Baudelaire’s “The Eyes of the Poor” and “Be Drunk” Cody Hoover English 172T 16 February 2016

“The Eyes of the Poor”

Parisian Cafes Le Chat Noir (1881)

Paris Cafe de la Paix (1900)

Café de l’Enfer

What are some main themes in these poems?

Group Discussion Discuss the two poems, and answer these questions. Try to point to specific lines that illustrate your point: Who are the speakers of these two poems? Who are they even addressing (“you”)? What role does your theme have in the poem? How does your theme function within the urban/Parisian setting of these poems? In “Painter of Modern Life,” Baudelaire claims that modernity is visual. How is your theme represented visually in these poems?

Main Themes from “Painter of Modern Life” Modernity is urban: it is harmony within the turmoil of human freedom; Modernity is recorded in art, which no longer imitates nature or inculcates morality; Modernity is fleeting and brief – we’re always trying to catch up to it; Modernity is visual: seeing is the privileged mode of experience Zieger, Susan. “Baudelaire, ‘The Painter of Modern Life." University of California, Riverside. Riverside, CA. 28 Jan. 2016. Lecture.

What modern vision of your group’s theme is Baudelaire attempting to portray here?

Reflection How do you see some of these themes showing up in some of Baudelaire’s other poems? Why is that important/significant about Baudelaire’s work, as a whole?