The first and longest section of the Fleurs du Mal is called 'Spleen et Ideal' (Spleen and the Ideal), and very near the end of it occur four poems all bearing the same title, 'Spleen'. The word is borrowed from English. Littre's dictionary of 1863 defines it thus:
SPLEEN
English name sometimes given to a form of hypochondria, consisting of a motiveless ennui, a disgust with life.
