The American poet and writer Edgar Elan Poe might well have remained a peripheral figure, had he not been transfigured by Baude Laire into the patron saint of French poetry.

• 要不是波德莱尔把美国诗人爱德伽·艾伦·坡美化为法国诗歌的典范,他很可能至今还是一个三流人物。