'Le Mauvais Vitrier': A Literary Transfiguration

Baudelaire's anti-social action against the glazier (i.e. dropping the flower pot) cannot be fully explained by deeming it an acte gratuit or a manifestation of the imp of the perverse. In this strange action, a spiritual shock is produced, which permits the poet to transcend the real-life situation in a naturalistic surrounding to attain the realm of the surnaturel. This reaction embodies a sentiment of a "new youthfulness" on the part of the poet, who feels constrained to release his supreme joy: "La vie en beau! la vie en beau!" (FSH)