The Flowers of Evil | Study Guide

Shocking for its frank sexuality and religious blasphemy when it was published (and subsequently partially censored by the French government), The Flowers of Evil is one of the most important works of 19th-century poetry and arguably one of the most important literary creations of all time. Credited by some as being the first modernist work of literature, The Flowers of Evil foreshadowed the modernist movement that would sweep the worlds of art and literature alike for nearly a century after Baudelaire's death. Many 20th-century masters of literature, art, and music have credited Baudelaire and The Flowers of Evil as crucial to the creation of their masterpieces. Like modernity itself, with its fragmentation and overabundance of competing narratives, The Flowers of Evil dives deep into mankind's literary, artistic, and philosophical history, reinventing old symbols and sensibilities into something completely new—and still fresh—more than 150 years after its publication.