The Albatross

“Correspondences” by Charles Baudelaire (1857)

Also published in Les Fleurs du mal (The Flowers of Evil), “Correspondances” is perhaps Baudelaire’s most famous poem, a sonnet that outlines his aesthetic of symbolism and synesthesia, or the intermingling of the senses. The poem, which posits that the natural world consists of symbols for the poet to decipher, came to define the aesthetic of the French Symbolist movement in poetry.

“Elevation” by Charles Baudelaire (1857)

Also published in Les Fleurs du mal, “Elevation” likens the poetic spirit to a bird, free of the concerns of mortal existence and society’s ills. Images of flight and liberation make this poem an interesting counterpoint to “The Albatross.” In fact, in the 1861 edition of Les Fleurs du mal, Baudelaire placed “Elevation” immediately after “The Albatross,” a choice that was significant given that Baudelaire wanted each poem in the collection to correspond to its neighbors.

“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1798)

One of the Coleridge’s major poems and a key example of supernaturalism in Romantic poetry, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” was published in Lyrical Ballads in 1798. The poem tells of a sea voyage in which a mariner kills an albatross, a bird considered a good omen among sailors.