Fragmentation and Irony in Les Fleurs du mal

Fragmentation enjoys special significance in Les Fleurs du Mal and is especially prominent at the level of the poetic self. This article explores the relation between the self and language in Baudelaire s poetry in an effort to delineate both the unifying and disruptive force of fragmentation. Baudelaire's language is not, to be sure, arbitrary but rather the prompted effect of a conscious act of the poet's will and imagination. One of its principal characteristics, irony, associates the critical stance of the poetic self with fragmentation. The ironic temper sets up a unique perspective in which self-alienation gives rise to various dichotomies (for example, the distinction between expansive movement and immobilization), all typical of Baudelaire s poetry. (KH)