French · Spleen and Ideal

Chanson d'après-midi

Afternoon Song

40 lines · 14 notes

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Although your wicked eyebrows
QuoiqueAlthoughquoique · subordinating conjunctionintroduces the concessive clause
tesyourton · determiner, pluraldeterminer of sourcils
sourcilseyebrowssourcil · noun, masculine, pluralsubject of donnent (next line)
méchantswickedméchant · adjective, masculine, pluralmodifies sourcils
Grammar«quoique» + subjunctive «quoique» = 'although, even though' and governs the subjunctive: «quoique… donnent» ('although they give'). It opens a long concession that runs across the first stanza — your face looks unangelic, witch-eyed, and yet («Je t'adore») I worship you all the same.
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give you a strange look
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that is not the look of an angel,
GrammarDemonstrative «celui» «celui» = 'that (one), the one', the masculine demonstrative pronoun standing in for «air» ('look, air'). «celui d'un ange» = 'that of an angel' — it avoids repeating «air», so the line literally reads 'a look that is not the one of an angel'.
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sorceress with alluring eyes,
Wordalléchant «alléchant» = 'enticing, tempting, mouth-watering', from «allécher» ('to lure, to whet the appetite'). Set against «sorcière» ('sorceress, witch'), it makes the eyes a baited trap: the appeal is appetite, not innocence.
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I adore you, O my frivolous one,
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my terrible passion!
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with the devotion
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of the priest for his idol.
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The desert and the forest
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perfume your rough tresses,
Wordembaumer «embaumer» = 'to perfume, to make fragrant' (and also 'to embalm'). Here desert and forest are the subjects and «tes tresses rudes» ('your rough tresses') the object: the wild places scent her hair, lending it an exotic, faraway air that the next lines deepen into «énigme» and «secret».
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your head has the bearing
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of enigma and of secret.
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Over your flesh the perfume prowls
Wordrôder «rôder» = 'to prowl, to roam, to lurk' — the verb of an animal or a thief circling. Giving it to «le parfum» ('the perfume') makes the scent something that stalks her skin, an active, faintly predatory presence rather than a passive fragrance.
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as around a censer;
Wordencensoir «un encensoir» is a censer — the swinging vessel of burning incense used in church liturgy. It picks up the priest-and-idol image of stanza two: her body smokes like an altar, and worship of her is staged as a rite.
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you enchant like the evening,
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dark and ardent nymph.
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Ah! the strongest philtres
Wordphiltre «un philtre» is a love-potion or magic draught (the homophone «un filtre» is the ordinary 'filter'). It keeps the witchcraft running under the poem: even the strongest charmed potions «ne valent pas» — are no match for — her indolence.
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are not worth your idleness,
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and you know the caress
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that brings the dead back to life!
GrammarCausative «faire» + infinitive «faire revivre» = 'to make (someone) live again, to revive'. French forms the causative with «faire» plus a bare infinitive where English needs 'make … live'. «les morts» ('the dead') is the object her caress acts upon — a power both miraculous and, in this love, vampiric.
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Your hips are in love
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with your back and your breasts,
Grammar«amoureux de» (in love with) «être amoureux de» = 'to be in love with'; the preposition is «de», not 'with'. Here «tes hanches» ('your hips') are «amoureuses de ton dos et de tes seins» — her own body parts desire one another, a closed circuit of self-delighting sensuality.
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and you delight the cushions
Wordravir «ravir» means both 'to delight, to enchant' and 'to ravish, to carry off' — the same doubleness as English 'ravishing'. She so charms the cushions with her «poses langoureuses» that even the furniture seems seduced.
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with your languorous poses.
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Sometimes, to appease
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your mysterious rage,
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you lavish, in earnest,
Wordprodiguer «prodiguer» = 'to lavish, to shower, to give without stint' (the root of «prodigue», 'prodigal'). She does not merely give the bite and the kiss but pours them out extravagantly. «sérieuse» ('serious, in earnest', feminine) makes the cruelty solemn rather than playful.
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the bite and the kiss;
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You tear me apart, my dark-haired one,
Worddéchirer «déchirer» = 'to tear, to rip, to rend' — cloth, paper, or flesh. «Tu me déchires» = 'you tear me apart'. The violence sits beside «un rire moqueur» ('a mocking laugh'): she wounds and laughs, then soothes — the cruelty and tenderness braided together that the poem keeps reaching for.
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with a mocking laugh,
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and then you lay upon my heart
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your eye soft as the moon.
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Beneath your satin slippers,
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beneath your charming feet of silk
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I, I lay my great joy,
GrammarEmphatic «moi, je…» French doubles the subject for emphasis: the stressed pronoun «moi» ('me, as for me') set before «je mets» ('I lay') throws full weight on the speaker. The gesture is one of submission — he lays his joy, genius, and destiny down «sous tes souliers», beneath her slippers.
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my genius and my destiny,
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My soul healed by you,
GrammarPast participle + «par» (agent) «guérie» is the past participle of «guérir» ('to heal, to cure'), feminine to agree with «âme» ('soul'). «par toi» ('by you') names the agent, as in a passive: 'my soul healed by you'. The closing apostrophe turns the cruel idol into the one who also cures.
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by you, light and color!
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Explosion of warmth
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in my black Siberia!

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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