French · Spleen and Ideal

Hymne à la Beauté

Hymn to Beauty

28 lines · 12 notes

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1
Do you come from the deep sky or rise out of the abyss,
Viensdo you comevenir · verb, present, indicative, second-person, singularmain verb of the sentence
tuyoutu · pronoun, second-person, singularsubject of Viens
dufrom thede · preposition (contracted with le)preposition marking ciel
cielskyciel · noun, masculine, singularoblique argument of Viens
profonddeepprofond · adjective, masculine, singularmodifies ciel
ouorou · conjunctionlinks the coordination
sorsdo you risesortir · verb, present, indicative, second-person, singularcoordinated with Viens
tuyoutu · pronoun, second-person, singularsubject of sors
defromde · prepositionpreposition marking abîme
l'thele · determiner, singulardeterminer of abîme
abîmeabyssabîme · noun, masculine, singularoblique argument of sors
GrammarInverted question + «sortir de» Both verbs use subject-verb inversion to ask a question: «viens-tu» = 'do you come', «sors-tu» = 'do you come out / rise'. «sortir de» means 'to come out of, to emerge from'. The line poses Beauty's origin as a single either/or — heaven «du ciel profond» or hell «de l'abîme» — that the whole poem will refuse to settle.
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O Beauty? your gaze, infernal and divine,
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Pours out, all mingled, both the blessing and the crime,
Word«confusément» — indistinctly, mingled «confusément» = 'confusedly, indistinctly, all jumbled together'. Beauty's gaze «verse confusément le bienfait et le crime» — pours out kindness and crime without separating them. The adverb is the moral core of the hymn: good and evil come from her as one undivided stream.
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And for that one may compare you to wine.
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You hold within your eye the sunset and the dawn;
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You spread out perfumes like a stormy evening;
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Your kisses are a love-potion and your mouth an amphora
Word«philtre» and «amphore» «un philtre» is a magic potion, especially a love-philtre that bewitches whoever drinks it; «une amphore» is the two-handled ancient jar used for wine. Both keep the line's intoxication imagery — Beauty's kiss is a spell, her mouth the vessel that pours it — extending the comparison «au vin» from the first stanza.
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That make the hero a coward and the child brave.
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Do you rise from the black gulf or descend from the stars?
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Spellbound, Destiny follows your skirts like a dog;
Word«charmé» — bewitched, under a spell «charmé» (past participle of «charmer») keeps its strong older sense here: not merely 'charmed / pleased' but 'enchanted, put under a spell'. «Le Destin charmé suit tes jupons» — even Fate, bewitched, trots at Beauty's heels «comme un chien», like a dog, mastered by her.
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You scatter at random both the joy and the disasters,
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And you govern everything and answer for nothing.
Grammar«répondre de» — to answer for «répondre de qch» = 'to answer for, to be accountable for something' (distinct from «répondre à», 'to reply to'). «tu ne réponds de rien» = 'you are accountable for nothing'. The line states Beauty's amorality flatly: total power «tu gouvernes tout», zero responsibility.
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You walk upon the dead, Beauty, whom you mock;
Grammar«se moquer de» + relative «dont» «se moquer de qn» is the pronominal verb 'to mock, to make fun of someone', always built with «de». Because the verb governs «de», the relative pronoun is «dont» ('of whom'): «des morts dont tu te moques» = 'the dead whom you mock'. Beauty tramples the dead and laughs at them in the same breath.
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Of your jewels, Horror is not the least charming,
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And Murder, among your dearest trinkets,
Word«une breloque» — a charm, a trinket «une breloque» is a small ornamental charm, the kind dangled from a watch-chain or bracelet. Naming «le Meurtre» — Murder — as one of Beauty's «plus chères breloques», her dearest trinkets, turns horror into jewelry: she wears crime as a charm and dances with it «amoureusement» in the next line.
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Dances lovingly upon your prideful belly.
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The dazzled mayfly flies toward you, candle,
Word«l'éphémère» — the mayfly As a noun «un éphémère» is the mayfly — the insect that lives only a day. «L'éphémère ébloui» is the moth-like creature drawn to Beauty as to a flame («chandelle»): it «crépite, flambe» — crackles and blazes — and blesses the very fire that destroys it. The word also carries its ordinary sense, 'the ephemeral, the short-lived', so it names mortal man as well.
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Crackles, blazes, and says: Let us bless this torch!
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The panting lover bent over his beloved
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Has the look of a dying man caressing his tomb.
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Whether you come from heaven or from hell, what does it matter,
GrammarConcessive «que» + subjunctive «viennes» is the present subjunctive of «venir». Opening a clause with «que… ou…» plus the subjunctive forms a concession: «que tu viennes du ciel ou de l'enfer» = 'whether you come from heaven or from hell'. Paired with «qu'importe» ('what does it matter'), it waves the whole question of origin aside — the poet no longer cares which.
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O Beauty! monster enormous, terrifying, ingenuous!
Word«ingénu» — artless, innocent «ingénu» means 'artless, naive, innocent' — guileless rather than 'ingenious'. Set against «monstre énorme, effrayant», it is a shock: Beauty is a vast, terrifying monster and yet innocent of it all, dealing out good and evil «confusément» without malice or design. The contradiction is the point of the whole hymn.
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If your eye, your smile, your foot, open for me the door
Word«le souris» — a smile (archaic) «un souris» (masculine) is the old poetic noun for a smile, where modern French uses «le sourire». Here «ton souris» = 'your smile'; it has nothing to do with the homonym «la souris» (the mouse). Baudelaire keeps the archaic form for its grace, listing eye, smile, and foot as the parts of Beauty that unlock the «Infini».
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Of an Infinite that I love and have never known?
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From Satan or from God, what does it matter? Angel or Siren,
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What does it matter, if you make — fairy with eyes of velvet,
Grammar«rendre» + adjective — to make (something) X «rendre» + a direct object + an adjective means 'to make (something) become X'. The object and adjective wait until the final stanza: «si tu rends … l'univers moins hideux et les instants moins lourds» = 'if you make the universe less hideous and the moments less heavy'. The dashes hold an aside — «fée aux yeux de velours… ô mon unique reine!» — across two lines before the sentence completes.
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Rhythm, perfume, glimmer, O my one and only queen! —
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The universe less hideous and the moments less heavy?

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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