Charles Baudelaire was a French poet who believed that art should create beauty from ugliness. Unlike most poets, Baudelaire turned to urban life for inspiration.
Charles Baudelaire was born on April 9th, 1821, in Paris. Baudelaire brought out his first work in 1845. ‘Les Fleurs du mal’, a collection of his poetry, was published in 1857. The book was banned in France. The ban was in force until 1949. The book made him infamous. However, great writers such as Gustave Flaubert and Victor Hugo expressed their admiration for these poems. Baudelaire added thirty-five new poems to ‘Les Fleurs du Mal’, in 1861. His widely appreciated translations of Edgar Allan Poe appeared in 1854 and 1855. Baudelaire referred to Poe as a ‘twin soul’.
He published prose poems too. After his death, these prose poems were compiled and published as ‘Petits Poemes en prose’. He was the first poet to write poems that were not in verse form. Baudelaire died on August 31st, 1867.