Summary Of Imagery In The Carcass By Charles Baudelaire

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Recommended: Womens roles in the 19th century

During the movement of romanticism in the 19th century literature usually portrayed women to be considerably less than males. Charles Baudelaire is a poet and symbolist born in France in 1821 and is viewed as one of the best lyric poets. He is best known for writing a volume of poems entitled Les fleurs du mal (The Flowers of Evil) published in 1857 and also pioneered the translation of the work of Edgar Allen Poe to French. During his lifetime the volume gained no critical praise due to its vulgar and perverse imagery and six poems were subsequently banned for outrage to public decency. One of these six poems entitled A Carcass depicts the speaker (presumably male) and his lover as they discover a female, human corpse.
‘Remember, my love, the object we saw
That beautiful morning in June:
By a bend in the path a carcass reclined
On a bed sown with pebbles and stones;’1
The imagery in this poem depicts both that of a Petrarchan love poem and a rotting corpse further juxtaposed by a lengthy, disgusting description which seems to make it sexual. The poem itself is lyrical perhaps to mirror the unequal position which women acquired in society during the early 19th century. In this essay I will explore the imagery painted in The Carcass and how it may hide various connections to the reader’s views of women as sex objects and how he also reveals the difficulties faced by women during the 19th century. I will also be comparing the tone of the poem to that of the ideals of Petrarchan love poetry or sonnets.
Charles Baudelaire’s choice of language in The Carcass evokes strong imagery and his use of simple yet powerful verbs enforce the juxtaposition. ‘The flies buzzed and droned on these bowels of filth’ and ‘her stinking and festering ...

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...turbing imagery. This separation of style can maybe reflect the way in which women’s rights have changed over the years.
In conclusion Baudelaire’s The Carcass has strong imagery and the language is more direct in order to make his point. This doesn’t mean it is les symbolic. Each line is created to contain as much symbolic meaning as possible to evoke emotion as well as imagery. This imagery is disturbing and disgusting in order to juxtapose his view of 13th century women in society. Petrarcha’s poems are less shocking with its meaning and do not negatively portray women. It can therefore be said that the view and treatment of women in society from the 13th century to the 19th century worsened somewhat and this is vaguely evident in the poetry I have analysed. Only now in this day and age can we discuss these once ignored views and make progress in women’s rights.

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