Baudelaire's poem makes clear that beauty is actually closer to a form of death, acting like a drug that poisons one's mind, creates addiction and finally brings one closer to death.

The very title of the book of poems the flowers of Evil which associates the flower, a conventional representation of beauty with "evil," announces a different kind of poetic testimony. Examining Baudelaire's volume of poems, Marcel a Ruff points out that

"Les Fleurs du Mal constitutes an examination of conscience, that examination is not limited to the person of Baudelaire; it extends to all humanity. but, whatever errors are divulged, it remains a scrutiny, at times accompanied by a warning. It is never a condemnation. and, when others are concerned, the poet does not fail to express his compassion" (the Centennial Celebration of Baudelaire's Les Fleures du Mal, p. 44).

Hymn to Beauty although a very personal confession, is...
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