Baudelaire: The Complete Verse

charles baudelaire francis scarfe

This authoritative edition of Baudelaire's Complete Verse contains Les Fleurs du mal (1861), the first great modern work of poetry and one of the few books of poems to become an international bestseller, with Nouvelles Fleurs du mal (1868), Les Épaves (1866) and all of Baudelaire's other poetry in verse. The French text is given at the head of the page, while Francis Scarfe's scrupulous and inventive prose translations appear at the foot, making this an ideal edition both for the advanced student and the general reader wishing to tackle the French original with a reliable prose prompt to hand. The companion volume, The Poems in Prose, contains Baudelaire's prose poems ( Petits Poèmes en prose , 1869) and the short novel La Fanfarlo (1847), an extravaganza' written in his early twenties. Francis Scarfe (1911-86) was a lecturer in French poetry at Glasgow University before and again after World War II. From 1959 to 1978, he was director of the British Institute. In recognition of his contribution to Anglo-French cultural relations he was made a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres (1962), and for his work on Baudelaire he was awarded the Prix de L'Ile Saint-Louis (1966); on his retirement in 1978 he was made a Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur. He was the author of four collections of poetry and of the critical works Auden and After and André Chénier, His Life and Work .

Genres poetryclassicsfranceliteraturefrench literaturefictionitalian literature19th centuryreligionspanish literature

400 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 25,1857

This edition

Format: 400 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published: June 1, 2004 by Carcanet Press Ltd.
ISBN: 9780856461521
ASIN: 0856461520
Language: English

About the author

charles baudelaire

Public condemned Les fleurs du mal (1857), obscene only volume of French writer, translator, and critic Charles Pierre Baudelaire; expanded in 1861, it exerted an enormous influence over later symbolist and modernist poets.

Reputation of Charles Pierre Baudelaire rests primarily on perhaps the most important literary art collection, published in Europe in the 19th century. Similarly, his early experiment Petits poèmes en prose (1868) ( Little Prose Poems) most succeeded and innovated of the time.

From financial disaster to prosecution for blasphemy, drama and strife filled life of known Baudelaire with highly controversial and often dark tales of Edgar Allan Poe. Long after his death, his name represents depravity and vice. He seemingly speaks directly to the 20th century civilization.