French · Spleen and Ideal

Avec ses vêtements ondoyants et nacrés

With Her Undulating, Pearl-Sheened Garments

14 lines · 12 notes

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1
With her undulating, pearl-sheened garments,
Avecwithavec · prepositionpreposition marking vêtements
sesherson · determiner, pluraldeterminer of vêtements
vêtementsgarmentsvêtement · noun, masculine, pluralhead of the phrase
ondoyantsundulatingondoyant · adjective, masculine, pluralmodifies vêtements
etandet · conjunctionlinks the coordination
nacréspearl-sheenednacré · adjective, masculine, pluralcoordinated with ondoyants
Word«ondoyant» and «nacré» «ondoyant» (from «onde», a wave) means 'undulating, rippling, wave-like'; «nacré» (from «nacre», mother-of-pearl) means 'pearly, with the iridescent sheen of nacre'. Together they dress the woman in shifting, shimmering cloth — and quietly launch the serpent and the sea that the rest of the sonnet unrolls.
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Even when she walks one would think she dances,
GrammarConditional «on croirait» — 'one would think' «croirait» is the conditional of «croire» (to believe). «on croirait que...» is a set phrase, 'one would think / believe that...', used to report an impression as if it were almost true. «on croirait qu'elle danse» = 'you would think she were dancing': her walk only seems like dance, the conditional holding the image at the edge of the real.
3
Like those long serpents that the sacred jugglers
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Set swaying in cadence at the tips of their wands.
Word«jongleur» and «en cadence» «un jongleur» here is not a circus juggler but a sacred conjurer or snake-charmer; «les jongleurs sacrés» evokes Eastern temple performers. «agiter en cadence» = 'to move / wave rhythmically, in time'. The woman's gliding walk is the snake the charmers «agitent en cadence» on their «bâtons» (staves, wands) — beauty as a thing made to sway on command.
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Like the dreary sand and the blue of the deserts,
Word«morne» — bleak, dreary «morne» means 'gloomy, dismal, dreary, lifeless'. «le sable morne et l'azur des déserts» — 'the dreary sand and the blue of the deserts' — pairs the dead grey of the dunes with the empty blue overhead. Both are vast, beautiful and utterly cold, the first of the indifferent landscapes the woman is said to resemble.
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Both alike unfeeling toward human suffering,
Word«insensible à» — unfeeling toward «insensible à» means 'insensitive to, unmoved by, incapable of feeling'. «Insensibles tous deux à l'humaine souffrance» = 'both of them unfeeling toward human suffering' — the adjective agrees in the plural with «le sable» and «l'azur» of the line above. The desert's two faces share the woman's defining trait: they cannot be touched by what we feel.
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Like the long meshes of the swell of the seas
Word«la houle» and «les réseaux» «la houle» is the ocean swell, the long heaving roll of the open sea; «un réseau» is a net, web, or network. «les longs réseaux de la houle des mers» — 'the long meshes / nets of the sea-swell' — sees the interlacing lines the swell draws across the water. It is the third indifferent expanse, after sand and sky, into which the woman dissolves.
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She unfolds herself with indifference.
GrammarPronominal «se développer» — to unfold «se développer» is the pronominal verb 'to unfold, spread out, develop, unwind'. «Elle se développe avec indifférence» = 'she unfolds / unrolls herself with indifference' — the reflexive «se» makes the unfolding something she does to herself, like the serpent uncoiling or the swell rolling out. It closes the octave: she extends through space as impassively as sand, sky and sea.
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Her polished eyes are made of charming minerals,
Word«poli» and «minéral» «poli» means 'polished, burnished, smooth' (as a gemstone is cut and polished); «un minéral» is a mineral or stone. «Ses yeux polis sont faits de minéraux charmants» = 'her polished eyes are made of charming minerals' — the eyes are not living but lapidary, cut stones. The tercet turns from the wide landscapes of the octave to the hard, jewelled surface of the woman herself.
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And in this strange and symbolic nature
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Where the inviolate angel mingles with the ancient sphinx,
GrammarPronominal «se mêler à» — to mingle with «se mêler à qch» means 'to mingle / blend / mix with something'. «l'ange inviolé se mêle au sphinx antique» = 'the inviolate angel mingles with the ancient sphinx'. In this «nature étrange et symbolique» the woman is both at once — the chaste, untouched («inviolé») angel and the cold, enigmatic «sphinx», a recurring Baudelairean emblem of a beauty that poses riddles and gives no warmth.
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Where all is only gold, steel, light and diamonds,
Grammar«ne ... que» — 'only / nothing but' «ne ... que» is the restrictive construction meaning 'only, nothing but': «tout n'est que...» = 'everything is only...'. «Où tout n'est qu'or, acier, lumière et diamants» = 'where all is nothing but gold, steel, light and diamonds'. The line piles up hard, brilliant, lifeless materials — the whole of the woman's «nature» reduced to mineral glitter.
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There shines forever, like a useless star,
Word«un astre» — a heavenly body «un astre» is a star or heavenly body, loftier than the everyday «étoile». «comme un astre inutile» = 'like a useless star' — radiant but serving no purpose, giving light to no one. The verb «resplendit» ('shines resplendently, blazes') governs the poem's final image: the woman's beauty burns on like a star that warms nothing, forever («à jamais»).
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The cold majesty of the sterile woman.
Word«stérile» — barren, sterile «stérile» means 'barren, sterile, fruitless'. The sonnet's last words, «la froide majesté de la femme stérile» — 'the cold majesty of the sterile woman' — name at last the subject that «resplendit» in the line above: a beauty grand and glacial that brings forth nothing. After all the serpents, deserts and seas, the woman is fixed as a magnificent, sterile thing, lovely and giving no life.

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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