Poetry as Rebellion: A Philosophical Reading of Evil in The Flowers of Evil
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: This article examines the concept of evil in the works of Charles Baudelaire, with particular focus on The Flowers of Evil , from a philosophical and aesthetic perspective. Drawing on the interpretations of Jean‑Paul Sartre and Georges Bataille, the author re‑examines the relationship between ethics, freedom, and poetic creation in Baudelaire’s world. While Sartre regards Baudelaire as an “arrested child,” whose genius takes shape through an evasion of moral responsibility and a playful engagement with freedom, this article argues that in Baudelaire’s poetry evil is not merely a negative or anti‑moral force. Rather, it can become a creative, transcendent power that generates poetic consciousness. From this perspective, by challenging fixed boundaries between good and evil, Baudelaire transforms poetry into a means of transgressing the dominant order and experiencing a form of aesthetic liberation. The article further shows that Baudelaire’s genius emerges from suffering, incapacity, and isolation—where failure is transformed into beauty and deprivation into creation. Finally, drawing on Baudelaire’s letter to Ancelle and the concept of childlike freedom, the article concludes that Baudelaire’s poetry is not only a reflection of human crisis and misery, but also an attempt to reconstruct poetic identity in a contradictory and unstable world.
Source: Research Square
Authors: Farzam karimi, Fatemeh ahmadi Azar
Institution: Islamic Azad University Central Tehran Branch
Language: English
Topic: French Literature and Poetry
Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7225618404