The collection that “Hymn to Beauty” comes from, Les Fleurs du Mal, overcame a rocky start to become one of the most recognized and influential books of poetry ever written. When it was first published in 1857, Baudelaire and his publisher were sued for indecency. Each had to pay fines. Worse, however, was the fact that reviewers were frightened away from offering positive reviews. As A. E. Carter explained it, this was a catastrophe that can hardly be understood in the modern age of marketing. “In 1857 the uses of publicity were not properly understood: instead of profiting by the lawsuit, Baudelaire’s career suffered an undeniable setback. Poetry is seldom an easy article to market, especially poetry like his, and now publishers had a sound excuse for turning down his manuscripts. Not until twenty or thirty years later did the 1857 stigma prove negotiable. It has paid off pretty well since; Les Fleurs du Mal have always smelled of forbidden fruit.” The second edition of the book, in 1861, is the one on which Baudelaire’s considerable reputation is built—the six poems deemed to be indecent were removed, and roughly a hundred new poems were added.

Baudelaire was considered a breakthrough poet, at least by other poets. His reputation was discussed, but his works were not widely available until after 1917, when the copyright ran out and his works fell into public domain. Baudelaire was a powerful influence on the French symbolists, who gained international acclaim in the late 1800s. He was also a strong influence on T. S. Eliot, whose artistic theories were central to the development of the Modernism movement from the 1920s forward.

Contemporary critics are able to see the influence that Baudelaire’s poetry has exerted on the literary world over time. Most literary analyses focus on his fascinations with Satan and beauty, such as when Lewis Piaget Shanks noted, in 1974, that “Baudelaire could never shake off the Catholic dualism, that consciousness of our warring flesh and spirit.” It is this dualism that has made him a model poet—his poetry is intellectually challenging, but still based in the experiences of the senses.