ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Poète maudit

Imagine you're a little kid and you wrote a poem that was really sad or angry, and when you showed it to your mom or your teacher or your friends, they didn't like it. They told you that you should write happy poems instead because nobody wants to read sad or angry ones.

Well, a poète maudit is kind of like a grown-up version of that. It's a French term that means "cursed poet," and it describes a person who writes poetry that's usually really sad or angry or dark, and people don't like it. In fact, sometimes they even hate it.

The thing is, though, that the poète maudit doesn't care. They keep on writing their sad and angry and dark poems because that's what's in their heart, and they don't want to write anything else. They might feel like nobody understands them or like the whole world is against them, and that just makes them write even more sad and angry and dark poems.

Some famous poètes maudits from history include Arthur Rimbaud, Charles Baudelaire, and Sylvia Plath. They're important because even though their poetry wasn't always popular when they were alive, it's now considered some of the greatest poetry ever written. So even though people might not have liked them when they were alive, their words have stood the test of time and continue to be read and loved today.