BAUDELAIRE AND THE ABYSS
419
Among Baudelaire's numerous poetic themes there is one
which he took directly from life; only later did he realize that
it would make, just as it was, an excellent poem in prose. I
refer to "The Poor Man's Toy," the theme of which Baudelaire
cites purely as an illustration in his article "The Philosophy of
the Toy", and which he reproduces almost word for word, but
this time as a poem, in his
Le Spleen de Paris.
No doubt
Baudelaire quotes this "anecdote" because of its significance,
yet reading the poem we realize that the depth, the tragic
actuality
of its significance must have escaped him. But for this
very reason it is all the more significant-/or
us.
It illustrates
in
more than one respect the intentions, still obscure, of this
essay:
"On a road, behind the fence of a large garden at the end
of which emerged the white of a lovely castle shining in the
sun, stood a handsome and rosy child. Luxury, freedom from
care and the habitual view of wealth make these children so
beautiful that one might think them cast in a different mold
from the children of mediocrity and poverty.
"Beside him on the grass lay a splendid toy, as fresh as its
owner, varnished, gilded, decked in purple and covered with
plumes and trinkets. But the child was not interested in his
favorite toy; that is what he was watching:
"On the other side of the fence, among the weeds and
nettles of the road, was another child, filthy, sickly, slovenly,
one of those parish urchins whose beauty would be discovered
by an unbiased eye if, like the eye of the connoisseur, penetrat·
ing to the ideal painting under the varnish laid on by a tyro, it
removed the repellent patina of poverty.
"Through the symbolic bars which separated two worlds,
the highway and the castle, the poor brat was showing the ele–
gant child his own toy, which the latter examined avidly as if
it were some rare and unknown object. This toy, which the
little sloven worried, poked and shook in a grated box, was a
living rat! His parents, no doubt out of thrift, had snatched
this toy from life itself....
"And the two children laughed fraternally, displaying
teeth of
equal
whiteness."
