Born on the island of Bourbon, the tropical landscape that was familiar to his boyhood recurs constantly in his poems. Coming to France to complete his studies and to reside, he became the master spirit among the poets of the middle of the century and the recognized leader of the Parnassiens. From the beginning he protested vigorously against the Romanticists of 1830, not only as making an immodest and on the whole vulgar display of self (cf. _les Montreurs_, p. 199), but also as inevitably falling short of artistic perfection because, being possessed, or at least moved, by the emotion they were expressing, they could not be wholly masters of the instrument of expression. To be thus wholly master of the resources of poetic art one must be quite untroubled by one's own personal joys and sorrows, have the brain clear and free. This call to the poet to rid himself of the personal element was emphasized by the reflection that individual emotions are of little importance or interest, being dwarfed by the collective life of humanity in general, which in turn is overshadowed by the vast phenomenon of life as a whole, while this again is but a transient vapor on the face of the immense universe. So the poetic creed of an impersonal and impassive art was more or less blended with a materialism pervaded with a buddhistic pessimism that is vexed and wearied with the vain motions of this human world, and longs for the rest of Nirvana; and this vexation and weariness frequently rise to a poignant intensity. However far he may then be thought to be from the impassive impersonality of his doctrine, there is but one opinion as to his rare command of form and the exquisite perfection of his art, which have won for him the epithet _impeccable_. Works: _Poèmes antiques_, 1853; _Poèmes et poésies_, 1855; _Poésies complètes_, 1858 (contains the two previous collections); _Poèmes barbares_, 1862; _Poèmes tragiques_, 1884; _Derniers poèmes_, 1894. He was also an industrious translator of the Greek poets and of Horace. For reference: P. Bourget, _Nouveaux essais de psychologie contemporaine_, 1885; J. Lemaître, _les Contemporains_, vol. ii, 1887; F. Brunetière, _Évolution de la poésie lyrique_, vol. ii, 1894; also in Contemporary Review, vol. lxvi. 199. LES MONTREURS. From _Poèmes barbares_. MIDI and NOX are from the _Poèmes antiques_. The poems from L'ECCLÉSIASTE to REQUIES inclusive, and also LE MANCHY, are from the _Poèmes barbares_. The rest, except the last, are from the _Poèmes tragiques_. 203. LA VERANDAH, I. HÛKA, oriental pipe. 215. SI L'AURORE. 10. PITONS, mountain peaks; the word is used in the French colonies. 21. VARANGUE, a kind of porch, cf. verandah. LE MANCHY. A _manchy_ is a kind of sedan-chair, or litter. 217. LE FRAIS MATIN DORAIT. 28. LETCHIS, a tropical plant. 218. TRE FILA D'ORO. The words of the title, which is Italian, are found in the final line of each stanza, _trois fils d'or_. CHARLES BAUDELAIRE. 1821-1867.