. Library of the world's best literature, ancient and modern. ls of criti-cism. But no author — no dead author—ismore accessible, or more communicable in his way; his poems, his theories, and a goodly portion of his life, lie at the disposition of anyreader who cares to know him. The Baudelaire legend, as it is called by French critics, is one ofthe blooms of that romantic period of French literature which ispresided over by the genius of Theophile Gautier. Indeed, it isagainst the golden background of Gautiers imagination that the pict-ure of the youthful poet is best preserved for us, appear
. Library of the world's best literature, ancient and modern. ls of criti-cism. But no author — no dead author—ismore accessible, or more communicable in his way; his poems, his theories, and a goodly portion of his life, lie at the disposition of anyreader who cares to know him. The Baudelaire legend, as it is called by French critics, is one ofthe blooms of that romantic period of French literature which ispresided over by the genius of Theophile Gautier. Indeed, it isagainst the golden background of Gautiers imagination that the pict-ure of the youthful poet is best preserved for us, appearing in allthe delicate and illusive radiance of the youth and beauty of legend-ary saints on the gilded canvases of mediaeval art. The radiantyouth and beauty may be no more truthful to nature than the gildedbackground, but the fact of the impression sought to be conveyed isnot on that account to be disbelieved. Baudelaire, Gautier writes, was born in the Rue Hautefeuille, in .one of those old houses with a pepper-pot turret at the corner whichIII—102. Charles Baudelaire j5i8 CHARLES BAUDELAIRE have disappeared from the city under the advancing improvement ofstraight lines and clear openings. His father, a gentleman of learn-ing, retained all the eighteenth-century courtesy and distinction ofmanner, which, like the pepper-pot turret, has also disappeared underthe advance of Republican enlightenment. An absent-minded, re-served child, Baudelaire attracted no especial attention during hisschool days. When they were over, his predilection for a literaryvocation became known. From this his parents sought to divert himby sending him to travel. He voyaged through the Indian Ocean,visiting the great islands: Madagascar, Ceylon, Mauritius, there been a chance for irresolution in the mind of the youth,this voyage destroyed it forever. His imagination, essentially exotic,succumbed to the passionate charm of a new, strange, and splendidlyglowing, form of nature; the star
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookpublisherny, bookyear1896
