Poems in Prose

Baudelaire, Charles, 1821-1867Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.4

Word count: 34K words
Chapters: 4

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today. Poems in Prose by Charles Baudelaire. Author: Baudelaire, Charles, 1821-1867. Language: English. Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese. Release Date: Nov 19, 2015

Editor's review

This is an English translation of Baudelaire's Poems in Prose (Le Spleen de Paris), a public-domain eBook. Baudelaire is best known as a poet, and these prose poems compress moments of the urban street, the gaze of the solitary, and ironic confession into short pieces. They continue the fixation on modern urban experience found in Les Fleurs du mal while freeing themselves from metre, with a more flexible rhythm and a tone closer to everyday speech. For Chinese readers, this English translation can serve as an introduction to the prose poem as a form, and can also be read alongside a Chinese translation to observe how the two languages handle Baudelairean irony and tenderness. Note that this is a public-domain English electronic edition with plain typesetting and minimal notes; it suits readers with some English proficiency who are willing to read slowly and savour the text. Those seeking only a quick overview of Baudelaire's life would do better with a critical biography.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Literary readers interested in the origins of the prose poem who are willing to read an English translation
Readers who have read Les Fleurs du mal and want to explore more of Baudelaire's work
University students with some English who enjoy reading short pieces slowly
Beginning readers studying the relationship between modern urban literature and lyrical prose

Not a good fit for

Readers who struggle with English and would prefer to read a Chinese translation directly
Serious researchers who need detailed annotations and a scholarly introduction
Readers who prefer long narratives and lack patience for fragmentary short pieces

Reading tips

Read two or three pieces a day, pause after each, and note the image or sentence that moved you most.
Read alongside selections from Les Fleurs du mal to feel how the same author's tone shifts between verse and prose.
Keep a notebook and jot down recurring keywords such as the city, solitude, and crowds.
If English is difficult, read a Chinese translation first to grasp the gist, then return to the English to feel the rhythm of the sentences.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Which work of Baudelaire's is this book?

It is an English translation of Baudelaire's prose poem collection Le Spleen de Paris, containing short pieces written in prose with free language close to everyday urban life, forming a contrast with the metrical poems of Les Fleurs du mal.

Can I read this book if my English is not good?

This is a public-domain English electronic edition; the sentences are not difficult but retain literary expression. Readers with weaker English can read a Chinese translation first to understand the content, then return to the English and read slowly; if you rely entirely on Chinese, a Chinese translation is recommended.

Does this edition include notes and an introduction?

According to the available information, this is a Project Gutenberg public-domain eBook consisting mainly of the text, plainly typeset, and usually without detailed scholarly notes or a long introduction. Readers who need background material should look for an annotated edition or a scholarly study.

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About the author

Baudelaire, Charles, 1821-1867 Author

Charles Baudelaire (Baudelaire, Charles, 1821-1867) was a nineteenth-century French poet best known for his collection Les Fleurs du Mal, also translated as The Flowers of Evil. He also wrote the prose poems collected in Poems in Prose, the diary-like Journaux intimes, and De l'amour, a work of reflections on love and feeling. The library holds eight of his works, including Baudelaire: His Prose and Poetry and Les épaves de Charles Baudelaire. Because public information is limited, biographical details are omitted here; as for his writing, he often took city life, love, melancholy and death as his subjects, with concise language and intense imagery, and his influence on poetry's transition from tradition to modernity has been profound.