Charles Pierre Baudelaire was born on April 9, 1821, in Paris, France to Joseph-Francois Baudelaire (a French civil servant and amateur artist) and his young wife, Caroline.
After his father died and his mother remarried, Charles was sent to Lyon for education and boarded there for several years. One of his classmates described him as "much more refined and distinguished than any of our fellow pupils."
After some time, Charles left to attend the Lycee Louis-le-Grand in Paris. He studies law, which was the default major for those without a career in mind, and received his degree in 1839. However, instead of going into law or diplomacy, Charles decided upon a literary career- much to the disapproval of his family.
To combat his decision, Charle's stepfather sent him to Calcutta, India, in 1841. However, the trip instead left strong impressions of the sea, sailing, and exotic ports, which he later employed in his poetry.
Upon his return to Paris, Charles wrote some of the poems within Les Fleurs du Mal, his first collection. He also became known as a dandy and free-spender, which eventually prompted his family to place his finances in a trust so he wouldn't squander them.
For all his faults, Charles was a slow and attentive writer. However, poor health and other distractions kept him from publishing his work until 1857. Les Fleurs du Mal, or, The Flowers of Evil, became his most famous volume of poems.
The principal themes of sex and death were considered scandalous for the period. He also touched on lesbianism, sacred and profane love, metamorphosis, melancholy, the corruption of the city, lost innocence, the oppressiveness of living, and wine. Notable in some poems is Baudelaire's use of imagery of the sense of smell and of fragrances, which is used to evoke feelings of nostalgia and past intimacy.
However, despite the small and appreciative audience, others deemed the volume a byword for unwholesomeness and took legal action to stop its production. Charles, his publisher, and the printer were successfully prosecuted for creating an offense against public morals. They were fined, but Baudelaire was not imprisoned, and six of his poems were suppressed. His followers began rallying around him, and Victor Hugo even wrote in to declare his support.
Charles Baudelaire died on August 31, 1867, at the age of 41. Many of his works were published posthumously, and his influence on poets and artists can still be seen today.
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