BIOGRAPHY AND PERSONALITY OF A FAMOUS ARIES: CHARLES BAUDELAIRE

Poet, born in Paris, France. He was sent on a voyage to India. On his homecoming to Paris in 1842, he met up Jeanne Duval, a half-caste, who became his mistress and muse. He spent much of his time in the studios of Delacroix, Manet, and Daumier. His masterpiece is a compilation of poems, Les Fleurs du mal (1857), for which writer, printer, and publisher were brought to court for indecency in 1864, but which earned the eulogies of critics and was to exercise an influence far into the 20th century. Later works include Les Paradis artificiels (1860) and Petits Poèmes en prose (1869). His preoccupation with the macabre, the perverted, and the vile was a fundamental characteristic of his work.