French · Spleen and Ideal

Duellum

Duel

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1
Two warriors have rushed upon each other, their weapons
Deuxtwodeux · numeralquantifies guerriers
guerrierswarriorsguerrier · noun, masculine, pluralsubject of couru
onthaveavoir · auxiliary verb, present, indicative, third-person, pluraldepends on couru
coururushedcourir · verb, past, participle, masculine, singularmain verb of the sentence
l'thele · determiner, singulardeterminer of un
unoneun · pronoun, masculine, singularreciprocal expression (l'un sur l'autre) with autre
suruponsur · prepositionpreposition marking autre
l'thele · determiner, singulardeterminer of autre
autreotherautre · pronoun, singularobject of sur, forms reciprocal l'un sur l'autre
leurstheirleur · determiner, pluraldeterminer of armes
armesweaponsarme · noun, feminine, pluralsubject of Ont éclaboussé (s1-l2)
Grammar«l'un… l'autre» (reciprocal) «l'un sur l'autre» = 'one upon the other' — the reciprocal construction «l'un… l'autre» expresses that the action is mutual: each warrior charges at the other. Here it sets the two combatants as mirror images locked in a single mutual assault.
2
have spattered the air with flashes and with blood.
Wordéclabousser «éclabousser» = 'to splash, to spatter' (as mud or liquid flung up). Pairing «lueurs» (glints of steel) with «sang» under one verb makes light and blood splash together — the sparks of the blades and the gore become a single spray.
3
These games, this clashing of steel are the uproar
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of a youth in the grip of love still wailing in its cradle.
Wordvagir / vagissant «vagir» is the verb for the cry of a newborn; «vagissant» = 'wailing like an infant'. Calling this violent love «vagissant» makes it brand-new and helpless — a love so young it still cries in the cradle, even as it arms itself for combat.
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The swords are shattered! — like our youth,
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my dear! But the teeth, the sharpened nails,
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soon avenge the sword and the treacherous dagger.
Wordtraître / traîtresse «traîtresse» is the feminine of «traître» ('treacherous, traitor'), agreeing with «la dague» (the dagger). The adjective makes the broken blade itself faithless — and as the weapons fail, teeth and nails take up the quarrel in their place.
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— O fury of hearts ripened, ulcerated by love!
GrammarAn adjective and a past participle on one noun «mûrs» is the masculine plural of the adjective «mûr» (ripe, mature) — not a past participle (which would be «mûris»). «ulcérés» is a past participle meaning 'ulcerated, made raw', with «par l'amour» ('by love') as its passive agent. The two words both modify «coeurs», but only «ulcérés» takes «par l'amour» as its agent. Love both ripens and festers these mature hearts — the same force that brings them to fullness also leaves them as open sores.
9
In the ravine haunted by wildcats and snow-leopards
Wordchat-pard / once «chat-pard» (from «chat» + «pard», leopard) is an archaic name for a spotted wildcat — a leopard-like cat, not the «guépard» (cheetah); «once» is an archaic word for the snow leopard (cf. English 'ounce'). The rare, feral beast-names make the gully a wild, predatory place, fit for the savagery the two lovers are about to act out.
10
our heroes, clutching each other viciously, have rolled,
GrammarReflexive «s'étreindre» as reciprocal «s'étreindre» = 'to embrace / grip each other'; the present participle «s'étreignant» here reads reciprocally — 'clutching one another'. The same verb covers a lover's embrace and a wrestler's grapple, so the embrace and the death-grip are one and the same gesture.
11
and their skin will bring the barren brambles into flower.
Grammar«fleurir» used transitively «fleurir» normally means 'to bloom' (intransitive), but here it takes a direct object, «l'aridité des ronces» — 'their skin will flower the barrenness of the brambles'. Their torn flesh makes the dry thorns blossom: the wounds become the only flowers this wasteland will bear.
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— This abyss is hell, peopled with our friends!
GrammarInverted past participle «peuplé» Normal prose order would be «peuplé de nos amis» ('peopled with our friends'). Baudelaire fronts the complement — «de nos amis peuplé» — for rhyme and emphasis, throwing the chilling phrase 'our friends' into the middle of the line: hell is already crowded with the people we know.
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Let us roll into it without remorse, inhuman amazon,
GrammarImperative + adverbial «y» «Roulons» is the first-person-plural imperative of «rouler» ('let us roll'); the attached «y» = 'there / into it', pointing back to «ce gouffre» (this abyss). The pronoun clings to the verb in the imperative — 'let us roll down into it' — turning the fall into hell into a shared, willed plunge.
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so as to make eternal the ardor of our hatred!
Grammar«afin de» + infinitive (purpose) «afin de» + infinitive expresses purpose: 'in order to…'. The goal of the willed plunge into hell is «éterniser l'ardeur de notre haine» — 'to make our hatred's ardor eternal'. The final twist: damnation is embraced not to end the strife but to keep it burning forever.

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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