I Eat Poetry

Beauty

Conceive me as a dream of stone:
my breast, where mortals come to grief,
is made to prompt all poets' love,
mute and noble as matter itself.

With snow for flesh, with ice for heart,
I sit on high, an unguessed sphinx
begrudging acts that alter forms;
I never laugh, I never weep.

In studious awe the poets brood
before my monumental pose
aped from the proudest pedestal,
and to bind these docile lovers fast
I freeze the world in a perfect mirror:

The timeless light of my wide eyes.

Baudelaire, Charles.

Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867) is considered to be among the greatest French poets of the 19th Century. Upon passing his baccalaureat exams in 1839, Baudelaire announced his plans to make a living through his writing. He enrolled in the Ecole de Droit as a law student until 1840, when it is believed his addiction to opium and hashish began. Scholars believe Baudelaire contracted syphilis at this time, which ultimately would lead to his death in 1867. He spent his money foolishly on fine clothes and furnishings, eventually exhausting more than half his inheritance within two years. The remainder was kept in a trust from which Baudelaire received a modest monthly allowance. Baudelaire formed a relationship in 1844 with Jeanne Duval, a woman of mixed races, who would serve as the inspiration of his first cycle of love poems, "Black Venus." These poems are considered to be among the finest French erotic poems.

During Baudelaire's wanderings and youth of leisure, he was able to compose many of the poems that would serve as the basis for his sole collection, Les Fleurs du Mal (The Flowers of Evil). Baudelaire would spend the remainder of his life dodging debts, finally succumbing to the proverbial poet's life of extreme poverty. He was greatly influenced by the writings of Edgar Allen Poe, spending 1852 to 1865 translating Poe's work into French.

Baudelaire began a relationship in 1852 with Apollonie-Aglae Sabatier, who would serve as the inspiration for the cycle of poems called "White Venus." Two years later, he renewed a relationship with the actress Marie Daubrun, who inspired the cycle of poems dubbed "Green-Eyed Venus." Many critics regard the period in which Baudelaire wrote "White Venus" and "Green-Eyed Venus" as the poet's prime. The publication of Les Fleurs de Mal resulted in the prosecution of
Baudelaire, his publisher, and his printer for obscenity and blasphemy, of which all three were found guilty and ordered to pay fines. His remaining years were spent in extreme hardship, disillusionment, and depression. He died in his mother's arms in August 1867, leaving behind many unpublished poems and nearly all of his published works out of print.