The street as passer-by.

The article presents the author's reflections on urban life and the particular experience of a city street in poetry. Topics addressed include an interpretation of Charles Baudelaire's transformation of the regular "Tableau de Paris" into "Tableaux parisiens," the title of his 19th century street poetry, Joseph de Maistre's influence on Baudelaire's political and theological conjectures, and reference to other poems about cities.