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I've just got off the shelves a Penguin anthology of Baudelaire's poetry in French with an English crib at the bottom of the page and I have a yen to explore him further.
Which are his best known poems? I might as well start with those.
And why he's not on the author list beats me.
My favourite is L'invitation au Voyage, not that I've read all that many. I like the dreamlike quality and the refrain "Là, tout n'est qu'ordre et beauté,
Luxe, calme et volupté. I like to read them from this site - http://fleursdumal.org/ which has several English translations, though none of them sound like the original. On the other hand I don't have enough French to understand them without the translation.
The one I remember is Le Revennant which is here in mona amon's link: http://fleursdumal.org/poem/171 I liked the way it sounded when I heard it somewhere (perhaps YouTube).
Hi! I'm french and my favourite Baudelaire's poem is certainly "L'albatros". This poem thanks to the symbolism give us a beautiful metaphor of the poet. It's certainly the best poem I ever read and I think that is a good introduction to the Baudelaire's poetry. Then you should read "Correspondances" which introduces you to the trope we called "synesthésies" that Baudelaire used often in his poetry.
However I don't know how you can understand the poem in english because, in my opinion, the poetry can only be understood in its native language. So I think you should read it in french if you've the possibility. For instance, when I TRY to read Virgil or Catullus I read it in Latin even if it takes me lot of time; simply because translations don't touch me.
O I am reading it in French and looking at the crib at the bottom of the page. For some reason, I can remember by heart the opening stanza of "Le voyage" (Pour l'enfant amourer des cartes... and I'm reading and re-reading it.
I'm not at all fluent in French, but I've just managed to read through Britannicus line by line as an ibook comparing it with the Penguin translation.
You'd probably agree poetry is what gets lost in translation.
I'll look up the two poems you mention. Thanks.
I just can't get over he was contemporary with Tennyson.
Ok I didn't understand it I'm sorry I'm not very good at speaking (or reading in this case) english. So it's good that you read Baudelaire in French, as you said poetry is what gets lost in translation
I know Tennyson but the only poem I read by him is Loto-Eaters. Then I stopped because it was too difficult, I will try to read it maybe later..
Your Engish is far better than my French. I wouldn't dare write French on a messageboard. What I meant is that Tennyson, Queen Victoria's favourite poet, is just so respectable compared to Baudelaire.
He is noted for his "vowel music" - try reading aloud the third poem in this link, "Calm and deep peace" http://www.bartleby.com/101/707.html
His best friend has just died abroad and his body is being sent back to England by sea - hence the reference to " And dead calm in that noble breast/Which heaves but with the heaving deep."
There is nothing in Tennyson about sex - which seems a rather important issue for Baudelaire - I've been reading Un Voyage à Cythère. It is unthinkable for Tennyson to have written like that.
I suspect Baudelaire influenced Oscar Wilde and poets and writers of the 1890s. But their poetry isn't that good. Probably because Baudelaire had done it much better.