Charles Baudelaire

Born in Paris on April 9, 1821, Charles Baudelaire became one of the defining literary voices of the 19th century. He wrote poetry, essays, and art criticism, and his work is often linked to the rise of modern poetry and Symbolism. His most famous book, Les Fleurs du mal (The Flowers of Evil), was published in 1857 and remains his best-known achievement.

Baudelaire’s writing is striking for the way it mixes elegance with darkness. He explored beauty, desire, boredom, decay, and city life with unusual intensity, bringing a modern sensibility to traditional poetic forms. Alongside his poetry, he wrote perceptively about painting and translated works by Edgar Allan Poe, helping introduce Poe to many French readers.

His life was often troubled by debt, illness, and controversy, and some poems in Les Fleurs du mal were prosecuted for offending public morals. Even so, his influence only grew after his death in Paris on August 31, 1867. Today he is widely read as a poet who gave lasting form to the tensions and temptations of modern life.