In the meantime, thank you for your inspired rendition of the poems - very impressive indeed.” – A personal message from a student of literature I intend to publish mine - once complete - one day, and I’d love to learn your reaction to them once that occurs. and while my translations are somewhat similar to yours in that regard, there are also interesting differences (of course). I’ve also made several translations using the same aesthetic as you’ve clearly embraced - maintaining Baudelaire’s rhyme/meter, transferring meaning/imagery as accurately as possible, etc. They remind me of the Millay versions but read even more like the originals, and are more reflective of their meanings as well. Tidball, I’m currently doing my thesis at KU Leuven in Belgium on Fleurs du Mal translations, and of all those I’ve read (many!) yours are - to me - the most faithful and beautiful. While no single poem stands out, the singularity of Tidball’s vision of Baudelaire comes together in its entirety.” – Efren L. A sense of force is missing in the Howard/Godine edition. Aggeler’s translations are immensely engaging but are not as musical. The Oxford edition attempted rhyming musicality but the images felt flat. And I have to say, these translations by John Tidball are astounding, and my favorite. “I’ve read Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal over forty times in multiple translations, him being a most beloved poet of mine along with Rimbaud and Vallejo. An astonishing performance.” – Nathan Brown, Concordia University, Montreal Though it is independently published and lacks the imprimatur of translations by Richard Howard and James McGowan, it is far superior to either in accuracy, literary quality, and as an honest rendering of Baudelaire’s sensibility. John Tidball has succeeded in producing such a translation that is accurate (at the level of the stanza and often the line) and that does not destroy the tonal sense of Baudelaire’s French.Īlong with Geoffrey Wagner’s translation from the 1940s, which only offers a selection of the poems, I think this is the best translation of Les Fleurs du Mal in English. Having read dozens of translations of Baudelaire in the process of working toward my own, I had thought it impossible to produce a rhyming, metered translation that would not descend into a parody of the original.
“This is an extraordinary translation of Les Fleurs du Mal.
Tidball has already received a number of excellent reviews from poets, academics and poetry-lovers. The new English translation of Charles Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal by John E.
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