ipl-logo

Bauudelaire Dialectical Journal

193 Words1 Pages
In this poem, Baudelaire is having a conversation with his soul. He regards life as a hospital in which the patients long to change their beds. Baudelaire believes he’ll be happier elsewhere, and asks his soul “where?” He then suggests a variety of places that he knows his soul may take a liking to.
There’s
Lisbon – which is warm
Holland - which is tranquil
Batavia – where “the intellect of Europe is married to the beauty of the tropics”
Since the soul doesn’t reply to any of the places the poet suggests, the poet questions if the soul desires somewhere where his pain will be pleasure. He then proposes going to the
Pole, which is cold and lifeless and resembles death.
Finally, the soul explodes and cries, “Anywhere, anywhere, as long as
Open Document