Read the poem: “The Mirror”

by Charles Baudelaire

Extract of The Flowers of Evil

Download PDF

French Literature – French Poetry – Charles Baudelaire
< < < The Lovely Dorothea
The Old Mountebank > > >

The Mirror

A frightful man enters, and looks at himself in a glass.

“Why do you look at yourself in the mirror, since you can view yourself only with displeasure?”

The frightful man answers me: “Sir, in accordance with the immortal principles of ’89, all men have equal rights; therefore I have the right to behold myself; with pleasure or displeasure, that concerns only my conscience.”

In the name of common sense, I was surely right; but, from a legal standpoint, he was not wrong.

Translated by Joseph T. Shipley

< < < The Lovely Dorothea
The Old Mountebank > > >

French Literature – French Poetry – Charles Baudelaire

If you liked this article, subscribe , put likes, write comments!

Share on social networks

Visit us on Facebook or Twitter

Check out Our Latest Posts

by Charles Baudelaire

Extract of The Flowers of Evil

The Mirror

Leave a comment Cancel reply