Week 4: Discussion Question #1, 2,& 3 for Baudelaire's "To the Reader

Instructions for posting your answers to Discussion Questions are as follows:

Please provide your in-depth interpretation and analysis on the questions (at least 100 words per Discussion question #1, #2, and #3). Please try to include textual evidence (direct quotes along with the Act and Scene #) in your answer.

When you need to summarize the plot, please do not copy words/sentences from the text. You should briefly summarize/paraphrase the plot in your own words.

Discussion Question #1 for Charles Baudelaire's poem, "To the Reader" (1857, pp. 423-424)

The poet-speaker [Baudelaire] tells his reader that we repent, but sin again. What do you think Baudelaire is trying to convey by saying "We sustain our affable remorse the way a beggar nourishes his lice" (lines 3-4)? The poet and the reader long for good, but they yield easily to temptations (directed by Satan). Yet, the poet calls Satan a "cunning alchemist" (line 12). Why? The poet says the Devil makes "the things we loathed become the things we love" (line 14). Does the poet view the role of the Devil negatively?

Discussion Question #2 for Charles Baudelaire's poem, "To the Reader" (1857, pp. 423-424)

2. The poet depicts the human world (including human emotions) as a "squalid zoo of vices" (line 32) and says that Boredom (a human emotion personified as the ugliest animal) is the worst "monster" (line 39) because it can cause a negative state of mind. Yet, Baudelaire calls his reader a "hypocrite" and his "twin" (line 40). Why? What does the poet implicate by using the words "my twin"? Does the state of being in boredom bring out a positive and/or negative desire to the poet and the reader? Why does Baudelaire say we [the poet and the reader] "cheerfully" "crawl back to the mire" (go back to the indecent/undesirable state of mind) (line 7)?

Discussion Question #3 for Charles Baudelaire's poem, "To the Reader" (1857, pp. 423-424)

Does the poet negate/reject the so-called negative emotions (such as boredom as a devilish human emotion)? If not, what does Baudelaire is trying to convey through the poem? Is the poet saying that we have these devilish desires within, or is he rather tolerant of the reader who has conflicting inner desires (e.g. "affable remorse")? Does the Romantic poet Baudelaire have a different/changed view of the negative side in polarity/binaries (e.g. good/bad, spiritual love/physical love, aspiration/boredom) concerning human emotions and the individual's way of thinking? If so, why?