ABSTRACT
In contrast, in a famous letter to Arsne Houssaye about his attempt in the prose poems to create a form of writing capable of expressing modern urban consciousness. Nonetheless the prose poems are rife with alienation and conflict, reactions ranging from compassion to hostility, and tactics of disguise and displacement. These features are highlighted in the caf environment of 'The Eyes of the Poor'. It allows a glimpse of the physical transformations of Paris under Haussmann and Napolon III, and of the superficial and materialistic society they reflected and encouraged. In both incidents, institution and form, the function and material construction of the caf, are central because of its potential for interpersonal interactions, social display, and economic differentiation. Baudelaire exploits all of these in 'The Eyes of the Poor'. To say that his insights resemble those of founders of urban sociology such as Simmel, to play Baudelaire off against Sartre.
