Baudelaire, Charles,
a French poet, born April 9, 1821; died 1867. He was the herald, if not the founder of the so called decadent school of French literature. He seems to have striven to be as offensive as possible in the expression of his peculiar views of life, nature, and God, yet his work will live because of his wonderful technique, which is not equalled in French poetry.
Entry from Everybody's Cyclopedia, 1912.