While it's a phenomenal work, the New Directions is a bit odd in that each of the poems is tackled by a different translator. Furthermore, though bilingual, the French text makes up the second half and is not en face which makes it difficult for students of the language. ( )

The actual quality of the poetry is really good, but the translations are often questionable. Sometimes the rhyme scheme gets changed, phrases are put in different orders, even punctuation varies from the original. It's nice to have the French there to look at, though my pronunciation is probably lacking, but overall I think I only like literal translations that don't try to keep the meter and rhyme becuz that's a lot truer to the diction and imagery. ( )

The poetry does not grip me. ( )

I don't know French, so unfortunately am unable to ascertain how true to the original this translation is. Thus, based purely on the English half of this book, I was a bit disappointed that the poetry did not speak to me as much as it once had.

The words and messages seem fairly simplistic. Baudelaire has his moments, but they were way too infrequent. His subject matter was also simplistic, which tended to result in rather course poems, instead of uplifting common language to a higher plain. The Parisian Scenes and Death sections were the highlights and do have some interesting ideas worth exploring.

Overall, this was a book worth reading (and re-reading), but I don't think the potential of some of Baudelaire's ideas were fully realized. ( )

The epitome of decadence and one of the greatest volumes of modern poetry. Dark, sometimes gruesome, images of sex and death are presented in beautiful language completely opposite to its subject. It is no wonder why this volume fought constant censorship in France from its initial publication in 1857 all the way up to sixty years ago. If you enjoy poetry, you have to read this. If you don't enjoy poetry, you have to read this. I read the MacGowan translation, which seems to preserve the cadence very well. Perfect for a cold morning with a cup of hot tea. ( )