Looking At Beauty In "Hymn To Beauty"

Baudelaire's Hymn To Beauty is a striking piece that touched me in its analysis of the subject matter - beauty. The poem begins by posing a question– “O Beauty! do you visit from the sky/ Or the abyss?” Firstly, one must note the capitalization of “Beauty”, suggesting that the beauty Baudelaire refers to throughout the poem represents more than the reader may initially consider. By personifying this physical characteristic, Baudelaire emphasizes its significance and describes this idea of Beauty which has been instilled with human traits. It is possible as well that Baudelaire had someone particular in mind when he was writing the poem, and used Beauty, rather than a real name, in an effort to detach himself from the poem and the reader. As the poem progresses, Beauty takes on other human characteristics like an “eye” which “contains the evening and the dawn”. As such, beauty's importance is heightened.

Beauty is something which in today's world can be interpreted in many ways. Not everyone defines beauty the same way. For example, a teenage boy might define beauty as a Sports Illustrated pinup and an old woman will probably find greater beauty in artistic scenery. Thus, Baudelaire's poem shows well the complexity of the notion of beauty and brought me to think about what this word means. Furthermore, such a concept is surely not just physical and this poem brought me to think about the extensive range of possible ways in which something can be beautiful.