to appear in journals in the mid-1840s. In 1854 and 1855, he published translations of Edgar Allan Po

French poet and critic (1821–1867)

"Baudelaire" redirects here. For other uses, see Baudelaire (disambiguation).

Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ;French:[ʃaʁl(ə)bodlɛʁ]; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet, essayist, translator and art critic. His poems are described as exhibiting mastery of rhyme and rhythm, containing an exoticism inherited from the Romantics, and are based on observations of real life.

His most famous work, a book of lyric poetry titled Les Fleurs du mal (The Flowers of Evil), expresses the changing nature of beauty in the rapidly industrialising Paris caused by Haussmann's renovation of Paris during the mid-19th century. Baudelaire's original style of prose-poetry influenced a generation of poets including Paul Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud and Stéphane Mallarmé. He coined the term modernity (modernité) to designate the fleeting experience of life in an urban metropolis, and the responsibility of artistic expression to capture that experience.Marshall Berman has credited Baudelaire as being the first Modernist.

Early life

Baudelaire was born in Paris, France, on 9 April 1821, and baptized two months later at Saint-SulpiceRoman Catholic Church. His father, Joseph-François Baudelaire (1759–1827), a senior civil servant and amateur artist, who at 60, was 34 years older than Baudelaire's 26-year-old mother, Caroline (née Dufaÿs) (1794–1871); she was his second wife.

Joseph-François died during Baudelaire's childhood, at rue Hautefeuille, Paris, on 10 February 1827. The following year, Caroline married Lieutenant Colonel Jacques Aupick [fr], who later became a French ambassador to various noble courts.

Baudelaire's biographers have often seen this as a crucial moment, considering that finding himself no longer the sole focus of his mother's affection left him with a trauma, which goes some