French · Parisian Scenes

À une passante

To a Woman Passing By

14 lines · 13 notes

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1
The deafening street was howling all around me.
Lathele · determiner, feminine, singulardeterminer of rue
ruestreetrue · noun, feminine, singularsubject of hurlait
assourdissantedeafeningassourdissant · adjective, feminine, singularmodifies rue
autouraroundautour · adverbmodifies hurlait
deofde · prepositionpreposition marking moi, part of autour de
moimemoi · pronoun, singulardepends on autour
hurlaitwas howlinghurler · verb, imperfect, indicative, third-person, singularmain verb of the sentence
Wordassourdissant(e) «assourdissant» means 'deafening', from «assourdir», 'to deafen, to muffle'. It is the present participle of the verb used as an adjective, agreeing with «la rue» (feminine): «la rue assourdissante» — the deafening street, so loud it «hurlait» (howled) around the poet.
2
Tall, slender, in deep mourning, a majestic grief,
Wordle deuil; en grand deuil «le deuil» is mourning, both the grief and the black clothes worn for it. «en grand deuil» = 'in full / deep mourning' — the heaviest black, marking a recent and close death. The whole woman is then renamed by her sorrow: «douleur majestueuse», a majestic grief.
3
A woman passed, with a lavish hand
GrammarPassé simple «passa» «passa» is the «passé simple» (literary past) of «passer», 'to pass': 'she passed'. This tense, used only in writing, gives the single, finished gesture of her crossing — over in an instant, like the «éclair» (flash) of the first tercet.
4
Lifting, swaying the scallop and the hem;
Wordle feston; l'ourlet «le feston» is a scalloped or festooned border of a skirt; «l'ourlet» is the hem. The two present participles «soulevant, balançant» (lifting, swaying) describe her hand gathering and rocking the edge of her dress as she walks — a single, vivid flourish of movement.
5
Nimble and noble, with her leg of a statue.
6
I — I was drinking, tensed like a madman,
GrammarStressed pronoun «moi» + «je» «moi» is the stressed (disjunctive) pronoun, set before the ordinary subject «je» to throw the weight onto the speaker: 'I, for my part…'. The pivot from the passing woman to the watching poet, «Moi, je buvais» ('I was drinking [her in]'), turns the sonnet inward at its center.
7
From her eye, livid sky where the storm takes root,
Wordgermer; l'ouragan «germer» is 'to sprout, to germinate', as a seed does; «l'ouragan» is a hurricane or violent storm. Her eye is a «ciel livide» (livid, leaden sky) «où germe l'ouragan» — where the storm is already taking root. Note the inversion: the verb «germe» comes before its subject «l'ouragan».
8
The sweetness that enthralls and the pleasure that kills.
9
A flash of lightning... then the night! — Fleeting beauty
Wordl'éclair; fugitif / fugitive «un éclair» is a flash of lightning; «fugitif/fugitive» means 'fleeting, fugitive'. The encounter is compressed into a single flash followed by darkness, and she becomes «Fugitive beauté» — a beauty already vanishing. The em-dash marks the abrupt turn from scene to direct address.
10
Whose glance suddenly made me be reborn,
GrammarRelative pronoun «dont» «dont» is the relative pronoun standing for «de qui / de quoi» — 'whose, of whom'. «Fugitive beauté dont le regard…» = 'fleeting beauty whose gaze…': «dont» links the address to her «regard» (look), the glance that «m'a fait… renaître», made the poet be reborn.
GrammarCausative «faire» + infinitive «faire» plus an infinitive is the causative, 'to make (someone) do': «le regard m'a fait renaître» = 'the glance made me be reborn'. The object pronoun «m'» (me) is the one caused to act. «renaître» is 'to be reborn' — a single look brings the poet back to life.
11
Shall I see you no more except in eternity?
GrammarInversion in a question; «ne... plus que» The subject «je» is inverted after the verb to form the question: «verrai-je» = 'shall I see'. «ne... plus que» means 'no longer... except / only now... in', so «Ne te verrai-je plus que dans l'éternité?» = 'Shall I see you no more except in eternity?' — only after death, if ever.
12
Elsewhere, far from here! too late! never perhaps!
Wordailleurs; jamais peut-être «ailleurs» means 'elsewhere'; «bien loin d'ici» = 'far from here'. The line breaks into broken exclamations — «trop tard!» ('too late!'), «jamais peut-être!» ('never perhaps!') — that act out the lost chance, each phrase a separate gasp at the missed meeting.
13
For I know not where you flee, you know not where I go,
Wordignorer (faux ami) «ignorer» is a false friend: it means 'not to know, to be unaware of', not 'to ignore'. «j'ignore où tu fuis» = 'I do not know where you are fleeing'. Paired with «tu ne sais où je vais», it seals the symmetry of two strangers parting forever, each blind to the other's path.
14
O you whom I would have loved, O you who knew it!
GrammarPast subjunctive as conditional «j'eusse aimée» «j'eusse aimée» is the pluperfect subjunctive of «aimer», here used in its literary value as a past conditional: 'whom I would have loved'. The «-e» on «aimée» agrees with the preceding feminine object «que» (= «toi», the woman). It is the great might-have-been on which the sonnet closes.

The particulars

The text: Les Fleurs du mal, Charles Baudelaire. Parisian Scenes.
Words: Every word of the text, by letter.
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