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14th out of 157 books
—
35 voters
Paris Spleen
Set in a modern, urban Paris, the prose pieces in this volume constitute a further exploration of the terrain Baudelaire had covered in his verse masterpiece, The Flowers of Evil: the city and its squalor and inequalities, the pressures of time and mortality, and the liberation provided by the sensual delights of intoxication, art, and women. Published posthumously in 1869...more
Paperback, 118 pages
Published
January 17th 1970
by New Directions
(first published 1851)
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Charles says it best himself: "Which ones of us, in his moments of ambition, has not dreamed of the miracle of a poetic prose, musical, without rhythm and without rhyme, supple enough and rugged enough to adapt itself to the lyrical impulses of the soul, the undulations of reverie, the jibes of conscience?" Probably my favorite of his works.
Meraviglioso esempio di poesia come metodo per indagare la verità: il poeta sfiora e rivela col suo linguaggio tutto ciò che parole più concrete e meno ambigue lascerebbero, inevitabilmente, nell'ombra. Probabilmente, neppure Baudelaire avrebbe saputo spiegare come si possa far luce su qui misteri senza nominarli; ci accontentiamo, per così dire, dello spettacolo offerto dalla sua prosa, abbandonando ogni pretesa di comprenderne la meccanica, ed evitando così di soffocarne l'incanto. Ma queste p...more
I have this book by my bed. Before I drop my eyes into deep sleep I like to read a page or two of this book. It gives me a certain sense ..... of dreams. Wonderful dreams.
6 likes · like · see review
The liner notes in the back call them prose poems but they're more like weird little vignettes. I really like Baudelaire a great deal. Every piece is refreshing: A Hemisphere In Your Hair, The Shooting Gallery and The Cemetery, Loss Of A Halo, and Beat Up The Poor are a good place to start.
4 likes · like · see review
Jul 21, 2011
Catherine
added it
A Hemisphere in a Head of Hair
Long let me inhale, the odour of your hair,
into it plunge the whole of my face, like a thirsty man
into the waters of a spring and wave it in my fingers like a scented handkerchief,
to shake memories into the air.
If you could know all that I see! All that I hear
in your hair! My soul floats upon perfumes as the souls of other men
upon music.
Your hair contains an entire dream, full of sails and masts;
it contains vast seas whose soft monsoons bear me to delightful climat...more
Long let me inhale, the odour of your hair,
into it plunge the whole of my face, like a thirsty man
into the waters of a spring and wave it in my fingers like a scented handkerchief,
to shake memories into the air.
If you could know all that I see! All that I hear
in your hair! My soul floats upon perfumes as the souls of other men
upon music.
Your hair contains an entire dream, full of sails and masts;
it contains vast seas whose soft monsoons bear me to delightful climat...more
I never really understood the appeal of Les Fleurs du Mal, but so many people love it that I started to feel bad. What was I missing? Along comes this book, Paris Spleen, which is full of prose poems made of equal parts humor, cynicism, and insight (and often all three within a paragraph). I like these poems because reading it, I feel like I have a sense of who Baudelaire might have been as a person...
Plus, his humor is so odd:
Plus, his humor is so odd:
Soup and Clouds...more
My adorable little minx was serving me supper; throug
In many ways, Charles Baudelaire is an adolescent bombast -- he seems to enjoy opium and satanism just a little too much, and his prose-poetry is weighed down by Victorian abstraction (not to mention how much must be lost in translation; Baudelaire's is not the accommodating French of Le Petit Prince). That said, Baudelaire commits to a worthy experiment: to write about his daily life in pensive short prose, bombarding his readers with daring observations, anecdotes and fables. It reminds me a l...more
A fantastic collection of poetry by Baudelaire published posthumously. I read this in anticipation of a Coursera class I am taking in February called "The Modern and Postmodern." After having recently diving into modern poetry it was a tad bit easier for me to allow these poems which seem more like mini-essays of observation, to touch me like traditional poetry. This collection seems to inhabit a world both modern and archaic and the observations made are though personal and inwardly reflective...more
I liked this one even better than Les Fleurs du Mal, but it might be just that I'm not comfortable enough with verse yet, especially when it's full of references from Ancient Greece to mid 19th century France. This one is unaguarbly poet too, but in prose and a lot less dependent on those references, so I felt like I could get the most of it. Baudelarie is as dark and weird as Poe, only he's also very funny, an interested social observer, extremelly rebellious, actually satanic (in the best of s...more
Tout d'abord, il faut que j'admette que je n'ai pas compris ce livre. Au début, je pensais que ça serait un problème et que je n'en tirerai donc rien, mais à mesure que je lisais, je commençais à avoir l'impression qu'avec ce livre, il ne s'agit pas de "le comprendre" exactement. Ces vignettes sont des petites histoires, des bagatelles pour le plupart, ou bien des rêves, des fantaisies qu'il faut sentir, sinon comprendre. Quoique je sois presque sûr que Le Spleen de Paris n'est en tout cas pas m...more
أحببت باريس بودلير، شمسها وأرصفتها، تثاؤبات سأمها وكل ما هي عليه. هذا كتاب جميل.
