Abstract: The three major meanings of fraternité in the nineteenth century (humanitarian fraternity, elective fraternity, biological fraternity) are reflected in Baudelaire’s work, which accords them special treatment. The ironization of brotherhood in 1848 is accompanied in his writing by continuous praise for a reduced and aristocratic fraternity, that of great creators throughout the ages. They are, however, inseparable, as are the “solitude” of the poet and the “multitude,” his modern muse.
