French · Spleen and Ideal

Élévation

Elevation

20 lines · 9 notes

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1
Above the ponds, above the valleys,
Auaboveà · prepositionpart of the compound au-dessus de, marking étangs
Au-dessus de means 'above'; here the tokenizer splits it into 'Au' + 'dessus.'
dessusabovedessus · adverbpart of the compound au-dessus de, marking étangs
desof thede · prepositionpreposition marking étangs
étangspondsétang · noun, masculine, pluralobject of au-dessus de
au-dessusaboveau-dessus · prepositionpreposition marking vallées
desof thede · prepositionpreposition marking vallées
valléesvalleysvallée · noun, feminine, pluralobject of au-dessus
2
the mountains, the woods, the clouds, the seas,
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beyond the sun, beyond the ethers,
Word«par delà» «par delà» (also spelled «par-delà») means 'beyond, past, on the far side of'. It is more elevated and more spatial than the plain «au-delà de». Baudelaire repeats it to push the flight ever higher — «par delà le soleil, par delà les éthers», beyond even the upper air.
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beyond the confines of the starry spheres,
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My spirit, you move with agility,
Grammar«se mouvoir» (to move) «te meus» is the present tense of the pronominal verb «se mouvoir», 'to move (oneself)'. «mouvoir» is irregular: the «ou» of the stem becomes «eu» in the stressed forms, giving «je me meus, tu te meus». The poet addresses his own «esprit» as «tu», telling it how freely it moves.
6
and, like a good swimmer who swoons in the wave,
Word«se pâmer» «se pâmer» is the pronominal verb 'to swoon, to faint with pleasure'. «qui se pâme dans l'onde» — 'who swoons in the wave' — gives the swimmer a voluptuous surrender to the water. The circumflex marks a lost «s» (old «se pasmer»); «l'onde» is a poetic word for the wave or water.
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you furrow gaily through the deep immensity
8
with an unspeakable and virile delight.
Word«indicible» «indicible» = 'unspeakable, ineffable' — that which cannot be put into words. Paired with «mâle» ('virile, manly') and «volupté» ('sensual pleasure, delight'), it casts the spirit's flight as a rapture too intense for language, a keynote of the «Idéal» the section reaches toward.
9
Fly far away from these morbid miasmas;
GrammarReflexive imperative «envole-toi» «Envole-toi» is the imperative of the pronominal verb «s'envoler», 'to fly off, take wing'. In a positive command the reflexive pronoun follows the verb with a hyphen and «te» becomes the stressed «toi»: «envole-toi» = 'fly away!'. The poet commands his own spirit to take flight, as he does again with «Va te purifier» in the next line.
Word«le miasme» «miasme» (m.) is a noxious vapor once thought to rise from rot and stagnant water and to carry disease. «ces miasmes morbides» — 'these morbid miasmas' — stands for the foul, sickly air of the lower material world the spirit is told to leave behind.
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go purify yourself in the upper air,
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and drink, like a pure and divine liquor,
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the clear fire that fills the limpid spaces.
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Behind the boredoms and the vast sorrows
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that weigh down this misty existence with their burden,
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happy is the one who can, on a vigorous wing,
Grammar«Heureux celui qui…» (fronted adjective) «Heureux celui qui peut…» = 'Happy is the one who can…'. The adjective «heureux» is fronted for emphasis, with the verb «est» understood: literally '(Is) happy he who…'. «celui qui» is the demonstrative 'the one who / he who'; it is picked up and continued by «Celui dont…» that opens the final stanza.
16
spring up toward the luminous and serene fields;
17
the one whose thoughts, like skylarks,
Word«le penser» (archaic) «le penser» is an old poetic noun for 'thought', a variant of «la pensée». By Baudelaire's day it was already archaic and literary; choosing «les pensers» over «les pensées» lends the line an elevated, timeless tone fitting the upward soaring of the spirit.
18
take free flight toward the heavens in the morning,
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— who hovers over life, and understands without effort
GrammarThe em-dash continuation The dash does not begin a new sentence; it relaunches the relative clause opened by «Celui dont…» two lines above. «Qui» still refers back to «Celui» — 'the one who hovers over life'. Read the final stanza as a single sweeping sentence the dash carries onward to its triumphant close.
20
the language of flowers and of silent things!

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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