French · Spleen and Ideal

J'aime le souvenir de ces époques nues

I love the memory of those naked ages

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I love the memory of those naked ages,
J'Ije · pronoun, singularsubject of aime
aimeloveaimer · verb, present, indicative, first-person, singularmain verb of the sentence
lethele · determiner, masculine, singulardeterminer of souvenir
souvenirmemorysouvenir · noun, masculine, singulardirect object of aime
deofde · prepositionpreposition marking époques
cesthosece · determiner, pluraldeterminer of époques
époquesagesépoque · noun, feminine, pluralmodifies souvenir
nuesnakednu · adjective, feminine, pluralmodifies époques
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whose statues Phoebus took pleasure in gilding.
Grammar«se plaire à» + infinitive «se plaire à faire qqch.» is a pronominal idiom meaning 'to take pleasure in doing something, to delight in'. «se plaisait» is the imperfect of «se plaire»; the relative «Dont» (= of which) links back to «ces époques nues», so the sun-god Phoebus delighted in gilding the statues of those ages.
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Then man and woman, in their agility,
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took their pleasure without lie and without anxiety,
Word«jouir» «jouir» means 'to enjoy, to take pleasure, to delight in (life, the senses)'; «jouissaient» is the imperfect, an ongoing state in this lost golden age. The word carries a frank sensual charge that the negatives «sans mensonge ... sans anxiété» (without lie, without anxiety) deliberately purify.
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and, the loving sky caressing their spines,
GrammarPossessive dative with the body French marks the body part with the article «l'échine» (the spine) and signals the owner with the indirect-object pronoun «leur» (to/for them): «leur caressant l'échine» = 'caressing their spines'. «caressant» is the present participle of «caresser»; «échine» is the backbone, ridge of the spine.
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they exercised the health of their noble engine.
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Cybele then, fertile in generous yields,
WordCybele Cybele is the ancient Anatolian and Greco-Roman mother-goddess, the «Magna Mater» of the earth and all living things. Baudelaire makes her the nourishing principle of the golden age; in the next lines she becomes a «louve» (she-wolf) suckling the whole universe — an echo of the wolf that nursed Romulus and Remus.
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did not find her sons too onerous a burden,
Grammar«ne ... point» (emphatic negation) «ne ... point» is a literary, more absolute equivalent of «ne ... pas» — 'not at all, by no means'. Here «Ne trouvait point ses fils un poids trop onéreux» = 'did not find her sons too burdensome a weight at all'. The construction «trouver + object + attribute» means 'to find someone/something to be (such)'.
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but, a she-wolf with heart swollen with shared tendernesses,
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she watered the whole universe at her brown teats.
Word«abreuver» «abreuver» means 'to water (animals), to give to drink, to slake the thirst of'; «abreuvait» is the imperfect. Properly used of leading livestock to water, the verb fits the «louve» (she-wolf) suckling «l'univers» — the whole creation drinking at her «tétines brunes» (brown teats).
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Man, elegant, robust, and strong, had the right
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to be proud of the beauties who named him their king;
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Fruits pure of all outrage and virgin of cracks,
Word«vierge de» / «gerçure» «vierge de qqch.» means 'untouched by, free of, innocent of' something. A «gerçure» (f.) is a crack or chap in skin or fruit-rind. So «vierges de gerçures» = 'free of any cracks' — the bodies of that age are figured as flawless «fruits» (the metaphor continues into the next line's «chair lisse»).
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whose smooth, firm flesh invited the bite!
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The Poet today, when he wishes to conceive
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those native grandeurs, in the places where there are shown
GrammarPronominal passive «se faire voir» «se faire voir» literally 'to make themselves seen' works here as a passive: «aux lieux où se font voir / La nudité ...» = 'in the places where the nakedness ... is shown / on display'. The pronominal «se» + «faire» + infinitive lets the grandeurs be exhibited without naming an agent — the impersonal display of modern bodies.
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the nakedness of man and that of woman,
GrammarDemonstrative «celle de» «celle» is the feminine demonstrative pronoun standing in for «la nudité» to avoid repeating it: «la nudité de l'homme et celle de la femme» = 'the nakedness of man and that of woman'. «celui/celle/ceux/celles de» = 'the one(s) of / belonging to'.
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feels a tenebrous cold envelop his soul
