Section 5: The Widows, The Old Mountebank & Cake Summary

In "The Widows", the narrator states that public parks are "These shady retreats are the gathering places of those crippled by life" (p. 3). Baudelaire comments that this is a place that attracts the poets to the weakened and ruined forms of life. He comments that the widows are easy to spot, that the poor must stint their grief while the rich wear it in full view of the world. The narrator followed one widow who had caught his attention through her day. He watched her lunch alone, followed her to a book reading and searches the paper for something. He found her fascinating in the way she carried herself and sat quietly to the side in a park to listen to the music that drifted in the wind to the woman...