Flowers of Evil (New Directions Paperbook) (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Ignorance, error, cupidity, and sin Possess our souls and exercise our flesh; Habitually we cultivate remorse As beggars entertain and nurse their lice..." (more)
Key Phrases: last take pity, longue misère, prends pitié, Roy Campbell, David Paul, Sir John Squire (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The rendering of Baudelaire's ground-breaking classic into English has been tackled numerous times in various ways since the 19th century. In this version, rather than utilizing rhymed stanzas, free verse or prose, prolific poet and translator Waldrop attempts to capture Baudelaire's ever-elusive tone in versets, paragraphs of "measured prose" similar to those used in the King James Bible. While readers may miss the compression and restraint that line breaks demanded in earlier translations, Waldrop does succeed in approaching Baudelaire's layered irony, at once serious and over-the-top, comic and scandalous. Reading "Like some rake...gumming the brutalized tit of a superannuated whore" , it becomes clear why the French government saw fit to ban some of this work in 1857. At the same time, Baudelaire-the archetypal urban dandy-could see the beauty of a female beggar ("your sickly young body, densely freckled, has a sweetness for this poor poet"), identify himself with the "awkward and ashamed" albatross abused by sailors, and see in a naked lover "the hips of Antiope united with the bust of a beardless boy." Waldrop sounds off on all-things-Baudelaire in an informative introduction. New translations of this seminal poet will continue to surface with each new generation of readers and writers: Waldrop brings a contemporary feels to Baudelaire's most important work.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

Abel And Cain
About A Bore Who Claimed His Acquaintance
The Abyss
Afternoon Song
The Albatross
Alchemy Of Grief
All In One
An Allegory
Amina Boschetti
The Balcony
Beacons
Beauty
Bertha's Eyes
The Blessing
The Blind
The Cask Of Hate
The Cat
The Cat
Cats
The Clock
Comes The Charming Evening
The Confession
Conversation
The Cracked Bell
The Dance Of Death
The Dancing Serpent
De Profundis Clamavi
The Death Of Artists
The Death Of Lovers
The Death Of The Poor
The Denial Of Saint Peter
Destruction
Don Juan In Hell
Dream Of A Curious Person
Duellum
Elevation
The End Of The Day
Epigraph For A Condemned Book
Evening Harmony
Ever So Far From Here
Exotic Perfume
Fantastic Engraving
The Flask
The Flowers Of Evil: A Carrion
The Flowers Of Evil: Correspondences
Flowers Of Evil: Parisian Dream
The Flowers Of Evil: Spleen
The Flowers Of Evil: To One Who Is Too Gay
A Former Life
The Fountain
The Fountain Of Blood
The Gaming Table
A Gay Chophouse
The Ghost
Giantess
The Gladly Dead
Gypsies On The Road
Heautontimoroumenos
Her Hair
A Hideous Jewess Lay With Me
Hymn
Hymn To Beauty
I Have Not Forgotten
I Love The Thought
The Ideal
If By Some Freak Of Fortune
Ill Luck
The Injured Moon
Invitation To The Voyage
The Irremediable
The Irremediable
The Irreparable
Jewels
Laments Of An Icarus
A Landscape
Lesbians
Lesbians
Lesbos
Lethe
The Lid
Litany To Satan
The Little Old Women
The Living Torch
Lola De Valence
Love And The Skull
The Love Of Lies
Lovers' Wine
A Madrigal Of Sorrow
Man And The Sea
The Martyr
The Mask
Meditation
The Metamorphoses Of A Vampire
Mists And Rains
Misty Sky
Moesta Et Errabunda
Morning Twilight
The Murderer's Wine
Music
My Beatrice
Obsession
On Delacroix's Picture Of Tasso In Prison
The Owls
The Pagan's Prayer
The Paranymph
A Phantom
The Pipe
The Poison
The Possessed
Praises Of My Frances
The Punishment Of Pride
Questioning At Midnight
The Ragpickers' Wine
The Ransom
The Rebel
The Red-haired Beggar Girl
The Remorse Of The Dead
Reversibility
Romantic Sunset
The Ruined Garden
The Sadness Of The Moon
Sed Non Satiata
Semper Eadem
The Serpent's Tooth
The Servant
The Seven Old Men (to Victor Hugo)
The Sick Muse
Sisina
Skeletons Digging: I
Skeletons Digging: Ii
The Solitary's Wine
Song Of Autumn
Sonnet Of Autumn
The Soul Of Wine
The Spiritual Dawn
Spleen
Spleen
Spleen
The Splendid Ship
The Sun
The Swan
Sympathetic Horror
The Thirst For Extinction
To A Creole Lady
To A Madonna
To A Malabar Girl
To A Passer-by
To The Reader
To The Reader
To Theodore De Banville
The Two Good Sisters
The Unforeseen
The Vampire
The Venal Muse
Verses For The Portrait Of Honore Daumier
The Voice
The Voyage
A Voyage To Cythera
What A Pair Of Eyes Can Promise
What Shall You Say Tonight
The Wicked Monk
You'd Take To Bed The Whole World
You, Whom I Worship
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

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Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation (October 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811211177
• ISBN-13: 978-0811211178
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #995,265 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Translation I've Seen, April 16, 2002

By	E. Shlimovich (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Flowers of Evil (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

This edition of "Flowers of Evil" contains all of the poems, not in their original order. However, ample introductory material and two tables of contents allows the reader to see what the work was when it was first published.

The poems themselves cover many subjects in traditional symbolist style, from cats to gypsies to corpses to a whole section on wine. A must for any student of poetry.

However, if you're looking for a translation that is true word for word and does not attempt to preserve the meter and rhyme, this is not the book for you. Mcentyre does a fabulous job tweaking the enlish to preserve poetic structure, but for students of French, and those interested in doing their own translations, other editions are preferable.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Poems that will grab you!, October 4, 2005

By	S. Schwartz "romonko" (alberta canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

As you read these stark and beautiful poems you may see into the tortured psyche of the poet who wrote them. Baudelaire had a short and sad life. He contracted syphilis at a young age, and this disease plagued him for all his life until he died at the age of 46. His poetry was written in the mid nineteenth century, and when this book came out in 1857 it shocked the French-speaking world. In fact the book was banned for a time, and when it did come out again six or seven poems were removed from it. The edition that I had had all his poetry including the banned ones, and I recommend that if you're interested in great poetry that you get the complete edition. In his poetry Baudelaire examined evil under a magnifying glass and exposed it for the world to see. His language and imagery are absolutely beyond belief. Baudelaire was a very talented wordsmith and his poetry is lyrical an descriptive. In the cold light of our modern world, Baudelaire's stepping into the world of erotica seems tame compared to what we're used to, but it's easy to see why it shocked everyone at the time. This is beautiful poetry that will come out and grab your soul.

21 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent collection of Baudelaire's work, February 8, 2004

By	N. Jacobs (Fish Creek, Wi USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Flowers of Evil (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

Charles Baudelaire's poetry is some of the best poetry ever written. He explores a number of different themes, often focusing on his personal experiances and emotions. To those of us who have suffered in life, one can easily relate to a lot of the feelings he felt. There are many hidden messages in the poetry, and the language is very rich and educated. You can get a lot of different interpretations out of these poems, which make them all the more relevant to the reader.
The best thing about this book is the fact that it features both the original French and an English translation, side by side. For those who are fluent or well versed in French, this is a dream come true. The translations are expertly done, and great care has been done to preserve the rhyme schemes without losing the meaning of the poems.