Customer Reviews

Complete Poems: Charles Baudelaire

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What I like best about this admittedly eccentric translation is the way Walter Martin renders the poems in rhyme. Baudelaire's extreme content--his embrace of putrefaction, filth, sadism and ennui as fit stuff for poetry--owes much of its impact to the tight, disciplined meter he chose for his medium. Most Baudelaire translations don't capture this classical edge in English, turning the poems into free verse or prose. While Martin has to bend the exact meaning a little (often a lot) to get the English to fit, on the whole he does an impressive job of making the verse sound exact and controlled but not too sing-songy. There's no ponderous introduction to bug you either, just a short & highly personal 'Afterthoughts' section with some intriguing insights. This isn't the only translation you'll want to read, but it recovers a side of modernity's bad boy that's hard to find anywhere else.

This is the first complete translation of Les Fleurs du Mal that I've seen which captures both Baudelaire's symbolic rhyming and his strict syllable count (10 per line in this edition vs. Baudelaire's usual 12).

Martin's translation could be improved by following Baudelaire's order of ideas and literal diction more closely, but he captures the spirit of each poem in a way that makes this volume stand out from most of the previous efforts I've seen.

If you're looking for a Baudelaire translation by a single author, this is a good one to buy.

This is by far the best translation of Baudelaire's Complete Poems. Not only is the translation achieved in rhymed, metered verse, but Martin captures the essence of this colossus of French poetry. Please ignore "Rosie" the naysayer below who seems to have a limited background in translation, poetry, and Baudelaire. Better yet - here's a challenge for her: Translate Baudelaire's Complete Poems and offer it to the public. After all, you claim to "know French." When you're published we can review your efforts. Ploughshares called Martin's work a "vivid and formally authoritative translation."

I purchased this book just for one poem; "FLEURS DU MAL, or "Flowers of Evil". Mostly from a inspired song I heard by Sara Brightman. I can say to you, that my life would not have been complete without both. Listening to Sara singing and reading THESE poems; I have opened the door to a lifetime of wonder. I do recommend buying both, it will enrich your life.

i LOVE baudelaire but this translation is simply awful! Very bad! I feel like i wasted my money on this book! Its better to stick to translation by Louise Varese or at least stay away from this translation. the language made akward and because i know french and the french version on the opposite page-i can see his translated badly in some parts- sometimes at random-he translates word for word which makes the poem's reading too hard to bear! then other times he takes artistic license! This translator should be locked up for crime against poetry for destroying Baudelaire's work. All I can say to the translator is Shame on YOU! Please do not buy this book- i beg you- or you will not be able to enjoy Baudelaire because he is one of the greatest poets.