Home
Creators
Search Recent Random
Posts
Search DMs Popular Hash Lookup Tags Random
Importer
Import FAQ
Register Favorites Keys Review DMs Logout
Community
Telegram ThePornDude
Home Creators Posts Import Register Favorites Logout

Baudelaire's Banned Poetry: Reading Les Fleurs du mal (Patreon)

Published:
2021-02-16 16:14:46
Imported:
2026-06
haven't archived this post yet. have a subscription? use the importer!

Content

The six banned poems from Charles Baudelaire's The Flowers of Evil are:

  • Lethe 
  • Lesbos
  • The Jewels
  • To One Who Is Too Cheerful
  • The Metamorphoses of the Vampire
  • Condemned Women: Delphine and Hippolyta

The translation I'm reading is by James McGowan, though the Richard Howard translation is also a fine choice.

Questions to consider:

  • Should these poems have been banned? Should any poems be banned? Why? Why not? And can you see why they were banned?
  • Do you like them? If so, why and in what degree?
  • Can you see why Tolstoy did not like them?

Answers on a postcard!


Files

Previews only

Baudelaire's Banned Poetry from The Flowers of Evil

Comments

Pierre Bolkonsky

I'm currently reading Les Fleurs du Mal, and I think I have the same mixed feelings as Ben. I can't say that I like or enjoy the poems. The decadence is just too much for me, but the language is mesmerizing at times and keeps bringing me back to the book. The other reason I'm reading Baudelaire is that I'm in search for one specific poem, titled Spleen. Many years ago, I was going through depression and encountered this poem. I felt like a dazed boxer who is about to get knocked out, and that poem was the knockout punch. It's not exactly a good memory, but the words captured exactly my feelings of hopelessness at the time. He uses incredibly morbid metaphors to describe with accuracy the way a depressed person only sees darkness and gloom in everything around him. I'm 20% through the book and haven't met that poem yet. Of course, I'm in a much better place mentally now so reading Spleen again won't induce any negative feelings in me, just (I think) gratefulness that I was able to conquer depression. Regarding Tolstoy's antipathy to Baudelaire, it's easy to understand if you read his novella the Kreutzer Sonata. As he aged, Tolstoy famously preached sexual abstinence (his wife wasn't none too pleased). Baudelaire celebrates debauchery and pleasure of all kind, so he's the antithesis of Tolstoyan rules of chastity and ascetism. To me, both are unhealthy extremes, but I have more respect toward Tolstoy's stance which requires self-discipline and a mastery of one's own instincts, which is hard to achieve. I find no merit in Baudelaire's hedonism. Anyone can give free reins to their desires and instincts without any effort or regard to the consequences. However that's a philosophical discussion for another day.

Terry Sullins

I really liked Baudelaire. His poems are sensuous and sexy.