An Explication of “The Eyes of Beauty” by Charles Baudelaire

In “The Eyes of Beauty” Baudelaire is speaking about the eyes of a beautiful woman. He talks about the sadness that is within him from memories he has. He says that she wants his heart, but it has already been destroyed by women. He goes into detail about his heart’s ruin and women’s evil ways. Then he gets distracted by the woman he is with and changes his mind. He claims that beauty controls his emotions and he gives into them. Baudelaire plays with the language within this poem, first by speaking to the reader and giving him the role of beauty. He also speaks about beauty in the third person in the end, as if it is no longer personal but rather out of his control. Baudelaire uses a lot of images to convey his emotions. In the first stanza he compares his blood to the sea. This gives weight to his sadness and gives the reader the ability to relate to his bitterness to salt left from the ocean and its “surges, and ebbing”. Next he tells her that her touch serves no purpose because the heart that she searches for has been damaged by past women. He characterizes them as evil by their “tooth and talon” and by calling them dogs. He goes farther in explaining his pain by explaining how they separated and tore his heart and filled themselves with his destruction. At this point the poem shifts, “A perfume swims about your naked breast!” He changes his tone, but not for her heart, but for her body that is irresistible. Now giving into beauty he claims that it is the cause of all his problems. The eyes of beauty are now described as “flame-like” that he believes shine on him only to further destroy him, “eyes that at bright feasts have flared”. His view of women is of evil creatures that want to devastate him. In the last line he gives in and tells her to “burn” what is left of himself. In the end by connecting this woman with fire he is explaining the passion he finds in her and the destruction she will cause him. In this poem Baudelaire explains beauty as being a surface quality. The beautiful women that he speaks of are destructive, but alluring.