“Elevation”: A Poem Not Translated by Andrés Holguín

Abstract

In the first place, the article highlights the difficulty of labeling Charles Baudelaire as a poet, and, consequently, of situating his work in a specific movement. Is it post-Romantic, Parnassian, Symbolist, decadent, or simply modern? Secondly, the article illustrates that difficulty through the analysis of the poem “Elevation”, in order to show those elements that make it possible to classify it as a symbolist poem. Finally, on the basis of the poems not translated by Andrés Holguín, the article concludes that “critical practice”, as defined by Michael Sisson, predominates in Holguín’s task as a translator. That is to say that he emphasizes the fully modern and decadent poet, whose work focuses on evil, thus eliminating the discussion with the theoretical tenets of movements such as Symbolism and Romanticism.

Keywords

• Charles Baudelaire
• Andrés Holguín
• simbolismo
• parnasianismo
• moderno