Fleurs Du Mal

In 1857, Baudelaire (boh-d'lair'), the champion of French modern poetry, was prosecuted for blasphemous and provocative language in his dark, whispery masterpiece, Fleurs du Mal. The title, Fleurs du Mal, translates to a unusual paradox: The Flowers of Evil. Flowers are thought to be pure and beautiful with its luminous, velvety petals; its luscious fragrance often slowly pulls us into a sweet memory or pushes us into a relaxed state. However, Baudelaire alludes to the flowers as "evil," which leads his readers to philosophically intellectualize how evil cannot exist without good, nor good without evil; just as pain cannot exist without pleasure, nor pleasure without pain.

"Au Lecteur" ("To The Reader") is one of the extraordinary poems (and my favorite) from Fleurs du Mal. Baudelaire addresses this poem directly to his reader, which takes the tone of the work to a personal level, resembling a letter. Baudelaire warns his reader that the devil’s most powerful weapon is one that swallows our entire selves--apathy:

"there's one more ugly and abortive birth.

It makes no gestures, never beats its breast,

yet it would murder for a moment's rest,

and willingly annihilate the earth.

it's BOREDOM. Tears have glued its eyes together" (lines 33-36, translated by Robert Lowell).

Apathy keeps us still, never moving, never morphing, never acting for good or evil. With apathy, we just merely exist with no will.