I agree with you, Gabby, that these two poets have much in common in their contents and styles of writing. This intrigued me to look into what other ways the two men were similar and in which ways they differed.
First and foremost: they even look alike (in my opinion)
(Baudelaire) (Poe)
Secondly: Their early childhood and inspiration for their work.
Edgar Allan Poe's father abandoned his family, while his mother died a year later all at a very young age. These occurrences affected the way Poe's poems were crafted, due to the trauma from his mother. This is similar to Charles Baudelaire's childhood in that his father passed away while he was a boy, and his mother re-married, taking the focus off of solely him. Many biographers saw this trauma as a motive for many of Baudelaire's poems.... similar to Poe.
Lastly: (besides their similarity in their writing--cause gabby covered that) Their deaths:
The way these two poets died was weirdly similar: both essentially from mental exhaustion and drinking.
For Baudelaire, his illnesses, his long-term use of laudanum, his life of stress, and his poverty had taken a toll and Baudelaire had aged noticeably. He smoked opium, and began to drink to excess, causing a massive stroke and paralysis. After more than a year of aphasia (inability to comprehend or formulate language because of damage to specific brain regions) he died.
For Poe, he was found delirious on the streets of Baltimore, "in great distress, and… in need of immediate assistance".Newspapers at the time reported Poe's death as "congestion of the brain" or "cerebral inflammation", another way to say from alcohol.
pretty crazy, right?
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I think it’s actually quite fascinating to examine Poe and Baudelaire and to explore (or at least speculate about) how their tormented lives connected to their literary pursuits. Anabella’s and Gabby’s blog posts prompted me to research more about Baudelaire, and in doing so, I stumbled across something interesting: in 1845, 22 years prior to his death, Baudelaire penned a suicide note. In his letter, he bid farewell to his lover, Jeanne. Fortunately for the admirers of Baudelaire's work and for the future modernist poets, Baudelaire's suicide attempt (by stabbing himself in the chest) failed.
Interestingly enough, someone paid 234,000 euros ($267,000) at a recent auction to purchase his suicide letter. Here are some of the sentiments he expressed in the letter:
"I am killing myself because I can no longer live, because the exhaustion of going to sleep and the exhaustion of waking up are unbearable to me."
"I am killing myself because I believed myself to be immortal, and I hope for it."
From what Anabella has discussed and from what I've found out, Baudelaire lived a complicated life. He competed with his stepfather for his mother's affection, he was in a constant state of financial trouble, and he was often in poor health. And I doubt the drinking, gambling, and drug abuse helped his life improve.
Luckily, it seems as though (despite the hardships he faced) Baudelaire managed to find a reason to live. In the mysterious, fragile spiderweb that is our world, he found a thread to which he could cling. As far as we know, this 1845 instance was his only suicide attempt. After he survived, he went on to write groundbreaking works, like Les Fleurs du Mal, for example. By living, he was able to make his mark on the world.
I'm not saying his life was easy or simple. The poems we've read so far are evidence that it probably wasn't. Some are violent and disturbing, emphasizing death, the struggle of living, and corruption. Frequent topics of interest for the poet were evil and sex. Still, I firmly believe that his continuing to live was a good thing. I think we're blessed with life for a reason, and we should hold on the hope that we have purpose and meaning. Baudelaire's life might've been filled with tragedy and hopelessness, but there must've been something that made him want to live. I think we're all capable of the same thing.
Sources: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46091078, https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thevintagenews.com/2018/11/08/baudelaires-suicide-letter/amp/, and https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/charles-baudelaire
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