BAUDELAIRE, bod-lar, Charles Pierre, French poet; b. Paris, 9 April 1821; d. 31 Aug. 1867. In early life he resided for some time in the East Indies, and on his return devoted him self to literature. He first gained some repu tation by translations from the works of Edgar Allan Poe, four volumes of which appeared in 1856-65, regarded as masterpieces in their way. A production, however, that caused greater sensation was a collection of poems designated (Les Fleurs du Mal' (1857), which had to be expurgated as the result of proceedings on the part of the police authorities. This work gave Baudelaire a high position as a writer of the romantic school, and evidenced at the same time his curious inclination for repulsive sub jects. A work of higher tone was his (Petits Poemes en Prose); others being (Les Paradis Artificiels' ; 'Opium et Haschich); a mono graph on Theophile Gautier; and 'R. Wagner
et Tannhauser a Paris.' Apart from his verse however Baudelaire's finest work is contained in his (Little Poems in Prose.' All of these are exquisitely written, and in niany of them the beauty of the thought is equal to the beauty of the language. He united a remarkably keen analy.tical faculty with a powerful, sombre imagination. Brooding melancholy, curiously tinctured with irony inspires the solemn music and dream-like imagery of his best verses. The writer whom in many respects he resembles most strongly is Edgar Allan Poe. Drink and drugs led to paralysis and an early death. Con sult James, 'French Poets and Novelists' (1884); Asselineau, 'Charles Baudelaire sa vie et son ceuvre' (1889) ; Symons, A., (Poems in Prose' (London 1905).