Abstract
Traditional readings ofLe Spleen de Paris, as those made by Jean Starobinski and Walter Benjamin, highlight the figure of the buffoon and the burlesque attitude. In these analysis, Baudelaire’s prose poems are considered as disguised testimonies of a biographical and historical experience. This paper aims to point out the inconvenience of an automatic association between the poet himself and the poetical subject, emphasizing aspects of Baudelaire’s writing which would lead us to consider otherwise the idea of the “decline” of poetry.
Keywords
Charles Baudelaire; Prose poem; Irony; History