I once used this book to get into a girl's pants. Ultimately, they did not fit. 4 stars.
I don't really understand this book. (it's poetry) But boy is it good.
I read only about one third of the short pieces, the ones recommended to me by Nick, who loaned me the book. They are all short prose pieces of various lengths - from a paragraph to a couple pages (and a few poems at the back). They are dense with images and reflections. Some are beautiful, some are puzzling, but all are thought-provoking.
A few of my favorites are "Crowds" (though I only comprehended a portion of his thoughts), "The Poor Child's Toy" (the poor is a repeated theme throughout), "...more
A few of my favorites are "Crowds" (though I only comprehended a portion of his thoughts), "The Poor Child's Toy" (the poor is a repeated theme throughout), "...more
Si mastica amaro
Il sottotitolo de Lo speen di Parigi è Poemetti in prosa. In effetti si tratta, come sottolinea l'ottima introduzione di Alfonso Berardinelli, di un diario intimo in forma d'arte, di una sorta di “spiegazione” in prosa – e quindi più analitica - dei temi trattati nel capolavoro Les fleures du mal.
Si tratta di cinquanta brevi, a volte brevissimi, racconti, alcuni riferiti a fatti, più spesso contenenti riflessioni e considerazioni morali: della morale di Baudelaire, lontanissima d...more
Il sottotitolo de Lo speen di Parigi è Poemetti in prosa. In effetti si tratta, come sottolinea l'ottima introduzione di Alfonso Berardinelli, di un diario intimo in forma d'arte, di una sorta di “spiegazione” in prosa – e quindi più analitica - dei temi trattati nel capolavoro Les fleures du mal.
Si tratta di cinquanta brevi, a volte brevissimi, racconti, alcuni riferiti a fatti, più spesso contenenti riflessioni e considerazioni morali: della morale di Baudelaire, lontanissima d...more
إن ديوان بودلير النثري سأم باريس وهو ديوانه الثاني بعد أزهار الشر ديوانه الشعري قد أثر في أيما تأثير فلقد أستوحيت منه و دون وعي مني القالب الذي صببت فيه قصائدي النثرية و فكرة المزج بين القصة القصيرة و الشعر بحيث لا يمكن الفصل بينهما ومما يطبع الشعر بالطابع الدرامي الدينامكي و ليس كما هو معتاد أي ليس استاتيكيا غنائيا بالاضافة الي فكرة الصورة الكلية أو الفسيفساءهذا بالنسبة للشكل الفني أما بالنسبة للمضمون فهناك العديد من الجوانب و النقاط التي لا أستطيع أن أحصيها و الكثير منها قد تشربته روحي الشعرية...more
“L'étude du beau est un duel où l'artiste crie de frayeur avant d'être vaincu.”
“Il faut être toujours ivre. Tout est là: c’est l’unique question. Pour ne pas sentir l’horrible fardeau du Temps qui brise vos épaules et vous penche vers la terre, il faut vous enivrer sans trêve.
Mais de quoi? De vin, de poésie ou de vertu, à votre guise. Mais enivrez-vous. Et si quelquefois, sur les marches d’un palais, sur l’herbe verte d’un fossé, dans la solitude morne de votre chambre, vous vous réveillez, l’iv...more
“Il faut être toujours ivre. Tout est là: c’est l’unique question. Pour ne pas sentir l’horrible fardeau du Temps qui brise vos épaules et vous penche vers la terre, il faut vous enivrer sans trêve.
Mais de quoi? De vin, de poésie ou de vertu, à votre guise. Mais enivrez-vous. Et si quelquefois, sur les marches d’un palais, sur l’herbe verte d’un fossé, dans la solitude morne de votre chambre, vous vous réveillez, l’iv...more
Nov 04, 2007
Tim
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
dead people
Shelves:
best-books-of-all-time
For fifteen days I had shut myself up in my room and had surrounded myself with the most popular books of the day (that was sixteen or seventeen years ago); I am speaking of the books that treat of the art of making people happy, wise, and rich in twenty-four hours. I had digested-- or rather swallowed-- all the lucubrations of all the purveyors of public happiness-- of those who advise the poor to become slaves, and of those who encourage them to believe that they are all dethroned kings. It wi...more
The best of Baudelaire - something I revisit when I'm in the mood to sigh. Because it is popular both among modern day francophones and students taking introductory courses, literature connoisseurs sometimes dismiss the swooning praise it garners as evidence of generic, unrefined taste. ("Of course you like Baudelaire's LE SPLEEN DE PARIS. I suppose ROMEO AND JULIET is your favorite play, too?") But Baudelaire and Shakespeare deserve their secure places in the foundations of their respective lan...more
As much as I am not usually a poetry person, I got sucked into this book because of the choice of the author to do prose poetry. They actually kind of reminded me of creepy fairy tales, or a compilation of one's weird dreams. But he was basically exploring the good and evil in people and what he thinks of society. It made me interested in seeking out some other writers known for prose poetry.
