Symbol: The Albatross ("The Albatross")
The albatross symbolizes the poet. First, the albatross has long been seen as an emblem of hope, but also of psychological burden; as a poet Baudelaire carries the burden of having a sensitivity and insight that, while difficult to bear, give him a unique ability to translate the often opaque messages of nature and spirituality for readers. Second, the albatross in this poem is misunderstood and mocked as it is literally and figuratively brought low by ignorant and coarse men. Baudelaire sees himself and other artists as outsiders and misfits, incurring the hostility of the masses for his unique, sometimes grotesque or concupiscent, vision.
Symbol- The Dresser ("Spleen II")
The dresser in this poem symbolizes Baudelaire himself, stuffed to the brim with detritus. It is a tall and proud thing, filled with all manner of documents, memories, and secrets. It contains multitudes; it is an unprepossessing exterior with a roiling interior. It is literally closed off in that drawers are shut, which symbolizes Baudelaire's separation from the rest of the world. As a poet, what matters is his interior, which he then translates into verse.
Motif: Eyes
As the old cliche goes, eyes are a window onto the soul. Baudelaire firmly believes that, but seems to care less about the individual soul than he cares about the truth. The eyes of cats and of beautiful women lead him to ecstasy, which is a state in which he transcends the quotidian mortal existence and taps into something larger. He also sees eyes as mere mirrors of infinity, reflecting something "dark and crazed" ("To the Reader"). This is the conundrum, then: man is a flawed, sinful, mortal creature, but through him, in certain moments, one can catch a glimpse of a deeper truth and more permanent Ideal.
Motif: Scent
Scent for Baudelaire is a gateway. It is the spark that creates a conflagration of emotion and memory. It sends the poet into lustful ecstasy and a dreamlike state where he can, in his mind, travel to other lands, exist on a higher plane, or tap into the mysteries of life and death. Scents are also redolent of memory, and memory is the act of conjuring up a scene from the past and revivifying them in the mind's eye; this is similar to what the poet does when he uses words to fashion a poem, bringing it up from the ether and making it visible, tangible.
Symbol: The Gypsies ("Traveling Gypsies")
The gypsies symbolize Baudelaire in much the same way the albatross did. Gypsies are persecuted; they are itinerants and outcasts. The people in the poem have "sorrow-laden eyes" and are "Yearning for vanished chimeras again." As they walk their friend Cybele, the goddess of nature, illuminates the darkness and "turns rocks to springs, brings flowers from the sand." These gypsies symbolize Baudelaire's own persecuted status (and of course, he was literally persecuted by the courts for Fleurs), as well as the fact that he was a wanderer and a misfit. The evocation of Cybele also lets readers see how the poet similarly uses words to bring images into being; with his verses he can create flowers and springs.
Symbol: The Sea ("Man and the Sea")
The sea is one of the most common symbols for mankind. In poetry, painting, novels, and other artworks it represents the infinite, the wild, the untamed, the collective unconscious, hardship, life itself. In this poem Baudelaire uses the sea to symbolize the infinite nature of man's soul and the manifold possibilities open to him. He writes that its "billows endlessly unroll" and it is as a mirror where one sees one's soul. It is vast and "subtle, shadowy" but filled with richness. It is something that only a "free man" can love, for if one were enslaved or restrained, the vastness of the sea would paralyze with fear; but free, man can traverse the sea with the same freedom in which he explores the possibilities of his spirit.
Symbol: The Cat
The cat is one of the most powerful symbols in Fleurs and has manifold associations. First, it symbolizes woman, as cats often do in history and art. In its elegance, luster, sinuousness and allure it is like an entrancing woman; sphinx-like and exotic, its demeanor reminds Baudelaire of the women who fascinate him. Second, the cat symbolizes modernity in that it is a wanderer. It travels through the urban landscape, fleet of foot and deftly able to eke out an existence among the dark and lowly sorts. It scavenges and skulks and occupies a sort of interstitial space between civilization and savagery. Also, the cat is often seen as a symbol of mystery and profundity, so Baudelaire staring into its eyes is akin to his staring into the beyond—into some deeper truth.
Motif: Lethe
Lethe is the river of forgetfulness in Hades, according to classical Greek myth. In classical Greek the word means "oblivion," "forgetfulness," or "concealment." Baudelaire mentions it several times, even naming a poem after it. In "Lethe" he yearns "to sleep and not to live!" In "Praises for My Francisca" he dreams of kissing the woman with her "magnetically imbued" lips. And in "Spleen (III)" Lethe flows through the blood of the poet, figured here as an impotent old man, a veritable corpse. In all of these poems Lethe is stupefying, sometimes for better and sometimes for worse. This is one of the many ways Baudelaire demonstrates his interest in intoxicants and stimulants and sedatives, all of which heighten his experiences or blunt his despair.
Symbol: The Cracked Bell ("The Cracked Bell")
A bell traditionally symbolizes hope, perhaps even traditional Christian religion. Bells toll to celebrate, and the one in this poem "faithfully repeats religion's notes / As an old soldier keeps a watchman's trust." However, Baudelaire's bell has cracked; his spirit is fractured. The notes that emerge from him are akin to "the rattle of a wounded man / Beside a bloody pool." The notes are no longer harmonious or whole; they are discordant and monstrous. This is a moment in Fleurs in which Baudelaire's despair is at its zenith, and the image of a cracked bell symbolizes that shattered self.
Symbol: The Spring ("The Taste for Nothingness")
In this "Spleen" poem, Baudelaire proclaims that spring has lost its scent. This might initially seem like a simple, melancholy statement regarding the loss of, say, the smell of flowers or new grass, but it is far more troubling than that. spring symbolizes birth, renewal, life, and the cycle of life. When Baudelaire says it has lost its scent, he is depicting a spring unmoored, a spring out of time and no longer functioning in a meaningful way. This is how he is choosing to describe his despair, and it is truly disconcerting. If spring does indeed symbolize the cycle of life and vitality, Baudelaire is suggesting he is no longer part of the former and has lost all of the latter.
