synesthesia - a smell will correspond to a sound in nature (line 1), a sound to a color, etc. Baudelaire was into hallucinogenic drugs and likely experienced this.

Nietzsche's Dionysus

gallows

Being so bored and jaded that nothing surprised—cynical boredom

IRONY: Your problem, dear reader, is that you're charmed by all these repugnant things. But read on (in fleurs du mal) and you'll see poems about my prostitute by whom I'm extremely charmed.

depiction of Satan as a magician

forgiveness

Sins (folly, error, avarice in our minds) bother us (the better-off readers who would read his poems) about as much as lice (vermin) bother the poor beggar.

what the

Reminds me of "Parfum Exotique"

?

What the...