L Image de la femme dans les fleurs du mal

Abstract

French poetry lived its heyday in the 19th century after it had passed from a retention period in the 18th century. Many literary trends such as romanticism, symbolism and surrealism gave their best products in the field of poetry. Baudelaire, known as the father of symbolism, was one of the greatest poets who lived in this period. He opened the period of `Modern Poetry`. By using the doctrine of `art for art's sake` in his poems he, with his aesthetic perfection seen in his poems, became the greatest pioneer of the poets who followed him. We built up our study to scrutinize woman image in Les Fleurs du Mai written by Baudelaire who is regarded as the greatest genius of French poetry. From the point of view of the literary trends adopted, the woman image parallel to his private life, one of the quite clear images of his poems, has been handled in this study. Because the woman image also took a great part in his private life and he transferred it to his work successfully. Therefore pointing out the woman image and considering that they are closely related to our subject, we have examined both his private and literary lives under three main titles.131 In the first part, called as `Baudelaire's Biography` the life story of the poet from his childhood to his old age has been presented. In addition to this, some important and fundamental events influencing his literary works have been studied. As a result of this study it was seen that his private life affected him deeply. In the second part, the four main woman figures have been determined and these have been studied in his best poems, written about the women by the poet. It has been observed that the woman image has appeared as mother, mistress, and ladylove, muse, friend and sister. The four women who have a great place in his life, namely his mother, his mistress and crossbreed lover, Jeanne Duval, his inspiration source and his protecting angle Mme Apollonie Sabatier and also his sister and his confident Marie Daubrun have been studied from the poet's point of view. At the last part, the complexity of the woman image and its shape in the poems and the specialities of the woman which make women attractive and repulsive in Baudelaire's eyes have been determined. As a result, it was understood that the woman image had a great importance in Baudelaire's poems and his situation was the result of his stormy and difficult life.