A vast amount of his poetry refers to some sort of lost paradise. ... Like many other writers in his period, Baudelaire, due to his theory of beauty and its role in poetry, would succumb to the conclusion that the "perfect type of masculine beauty was Satan". ... He emphasizes the duality of man, which suggests that one half of his nature is directed towards God, and the other, towards Satan. He would however maintain that man's spiritual disease would consequently declare Satan as victor. ...

• Word Count: 1229
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate