Selected Poems from 'Les Fleurs du Mal'

The poems of The Flowers of Evil were written in Paris at a time of revolution and
accelerating change – the beginning of mass culture, the rise of consumerism and the
middle-class, the radical redevelopment of the city by Haussmann – and they provide many parallels with the malaise and uncertainties of contemporary capitalist societies.

Here we find poems about love (and love-hate), birds and beasts, Paris scenes and street people; about spiritual revolt, wine, death, travel and faraway places. The poet''s voice is by turns ironical, angry and compassionate, his words charged with anguish, desire and rapture.

The poems of The Flowers of Evil were written in Paris at a time of revolution and
accelerating change – the beginning of mass culture, the rise of consumerism and the
middle-class, the radical redevelopment of the city by Haussmann – and they provide many parallels with the malaise and uncertainties of contemporary capitalist societies.

Here we find poems about love (and love-hate), birds and beasts, Paris scenes and street people; about spiritual revolt, wine, death, travel and faraway places. The poet''s voice is by turns ironical, angry and compassionate, his words charged with anguish, desire and rapture.