The Arcades Project - Operi

eing studiously contemplated, the enigma surrenders its secret.?? Paul Bourget,
Essais de psychologie contemporai,ne, vol. 1 (Paris, 1901), p. 4 ("Baudelaire").
[JIS,3]
"He excels at beginning a poem with words of unforgettable solemnity, at once
tragic and rueful: What does it matter to me that you are wise? I Be lovely-and
be sad! ... ' Elsewhere: Sudden as a knife you thrust I into my sorry heart. ... '
And elsewhere: "Pensive as cattle resting on the beach, / they are staring out to
sea . . . . '" Paul Bourget, Essais de psychologie contemporaine, vol. 1 (Paris,
1901), pp. 3-4.'13 [JIS,4]
Bourget sees in Benjamin Constant, Amiel, and Baudelaire three kindred spirits,
intellects stamped by the esprit d'analyse, types determined by decadence. The
detailed appendix to (,Baudelaire?? is concerned with Constanes Adolphe. Together
with the spirit of analysis, Bourget considers ennui an element of decadence.
The third and last chapter of his essay on Baudelaire, "Theorie de la
decadence," develops this idea with reference to the late Roman Empire. [J15,5]
1849 or 1850: Baudelaire draws from memory the head of Blanqui. See Philippe
Soupault, Baudelaire (Paris