Complete Poems: Charles Baudelaire

Omg, I don't even speak French! When I look at the original French and compare it to the translation you don't need to speak French to know this is an abomination! Dear God, it's downright useless. It's like some idiot took a Renoir and tore it into shreds and then pasted it back together with half the shreds upside down and facing in the opposite direction. Total crap! Who is Walter Martin? The world's suckiest, overpaid, and cruel translator EVER! There is nothing Baudelaire about this!

It was a wonderful read. Couldn't have asked for a better book. Definitely was the best anniversary gift my husband has given me.

I purchased this book just for one poem; "FLEURS DU MAL, or "Flowers of Evil". Mostly from a inspired song I heard by Sara Brightman. I can say to you, that my life would not have been complete without both. Listening to Sara singing and reading THESE poems; I have opened the door to a lifetime of wonder. I do recommend buying both, it will enrich your life.

The poems in this book are amazing. I highly recommenced this translation.

Quick shipping , perfect. Thank you

I have only conducted a cursory glance through this particular translation from the French to the English, but I've already got some qualms. Translation from one language to another is difficult enough, but with poetry such a thing is often considered next to impossible due to nuances and verbal allusions and similarities in one language being difficult to convey. However, regardless of whether or not Charles Baudelaire chose to rhyme his poetry, which he did, why seek to translate those rhymes into English?Sorry, but I do not get that.Seems to me that a better way to translate from one language to another is to simply try to be as literally accurate as possible--and that typically means the translator doesn't have to bend a poem into some kind of mobius device simply to save a rhyme. I saw this in one translation of Rilke's "Songs To Orpheus", but reverted to a more accurate translation that didn't place rhyme over sensibility. If this was French prose being translated into English prose, this problem wouldn't be so implicit. OK. I'm going to try this book. But I'm getting a free verse translation to accompany it. I want to see what Charles Baudelaire actually intended to convey, not some picture-perfect-but-forced translation that saves the rhyme.Don't worry. I know this sort of issue has been controversial for decades.

What I like best about this admittedly eccentric translation is the way Walter Martin renders the poems in rhyme. Baudelaire's extreme content--his embrace of putrefaction, filth, sadism and ennui as fit stuff for poetry--owes much of its impact to the tight, disciplined meter he chose for his medium. Most Baudelaire translations don't capture this classical edge in English, turning the poems into free verse or prose. While Martin has to bend the exact meaning a little (often a lot) to get the English to fit, on the whole he does an impressive job of making the verse sound exact and controlled but not too sing-songy. There's no ponderous introduction to bug you either, just a short & highly personal 'Afterthoughts' section with some intriguing insights. This isn't the only translation you'll want to read, but it recovers a side of modernity's bad boy that's hard to find anywhere else.

This is by far the best translation of Baudelaire's Complete Poems. Not only is the translation achieved in rhymed, metered verse, but Martin captures the essence of this colossus of French poetry. Please ignore "Rosie" the naysayer below who seems to have a limited background in translation, poetry, and Baudelaire. Better yet - here's a challenge for her: Translate Baudelaire's Complete Poems and offer it to the public. After all, you claim to "know French." When you're published we can review your efforts. Ploughshares called Martin's work a "vivid and formally authoritative translation."

Attractive, finely produced book. Clear precise translations.

I've always found reading poetry in translation bait of a chore but this edition is fantastic. The translation is as literal as possible whilst still maintaining the integrity of the poems and their author.