GrammarVerb of perception + infinitive A verb of perception such as «sentir» (to feel) takes a direct infinitive for the action perceived: «Sent un froid ... envelopper son âme» = 'feels a cold ... envelop his soul'. The subject is «Le Poète» from the stanza's opening line; «ténébreux» means dark, shadowy, gloomy.
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before this black picture full of dread.
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O monstrosities weeping for their clothing!
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O ridiculous trunks! torsos fit for masks!
Word«digne de» «digne de» means 'worthy of, fit for, deserving of'. «torses dignes des masques» = 'torsos worthy of masks' — bodies so grotesque they belong in the carnival or the anatomy of caricature. The exclamatory «Ô ...!» piled up across these lines is Baudelaire's apostrophe to modern, deformed flesh.
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O poor bodies twisted, scrawny, potbellied or flabby,
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whom the god of the Useful, implacable and serene,
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swaddled as children in his swaddling-bands of bronze!
Word«emmailloter» / «langes» «emmailloter» = 'to swaddle (a baby) in cloth'; «emmaillota» is the literary past historic (passé simple). «langes» are an infant's swaddling-clothes. The «dieu de l'Utile» (god of the Useful — modern utilitarian industry) binds children from birth in «langes d'airain», bands of bronze: a brutal image of bodies cramped by an iron, mercantile age.
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And you, women, alas! pale as altar candles,
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whom debauchery gnaws and feeds at once, and you, virgins,
GrammarInverted subject after relative «que» «que» is the object relative ('whom'); the subject «la débauche» (debauchery) is inverted to the end of the clause, after its two verbs: «Que ronge et que nourrit la débauche» = 'whom debauchery gnaws and nourishes'. The paradox is deliberate: the same vice that consumes these women is what keeps them alive.
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dragging the heredity of your mothers' vice
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and all the hideousnesses of fecundity!
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We have, it is true, corrupted nations that we are,
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beauties unknown to the ancient peoples:
Grammar«inconnu à» + displaced word order «inconnu à qqn» = 'unknown to someone'. The natural prose order is «des beautés inconnues aux peuples anciens» ('beauties unknown to the ancient peoples'); the verse fronts «Aux peuples anciens» across the line break for the rhyme. «Nous avons ... des beautés» from the previous line completes the sentence.
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faces eaten away by the cankers of the heart,
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and, as one might say, beauties of languor;
Word«comme qui dirait» «comme qui dirait» is a fixed colloquial phrase meaning 'so to speak, as it were, something like'. It softens or hedges the phrase that follows — here «des beautés de langueur» ('beauties of languor') — letting Baudelaire half-ironically grant the modern age its own sickly, drooping kind of beauty.
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But these inventions of our belated muses
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will never prevent our sickly races
Grammar«empêcher qqn de» + infinitive «empêcher quelqu'un de faire» = 'to prevent someone from doing', always with «de» before the infinitive — which here arrives only on the next line («De rendre à la jeunesse un hommage profond»). «N'empêcheront jamais» is the future of «empêcher» negated by «ne ... jamais» (never).
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from rendering deep homage to youth,
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— to holy youth, with its simple air, its gentle brow,
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to the eye limpid and clear as running water,
Grammar«ainsi que» = comme «ainsi que» here means 'just as, like' (a literary equivalent of «comme»), introducing the comparison «limpide et clair ainsi qu'une eau courante» = 'limpid and clear as running water'. Elsewhere «ainsi que» can mean 'as well as'; context — a likeness, not an addition — settles the sense.
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and which goes scattering over everything, carefree,
Grammar«aller» + present participle «aller» + a present participle expresses a continuing, gradually spreading action: «qui va répandant sur tout» = 'which keeps scattering / goes on spreading over everything'. The relative «qui» refers to «la sainte jeunesse»; «insouciante» (carefree, heedless) agrees with it in the feminine.
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like the blue of the sky, the birds, and the flowers,
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its perfumes, its songs, and its sweet warmths!

The particulars

The text: Les Fleurs du mal, Charles Baudelaire. Spleen and Ideal.
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