French · Spleen and Ideal

Alchimie de la douleur

Alchemy of Sorrow

14 lines · 7 notes

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1
One man lights you with his ardor,
L'thele · determiner, singulardeterminer of un
unoneun · pronoun, masculine, singularsubject of éclaire
t'youte · pronoun, singulardirect object of éclaire
éclairelightséclairer · verb, present, indicative, third-person, singularmain verb of the sentence
avecwithavec · prepositionpreposition marking ardeur
sonhisson · determiner, singulardeterminer of ardeur
ardeurardorardeur · noun, feminine, singularoblique argument of éclaire
GrammarL'un … l'autre «l'un … l'autre» is the correlative pair 'one … the other'. Here «l'un» (this stanza) and «l'autre» (next line) set two kinds of person against each other; the «t'» / «toi» they both address is «Nature», named at the end of line 2.
2
The other lays his mourning in you, Nature!
Worddeuil (m.) «deuil» = mourning, grief, bereavement — the black of loss. «mettre son deuil en…» here means to pour one's mourning into something: the second man projects his grief onto Nature herself.
3
What says to the one: Sepulcher!
4
Says to the other: Life and splendor!
5
Unknown Hermes who assist me
WordHermès (Hermes Trismegistus) Beyond the Greek messenger-god, «Hermès» evokes Hermes Trismegistus, the legendary father of alchemy (hence 'hermetic'). «inconnu» = unknown; the poet calls on a hidden, hermetic power that secretly governs his transformations.
6
And who always cowed me,
GrammarPassé simple, 2nd person «intimidas» is the «passé simple» (tu form) of «intimider», 'to intimidate / overawe'. This literary past tense is rare in speech; «toujours … intimidas» pairs it with «toujours» to give the awe a timeless, fated weight.
7
You make me the equal of Midas,
8
The saddest of alchemists;
9
Through you I change gold into iron
Grammarchanger X en Y «changer A en B» = 'to change A into B'. The construction inverts the alchemist's dream: instead of base metal into gold, «l'or en fer» (gold into iron) and «le paradis en enfer» (paradise into hell).
10
And paradise into hell;
11
In the shroud of the clouds
Wordsuaire (m.) «suaire» = a shroud, the cloth wrapping a corpse (as in the Shroud of Turin). Calling the clouds a «suaire» turns the open sky into a winding-sheet — and the line runs on, without a stop, into the next stanza.
12
I discover a beloved corpse,
13
And on the celestial shores
14
I build great sarcophagi.
Wordbâtir «bâtir» = to build, to erect (a building). «Je bâtis» can be present or «passé simple» (identical in form); read as present, it leaves the poet endlessly raising «sarcophages» — stone coffins — in the sky.

The particulars

The text: Les Fleurs du mal, Charles Baudelaire. Spleen and Ideal.
Words: Every word of the text, by letter.
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