The Flowers of Evil (Oxford World's Classics)

This is quite a substantial volume, nicely bound and although the pages are a light cream colour, the text has been printed in a darker shade of black which helps reading.As with so many books today, the font size for the text is really too small, especially for poetry that doesn't require endless words to be crammed onto a page to reduce printing costs.On a more positive note, this was my first venture in Baudelaire's work and I was pleased with the English translations, they made a lot of sense and the translator has made good efforts to retain the poetic forms. My French is not the best and so the original French versions that appear alongside was not needed.The Introduction is huge and exceptional, ideal for someone wishing to have more insight into Baudelaire before reading the poems.Nice volume and one that I will return to often.

As a newcomer to the works of Baudelaire, only having read selected poems, I would recommend The Flowers of Evil to anyone who wishes to discover the genius of this wonderfully long forgotten 19th century classic poet. The Flowers of Evil has rightly been called Baudelaire's greatest, wittiest and most surreal collection of poems for all to enjoy.

I love Baudelaire, his writing was so unique. This is quite a good translation but I am sure there are better, however, it still reads very well. Beauty and ugliness in life is all around, and I believe this fellow captured it through a glass, darkly. One of my favourite books of all time, I do not think I will ever sell it. Recommended!

I bought the Naxos Audio Book of these poems. The translation is the same as the Oxford Worlds Classics edition, which I already have. The reading by Jonathan Keeble is very good. I have no complaints about the content, therefore, but the packaging by Naxos is awful! Flimsy two-sided plastic wallets inside a plastic case, no notes or booklet, or any details of the titles of the poems on each CD. They can, of course, be downloaded but that's hardly the point. I'd rather pay a little more at the outset and have a properly put together package with the information included, and the discs properly held in a sturdy case. Poor show on this score by Naxos, despite the excellence of the contents.

Received promptly and as described. Thank you.

A fabulous edition in French and English. A true master of poetry beautifully printed. Baudelaire will help mould your views of perception. Wonderful.

Beautiful book, very handy in the fact that there is the French subtext included. Great for those studying language.

I love Baudelaires work and having it all in a book I can carry around and book mark my favourite is amazing

Citons Charles Baudelaire : "Quelques-uns m'ont dit que ces poésies pouvaient faire du mal; je ne m'en suis pas réjoui. D'autres, de bonnes âmes, qu'elles pouvaient faire du bien; et cela ne m'a pas affligé. La crainte des uns et l'espérance des autres m'ont également étonné, et n'ont servi qu'à me prouver une fois de plus que ce siècle avait désappris toutes les notions classiques relatives à la littérature."

1.You can always rely on an oxford classics translation.2.Even if you are not satisfied with the translation, this bilingual edition can easily help you to compare with the original text.3.The poems come with explanatory notes. So, you would not have to google 'ennui' or 'Phoebus' while reading a poem.4.The book comes with additional infos (a chronology of Baudelaire, selected bibliography, a short and well-written introduction etc) as well.5.ABOVE ALL,THIS IS A GOOD TRANSLATION WHICH CAN BE ENJOYED IMMENSELY. At the end of the day, one buys a book to get amused. Sometimes, a translated book carries along a certain bit of stiffness (weird use of syntax, too much intertextual foreign references etc) which causes hindrance in the process of enjoyment of the flavor of literature. This book does not cause such a problem.6.And, amazon has a perfect delivery service.I received the book well packed with two bookmarks bearing stephen king quotes on it.:)

Charles Baudelaire's poetry is some of the best poetry ever written. He explores a number of different themes, often focusing on his personal experiances and emotions. To those of us who have suffered in life, one can easily relate to a lot of the feelings he felt. There are many hidden messages in the poetry, and the language is very rich and educated. You can get a lot of different interpretations out of these poems, which make them all the more relevant to the reader.The best thing about this book is the fact that it features both the original French and an English translation, side by side. For those who are fluent or well versed in French, this is a dream come true. The translations are expertly done, and great care has been done to preserve the rhyme schemes without losing the meaning of the poems.

I find it fascinating 🖤

I purchased this because I'd been dying to read Baudelaire's work and it's hard to do that on my tiny phone, so the book was a must. This edition has some really great work put into the translations and the footnotes are nicely detailed as well.