Shit, I haven't been on GR for ages. I finished this a while ago, so I'll try to pitch what I remember:
It's Baudelaire. He doesn't really ever do me wrong. Poems like "The Bad Glazier" and a few of the longer poems later in the book hit just as hard as the majority of Les Fleurs du Mal. But these are a different breed: they stand up, unsurprisingly, as fresh compositions in the young genre of flash fiction (plus waistcoats and opium) and weave narratives as strongly as Fleurs intones poetry. Can...more
It's Baudelaire. He doesn't really ever do me wrong. Poems like "The Bad Glazier" and a few of the longer poems later in the book hit just as hard as the majority of Les Fleurs du Mal. But these are a different breed: they stand up, unsurprisingly, as fresh compositions in the young genre of flash fiction (plus waistcoats and opium) and weave narratives as strongly as Fleurs intones poetry. Can...more
Ah, Charles... if you had been born in our time, you'd be a blogger extraordinaire! Decadent, passionate, and misogynistic, this poet stole my heart from Edgar Allen Poe and broke it on the cobbled streets of that Eternal City. Don't come looking for a sympathetic heart...Baudelaire is bitter, despondent, and completely adorable. Read this and tell me he's not a man before his time.
Paris Sıkıntısı
XXXIII - Sarhoş Olun
Hep sarhoş olmalı. Her şey bunda: tek sorun bu. omuzlarınızı ezen, sizi toprağa doğru çeken Zaman'ın korkunç ağırlığını duymamak için durmamacasına sarhoş olmalısınız.
Ama neyle? Şarapla, şiirle ya da erdemle, nasıl isterseniz. Ama sarhoş olun.
Ve bazı bazı, bir sarayın basamakları, bir hendeğin yeşil otları üstünde, odanızın donuk yalnızlığı içinde, sarhoşluğunuz azalmış ya da büsbütün geçmiş durumda uyanırsanız, sorun, yele, dalgaya, yıldıza, kuşa, saate sorun,...more
XXXIII - Sarhoş Olun
Hep sarhoş olmalı. Her şey bunda: tek sorun bu. omuzlarınızı ezen, sizi toprağa doğru çeken Zaman'ın korkunç ağırlığını duymamak için durmamacasına sarhoş olmalısınız.
Ama neyle? Şarapla, şiirle ya da erdemle, nasıl isterseniz. Ama sarhoş olun.
Ve bazı bazı, bir sarayın basamakları, bir hendeğin yeşil otları üstünde, odanızın donuk yalnızlığı içinde, sarhoşluğunuz azalmış ya da büsbütün geçmiş durumda uyanırsanız, sorun, yele, dalgaya, yıldıza, kuşa, saate sorun,...more
No matter where! As long as it's out of the world!
Baudelaire has a depth that draws me, fascinates me and excites me.
This is a part of my favourite one:
"Across the ocean of roofs I can see a middle-aged woman, her face already lined, who is forever bending over something and who never goes out. Out of her face, her dress, and her gestures, our of practically nothing at all, I have made up this woman's story, or rather legend, and sometimes I tell it to myself and weep.
If it had been and old man...more
Baudelaire has a depth that draws me, fascinates me and excites me.
This is a part of my favourite one:
"Across the ocean of roofs I can see a middle-aged woman, her face already lined, who is forever bending over something and who never goes out. Out of her face, her dress, and her gestures, our of practically nothing at all, I have made up this woman's story, or rather legend, and sometimes I tell it to myself and weep.
If it had been and old man...more
بودلير يبقى شاعري الفرنسي الأفضل... ويمثل العلامة البارزة لشعر ما قبل الرومانسية الفرنسية التي أسسها فيكتور هوغو..ولا عجب أن المبدع الانجليزي الرائع إدغار ألان بو تأثر به كثيرا وترجم له.
