Baudelaire coined the word modernity in 1859 while articulating how poetry survives capitalism

Evidence

Baudelaire, the poet of modernity, a word he himself had coined in 1859, had articulated the problem of the modern poet more acutely than any before him: how is poetry possible in a technologized and capitalistic society? His poems and his writings on the theory of poetry gave the answer: modern poetry must be `supple and resistant enough to adapt itself to the lyrical stirrings of the soul, the wave motions of dreaming, the shocks of consciousness’. When Baudelaire enjoyed the special tone brought to modern life by industrialization, which he cursed, and by progress, which he cursed, and when he perceived not only the decay of humanity but also an as yet undiscovered, secret beauty in the dilapidated wilderness of the big citythis was evidence of an attempt, in a time without dignity, to find a trace of genuine dignity. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 860

Categorization

• DEFINE: Pinpoints the 1859 coining of ‘modernity’ and Baudelaire’s positioning of it as an aesthetic challenge.
• QUESTION: Worth verifying Baudelaire’s 1859 coinage date directly; the claim is specific enough to double-check.
• XREF: connects to: Baudelaire defined modernity as half transient and half eternal — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity: An…, 105; Baudelaire’s celebrated definition of modernity was contextually specific, not universal. — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism: A Marxist…, 136; Bauman’s liquid modernity parallels the financialization thesis — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living with…, 669

Broader Connections

• Baudelaire defined modernity as half transient and half eternal #expands (0.90) — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, 105
• Baudelaire’s celebrated definition of modernity was contextually specific, not universal. #qualifies (0.85) — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism, 136
• Bauman’s liquid modernity parallels the financialization thesis #complicates (0.75) — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 669