Besides his writing of poetry, he wrote a number of prose works, including a collection of art and literary reviews and several short stories and novels. His earliest work, in 1847 was a short autobiographical story titled La fanfarlo. He incorporated into his protagonist, Samuel Cramer, many of his personal beliefs and feelings. He used similar tactics as he drew himself further into the world of poetry. .
Two years after the publishing of La fanfarlo, Baudelaire acquired a fascination with American writer Edgar Allan Poe; and began translating many of his works into French. His attraction to Poe remained consistent throughout his lifetime. He identified completely with Poe integrating many of his thoughts and ideas into his own poetry. Like Poe, Baudelaire disliked the romantic reverence for spontaneity and inspiration. His belief that creation was impossible without the insertion of forms of discipline provoked him to repeatedly revise his poems. Although he upheld imagination and trance, he insisted that perfection had to be achieved by use of a technique. Baudelaire also rejected the Romantic theme of nature worship. His admiration for the artificial and for the modern is evident and consistent throughout his poetry. Most notably in Les fleurs du mal, he exhibits a love for materialism such as perfume, jewels, precious stones, and even prostitution. Baudelaire was among few poets who loved the city, regardless of how corrupt it was. This is also made apparent in both Petit poemes en prose and Le spleen de Paris, a collection of prose poems in which he seeks a mysterious sort of beauty in the ugliness of the modern city. .
Baudelaire's rejection of Romantic themes did not extend to the Romantic reverence for nostalgia and memory. A vast amount of his poetry refers to some sort of lost paradise. His poem, La chevelure, exemplifies such a fact as it recalls brief moments of pure happiness in distant tropical locations.