Les Fleurs du mal

The Flowers of Evil
The first edition of Les Fleurs du mal with author's notes.
AuthorCharles Baudelaire
Original titleLes Fleurs du mal
TranslatorGeorge Dillion,
Edna St. Vincent Millay,
Jacques Leclercq,
Stefan George,
William F. Aggeler
IllustratorCarlos Schwabe
LanguageFrench
GenreLyric poetry
Published1857
PublisherAuguste Poulet-Malassis
Publication placeFrance
Media typePrint
OCLC2294734
841.8
LC ClassPQ2191 .F6
Original text
Les Fleurs du mal at French Wikisource
TranslationThe Flowers of Evil at Wikisource
Illustration by Armand Rassenfosse for Les Fleurs du Mal. Collection King Baudouin Foundation.

Les Fleurs du mal (French pronunciation: [le flœʁ dy mal]; English: The Flowers of Evil) is a volume of French poetry by Charles Baudelaire.

Les Fleurs du mal includes nearly all Baudelaire's poetry, written from 1840 until his death in August 1867. First published in 1857, it was important in the symbolist—including painting—and modernist movements. Though it was extremely controversial upon publication, with six of its poems censored due to their immorality, it is now considered a major work of French poetry. The poems in Les Fleurs du mal frequently break with tradition, using suggestive images and unusual forms. They deal with themes relating to decadence and eroticism, particularly focusing on suffering and its relationship to original sin, disgust toward evil and oneself, obsession with death, and aspiration toward an ideal world. Les Fleurs du mal had a powerful influence on several notable French poets, including Paul Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud, and Stéphane Mallarmé.


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