Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867) Pioneering French poet whose bold poetry set in motion a European literary revolution. Baudelaire also translated works from Edgar Allan Poe, and produced notable works as an essayist and art critic anticipating modern theories of painting and poetry.

He is credited with coining the term "modernity" to designate the fleeting, ephemeral experience of life in an urban metropolis, and the responsibility art has to capture that experience.[

Baudelaire's notorious collection of poems, Les Fleurs du Mal (The Flowers of Evil, 1857), traces a spiritual journey from corrupt life to purified existence. Expressing
the changing nature of beauty in modern, industrializing Paris during the 19th century. The collection, especially the sonnet "Correspondences," inspired a group of French poets known as symbolists.

Sources: World Book / Wikipedia / Baudelaire In English, Penguin Classics

Selected Poems by Charles Baudelaire

• The Albatross
• The Vampire