Which is the real one? (by Charles Baudelaire): traps of imitation and creation in the representation of reality

Abstract

This paper aims at discussing the riddle present in the prose poem "Which is the real one? The Ideal and the Real", from the work Paris Spleen by Charles Baudelaire, from the poem analysis and a brief study of the concept of mimesis and of the imitation references in the Book X of Plato's Republic, in Aristotle's Poetics and the Philosophical Doctrines of  Art by Schlegel. It is suggested that the Benedicta character and her double, initially allegorized in the title, are organized as symbols that dialogue with the classical and the modern poetic forms. In this symbolic game, the narrator sets out issues concerning the practice of writing, evidences how his proposal is part of the poetic tradition and provides clues to the understanding of his riddle.