• Man and the Sea - Charles Baudelaire | Poetry Poster, framed poster in an elegant interior, dried grasses and a rattan chair
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  • Man and the Sea - Charles Baudelaire | Poetry Poster, the print alone, thick matte eco-friendly paper
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Man and the Sea - Charles Baudelaire | Poetry Poster

Man and the Sea - Charles Baudelaire | Poetry Poster

€35,00 EUR
€35,00 EUR
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  • Designed in France
  • 100% eco-friendly paper100% eco-friendly paper
  • Printed and shipped from a studio near you : most orders arrive in 5 business daysDelivery in 5 business days.

Read the full text of L'Homme et la mer and our analysis →

"Free man, you will always cherish the sea!"

The text of L'Homme et la mer, and what it tells us

L'Homme et la mer appeared in Les Fleurs du Mal in 1857. In four quatrains, Baudelaire sets up a face-off: man and the sea resemble each other, contemplate each other, and have been fighting each other forever. The sea is a mirror, "the infinite unrolling of its wave," in which man reads his own depth.

The poem ends with a tie: two "eternal combatants," "implacable brothers," as secretive as each other. It is one of Baudelaire's most sought-after texts, in French as well as in English.

What does Baudelaire's L'Homme et la mer tell us?

Charles Baudelaire's L'Homme et la mer draws a parallel between two natures that reflect each other: man contemplates himself in the sea as in a mirror, because both are unfathomable. The poem ends with the image of two "eternal combatants, oh implacable brothers," who clash endlessly without either being able to win.

Where to find the text of L'Homme et la mer?

L'Homme et la mer is the fourteenth poem in the Spleen et Idéal section of Les Fleurs du Mal, published by Charles Baudelaire in 1857. The text is composed of four quatrains in alexandrines with enclosed rhymes.

What size should I choose for this L'Homme et la mer poster?

This L'Homme et la mer poster is available in 30 x 40 cm, 40 x 50 cm, and 50 x 70 cm. The 30 x 40 cm size is suitable for a hallway, office, or gallery wall; the 50 x 70 cm size stands alone above a sofa or bed. The frame is not included, the sizes are standard and can be found commercially.

Gift idea for a sea lover, a Baudelaire reader, or someone whose home looks out to the open sea.

Features and formats

Available sizes: 30 x 40 cm, 40 x 50 cm, 50 x 70 cm
Paper: thick eco-friendly matte paper
Printing: high resolution, colorfast over time
Frame: not included
Print medium: poster, art print on matte paper
Theme: poetry, literature
Delivery: most orders arrive in 5 business days, careful packaging

When to give this print

« Homme libre, toujours tu chériras la mer ! » L'Homme et la mer in full is the gift for a father, a sailor or a swimmer : Father's Day, Christmas, a retirement or a great departure. The whole poem, set like the page of an old edition, for a study or a bedroom.

Posters sold individually

These posters need to be framed by you :)
We choose standard formats that are easy to frame!

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Close-up of the grain of our thick eco-friendly matte 170 gsm paper
The paper grain, up close.

Heure d'été Editions

Beautiful words deserve beautiful paper

These verses are set to be hung: a chosen typeface, measured margins, white space worked around the text. It is this layout that makes you want to read them again.

The paper is an uncoated matte 170 gsm. Its surface stays slightly fibrous, the ink sinks in, the light spreads across it. You read it the way you read a book.

It is eco-friendly paper from sustainably managed forests, and printed as close to you as possible to shorten transport.

Hanging a poem is not the same as reading it once. The text stays there, you catch two lines in passing, and the day pauses for a second. It is a moment you give yourself, and offer to those who live with you.

There is a quiet pleasure in living with French literature in the original. The poem keeps the language it was written in, and with it the sound the writer chose, which no translation quite carries over. On an English-speaking wall it stops being decoration and becomes something with a little cachet: a piece of France you can read on your way past, every morning.

It earns the large format. At 50x70 cm the text is read from across the room, and the page holds a wall the way a painting does.

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    Our illustrations are created in our studio and found nowhere else. The poems and masterpieces are hand-picked, one by one: a curated collection, not a catalogue.

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