The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-01-18

having a remarkable penchant tor certain
strange ideas, very responsive to the ideal; very
greedy OF sensation. Nos. peoOle VIII say nav
he pTostituted himself TO fatal impressions anu
vac IN oxicaled with prize.
"a poet, a genuine poet, is always Q strange,
a fascinating being; often he Is fratl and de'.
cate, agitated by The spectacle OF nature am
the tragedy OF lite, before which, witnout
him, men are mute AID patent like oxen.
Only the prophets are strong, loud, aud ma
iestic. The poets are like lost or fallen Angels
in mortal bodies, seeking In sensation 10 unn @
God, roaming In vast and vague spaces to lose
the consciousness OF their bondage. Sucn
poet was shelley, such poet was Poe, such "a
Ioet was Charles Baudela're. His was SAD, a
terrible, and accusing spirit expressing the
disorder OF his soul. laugh ng his lronlcal lau2h
iu the midst OF his pleasures, seeing awful
visions between the changes of The moon.
"The English aud American public THINKING OF
Wordsworth, aud the pure aud lofty expression OF
his thougntiul joy in nature, later falling do "h
10 the jingle OF Jeau lDeelow, IN whose verses
pleas ant things are pleasantly said, or better,
thinking OF Bryant and his impersonai love OF
nature, aud OF Whittier with his home sentt-
ment, sec m to have lost the sense that poetry
may be the expression of the terrors aud dis
orders of the soul; they have no iutmat,on of
the less sell-possessed spirit which brOods over
the ruins OF life and dreams OF the abyss tn At
lies beJ ond the visible. Tne abyss IN ,W9lca
foImless aud colossal things scream AMI hJat
was revealed by Victor Hugo; the despair Of
hopeless lost was uttered by zoe; the tda0
the honelessness, the e VII that may be found in
| Baudelaiie,
"His was a new voice, new and arresting
| word thrown into the polite Partisan world.
| He was iamiiIar with all the seducuons of lie ;
| he knew the changes that have come upon the
| world; but he felt and looked upon all ex-
| perIer ce with the old spirit of the strong, un-
| regeuerated man who seeks to grasp the heeting
| good OF sensation and blasphemes IN the midst
| or pleasures. He expresses the barrenness OF
sensation, without having liberated himself
| from its seduct ons.
"Charlts Baudelaire is the type Of the poetic
| mind uuIedeemed py love. To me he has a
| tororn and fatal grandeur of aspect, ike
| Millions Satan; but he was a modern man in
| our contemporary world. Consider his sItua-
| ton. He had fed himself at tue great springs
| of English literature, which made HIM realst,
| and authorized his tenacious grasp up On things;
! he was familiar with antiquity, winch gave HIN
| q far-Cf ideal in he past, and discouraged him
| because he had to look back whittier he could
| not go; he was in the midst of q luxurious,
corrupted phase of modern civilization in
France. His poems represent, not merely the
| local facts OF society IN France, but typical
| condi ions OF man during his age.
They are contemporary like CAVIAR
mrs sketches, and appeal to exalted
| minds, by certain sides, like Michael
| idea of human grandeur. | cannot hear his
utterances without mingled feelings of admira
ton shrinking, and pity. Alfred de Musset, the
| unh8upest OF French poets, seems delicate and
| weak ike woman beside Baudelaire. Baude
| laire alone rel resents the strong, masculine
unregeneIate man. He seems TO have bear
even untouched by love. Had love been re-
veaied to HIS heart, the flowers Of evil would
have wilted, never again to bloom in bis life
| What man may become who goes through lite
| without it-a complete being. l mean-you may
know by reading Baudelaire's unique poems.n