The Voyage By Charles Baudelaire

Boredom, immense in its nature, is this the downfall of all humanity? Does it bear down on us, pushing us at lengths to find any way to relieve ourselves of its mind numbing capacity through whatever means necessary? Charles Baudelaire, a great French poet, wrote one of the most interesting collections of poems in our history with his collection The Flowers of Evil. He presses the idea that ennui, which Baudelaire portrays as the ultimate form of boredom and dissatisfaction, is humanity’s greatest vice. These poems written in the 19th century were the subject of great controversy. In the poem “The Voyage,” within this collection, Baudelaire represents his own version of the psychological development of humans which progresses through stages of ennui as each …show more content…
The poem starts “The wide-eyed child in love with maps and plans/ Finds the world equal to his appetite.” This opening statement displays the innocence and joy of youth for the traveler representing the beginning of the lifespan. At this time everything is new and spectacular. He has yet to experience life itself. The child spends his time making plans of what his future will hold. Here Baudelaire shows a very familiar youth stage revolving around preparation for the real world and the simple joy of early life. The traveler has a sense of satisfaction at this time that represents a complete lack of ennui. As he and his companions, collectively called “we” (perhaps meant to represent all of the travelers of life), progress through childhood they become bored with their homeland and want more from their world. With this Baudelaire progresses into adolescence symbolized by being “bitter in its mood.” There becomes a search for more. Then “One day we leave, with fire in the brain.” Baudelaire says that they flee from “homelands gripped in vice” searching for more and attempting to escape “horrors of their childhood.”