Invitation to the Voyage

Baudelaire is indeed the greatest exemplar in modern poetry in any language, said T. S. Eliot. We experience Baudelaire in myriad ways through his multifaceted writing. His sensuous poemsdreams of escape to an impossible, preferably tropical, elsewheredraw us in with their descriptive and perceptual richness. There is also the bitter, compassionate, and desolate Baudelaire. Ultimately, Baudelaires true genius might reside in his expressive force and in the tension between his passions and intellect. The latter is most evident in his control of rhetoric and poetic form, andgiven the poems density of language, thought, and feelinghis astonishing clarity. This new English rendition of Baudelaire by award-winning translator Beverley Bie Brahic includes poems from his celebrated volumes: Les Fleurs du mal, Les paves, Le Spleen de Paris, and Paradis artificiels. It also includes several of his prose poems, as well as an excerpt from his famous essay on wine and hashish. The poems in verse have Baudelaires French originals on facing pages; the prose poems, unaccompanied by their originals, are printed near the poems in verse with which they resonate. Complete with the translators illuminating introduction and notes, this beautifully crafted volume is an important addition to Baudelaires work in English translation.