Selected Poems[诗选]

ThepoemsofCharlesBaudelairearefilledwithexplicitandunsettlingimagery,depictingwithintensityeverydaysubjectsignoredbyFrenchliteraryconventionsofhistime."Tableauxparisiens"portraysthebrutallifeofParis'thieves,drunkardsandprostitutesamidthedebrisoffactoriesandpoorhouses.Inlovepoemssuchas"LeBeauNavire",flightsoflyricismentwinewithlanguorouseroticism,whileprosepoemssuchas"LaChambreDouble"dealwiththeagoniesofartisticcreationandmortality.Withtheirstartlingcombinationofharshrealityandsublimebeauty,formalingenuityandrevolutionarypoeticlanguage,thesepoems,includingagenerousselectionfrom"LesFleursduMal",showBaudelaireasoneofthemostinfluentialpoetsofthenineteenthcentury.