The Flowers of Evil - BookWyrm.World

English language

Published Nov. 3, 1989

ISBN:: 978-0-8112-1117-8

(2 reviews)

Charles Baudelaire’s The Flowers of Evil (Les Fleurs du mal, 1857) stands as a cornerstone of modernist poetics, fusing romantic sensibility with a bold exploration of decadence, spiritual anguish, and urban alienation. The collection’s thematic tension lies in its paradoxical vision: the coexistence of beauty and corruption, sin and transcendence.

Baudelaire’s speaker navigates a metaphysical landscape marked by erotic longing, ennui, moral conflict, and a profound sense of existential exile. Drawing upon classical forms with radical content, the poet elevates the grotesque and profane to realms of aesthetic sublimity.

His use of synesthesia, rich symbolism, and musical prosody anticipates Symbolist and Decadent movements, while challenging the moral and aesthetic conventions of his time.

The Flowers of Evil is not merely a poetic text but a philosophical inquiry—an interrogation of the self, of society, and of art’s capacity to transform suffering into something darkly luminous.

73 editions

Julia_98 reviewed The Flowers of Evil by Charles Baudelaire

Perfume and Ashes: My Descent into Baudelaire’s The Flowers of Evil

5 stars

Reading The Flowers of Evil by Charles Baudelaire felt like wandering through a cathedral built from shadows and perfume. Every poem seemed to whisper something forbidden, something beautiful wrapped in rot. I didn’t just read this collection — I fell into it.

From the first lines, I was struck by Baudelaire’s refusal to flinch. He doesn’t hide from decay, lust, guilt, or despair. He confronts them head-on, then distills them into verses that feel both classical and defiantly modern. The beauty of his language clashes with the darkness of his themes — and that contradiction is where the poems become unforgettable.

I was especially moved by the way Baudelaire treats suffering not as something to escape, but as a gateway to deeper insight. His explorations of sin and redemption, love and death, made me feel uncomfortable in the best way. I found myself questioning my own ideas of beauty, of …

Reading The Flowers of Evil by Charles Baudelaire felt like wandering through a cathedral built from shadows and perfume. Every poem seemed to whisper something forbidden, something beautiful wrapped in rot. I didn’t just read this collection — I fell into it.

From the first lines, I was struck by Baudelaire’s refusal to flinch. He doesn’t hide from decay, lust, guilt, or despair. He confronts them head-on, then distills them into verses that feel both classical and defiantly modern. The beauty of his language clashes with the darkness of his themes — and that contradiction is where the poems become unforgettable.

I was especially moved by the way Baudelaire treats suffering not as something to escape, but as a gateway to deeper insight. His explorations of sin and redemption, love and death, made me feel uncomfortable in the best way. I found myself questioning my own ideas of beauty, of morality, even of poetry itself.

There were moments I had to pause, to let a single stanza echo. Others left me disturbed, even a little seduced. Baudelaire writes with a voice that feels centuries old and painfully current.

The Flowers of Evil isn’t just a book of poems — it’s a confrontation. And I’m glad I didn’t look away.

Julia_98

rated it

July 27