أما في "سأم باريس" فيغني بودلير -في قصائده النثرية- للكلاب المشؤومة التي تعج بها مدينته وشوارعها.. والتي تعرف السعداء من التعيسين الذي يشبهون كنه بؤسها مع فارق أنها تريد للتعاسة أن تتغير أما البشر التعساء فقابعون في حضيض السأم الذي تحمله هموم الأمس واليوم والغد ويرفضون الاعتراف أنهم أسوأ حالا وحالة من ذوي القوائ...more
أما في "سأم باريس" فيغني بودلير -في قصائده النثرية- للكلاب المشؤومة التي تعج بها مدينته وشوارعها.. والتي تعرف السعداء من التعيسين الذي يشبهون كنه بؤسها مع فارق أنها تريد للتعاسة أن تتغير أما البشر التعساء فقابعون في حضيض السأم الذي تحمله هموم الأمس واليوم والغد ويرفضون الاعتراف أنهم أسوأ حالا وحالة من ذوي القوائ...more
Baudelaire's brief prose rants and reveries are clearer than his poems, and often just as hard hitting. The topic range from advice to be perpetually drunk "with wine, with poetry, or with virtue, as you please" to various and sundry other ways to defeat the mundane, many biting, others remarkably gentle.
Louise Varese is my favorite Baudelaire translator...
""Illusions", said my friend, "are as innumerable, perhaps, as the relations of men to each other and of men and things.""
"...like a wolf caught in a trap, I am held fast, perhaps forever, to the grave of the ideal."
""Illusions", said my friend, "are as innumerable, perhaps, as the relations of men to each other and of men and things.""
"...like a wolf caught in a trap, I am held fast, perhaps forever, to the grave of the ideal."
Korte schetsen, over eenzaamheid, oudworden. Soms sterk gelijkend op Poe
meesterlijk observatievermogen, voorafspiegeling van de Maupassant, soms fijn, soms grof. Techniek van de onverwachte wending die het voorafgaande in een heel ander perspectief plaatst. Op het geniale af
meesterlijk observatievermogen, voorafspiegeling van de Maupassant, soms fijn, soms grof. Techniek van de onverwachte wending die het voorafgaande in een heel ander perspectief plaatst. Op het geniale af
Superb! Baudelaire's genius shines through in each and every one of these poems. What he was lacking in Les Fleurs du Mal, he recovers here. His growth and perspicuity is at such a pitch that one cannot help but feel as if you are along with him in the streets. The prose style of this poetry and allegorical imagery is reflective of Kafka yet underscored by Baudelaire's unique vitality which has always distinguished him as a poet in his day. Absolutely recommended!
The works done by Charles Baudelaire were worth 5 stars, sadly the poor translation robs them of their poetic glory and eloquence. Hence why only 3. My advise get it in french or read another translation easily boosting the works to a perfect 5.
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| what Baudelaire was up to | 1 | 19 | Jun 05, 2012 08:36am | |
| سأم باريز | 1 | 5 | Jun 16, 2009 10:46pm |
Charles Baudelaire was a 19th century French poet, translator, and literary and art critic whose reputation rests primarily on Les Fleurs du mal; (1857; The Flowers of Evil) which was perhaps the most important and influential poetry collection published in Europe in the 19th century. Similarly, his Petits poèmes en prose (1868; "Little Prose Poems") was the most successful and innovative early ex...more
More about Charles Baudelaire...
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“Be always drunken.
Nothing else matters:
that is the only question.
If you would not feel
the horrible burden of Time
weighing on your shoulders
and crushing you to the earth,
be drunken continually.
Drunken with what?
With wine, with poetry, or with virtue, as you will.
But be drunken.
And if sometimes,
on the stairs of a palace,
or on the green side of a ditch,
or in the dreary solitude of your own room,
you should awaken
and the drunkenness be half or wholly slipped away from you,
ask of the wind,
or of the wave,
or of the star,
or of the bird,
or of the clock,
of whatever flies,
or sighs,
or rocks,
or sings,
or speaks,
ask what hour it is;
and the wind,
wave,
star,
bird,
clock will answer you:
"It is the hour to be drunken!”
—
160 people liked it
Nothing else matters:
that is the only question.
If you would not feel
the horrible burden of Time
weighing on your shoulders
and crushing you to the earth,
be drunken continually.
Drunken with what?
With wine, with poetry, or with virtue, as you will.
But be drunken.
And if sometimes,
on the stairs of a palace,
or on the green side of a ditch,
or in the dreary solitude of your own room,
you should awaken
and the drunkenness be half or wholly slipped away from you,
ask of the wind,
or of the wave,
or of the star,
or of the bird,
or of the clock,
of whatever flies,
or sighs,
or rocks,
or sings,
or speaks,
ask what hour it is;
and the wind,
wave,
star,
bird,
clock will answer you:
"It is the hour to be drunken!”
“What can an eternity of damnation matter to someone who has felt, if only for a second, the infinity of delight?”
—
74 people liked it
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May 29, 2008 11:37am
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May 29, 2008 12:34pm
May 29, 2008 06:48pm