A Changing World: The Second Empire and Beyond (1852–1871)

Abstract

These lines from “The Swan,” a poem from the section entitled “Parisian Scenes” in Baudelaire’s classic collection of poems Flowers of Evil indicate how rapidly the city was renewing itself and how traumatic and surprising this quick metamorphosis was to Parisians during the Second Empire. Here, the changes trigger anxiety in the poet’s mind, caught between the “old” Paris he is so comfortable and familiar with, and the “new” one, thrilling, modern, but also frightening in its haste to reinvent itself Like many others in this period, Baudelaire found himself at the very heart of the most active and dramatic demolition and transfiguration of Paris. The feverish changes did not suit his melancholy nature, even though, at times, he not only applauded the modernity and fleeting quality of the times, but also exulted in the city’s strange, arresting beauty, in the fascinating transformation of its appearance and in the formidable new influence of the crowds of city dwellers in the vitality of this new hub of modernity. We examine here what is lost and what is gained in this massive transformation of the urban space—and eventually, of the rural space as well—in France during the period of the Second Empire. This transformation would affect and alter the lifestyle of the people of this era, turning them into modern citizens, mostly bourgeois in nature, living in renewed cities ideally designed and ostensibly built for the betterment of their lives. In reality, however, this transformation would leave many behind, physically separate the classes, and allocate them different social spaces. Whether it was intentional or not, the Second Empire’s architectural idealism, which aspired to nothing less than the universal improvement of all mankind, ended up segregating the classes by empowering the bourgeoisie and excluding a number of others, most notably the working classes and the poor.