French · Spleen and Ideal

Je te donne ces vers afin que si mon nom

I give you these verses so that if my name

14 lines · 11 notes

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1
I give you these verses so that if my name
JeIje · pronoun, singularsubject of donne
teyoute · pronoun, singular, second-personindirect object of donne
donnegivedonner · verb, present, indicative, first-person, singularmain verb of the sentence
cesthesece · determiner, pluraldeterminer of vers
versversesvers · noun, masculine, pluraldirect object of donne
afinsoafin · adverbpart of afin que (purpose clause)
quethatque · subordinating conjunctionpart of afin que (purpose clause)
siifsi · subordinating conjunctionintroduces the conditional clause (si mon nom...)
monmymon · determiner, singulardeterminer of nom
nomnamenom · noun, masculine, singularsubject of Aborde (next line)
Grammar«afin que» + subjunctive of purpose «afin que» ('so that, in order that') introduces a purpose clause and takes the subjunctive. «Aborde» (line 2), though, belongs to the nested «si» ('if') clause — and «si» takes the indicative, so «Aborde» is the present indicative of «aborder». The verbs «afin que» actually governs, in the subjunctive, are «Fatigue» and «Reste» in the second quatrain. The whole poem is one suspended sentence: 'I give you these verses so that, if my name reaches distant ages …, your memory should hang from my proud rhymes.' The «si» ('if') condition nests inside the «afin que» purpose.
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should happily reach the far-off ages,
Word«aborder» — to land, to come to shore «aborder» literally means 'to come alongside, to land (a ship)'. Set against «Vaisseau» (vessel) two lines down, it makes the poet's name a ship making landfall «aux époques lointaines» — putting in at distant ages as at a far coast. «heureusement» here keeps its older force, 'with good fortune', not merely 'luckily'.
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and one evening sets human minds to dreaming,
Grammar«faire» + infinitive (causative) «faire rêver quelqu'un» = 'to make someone dream, to set someone dreaming'. «faire» + infinitive is the causative construction: the subject (my name) causes others (the «cervelles humaines», 'human brains') to perform the action of «rêver». Still governed by the «si» of line 1: 'if my name … and sets human minds to dreaming'.
4
a vessel favored by a great north wind,
Word«l'aquilon» — the north wind «l'aquilon» is the elevated, poetic name for the cold north wind (from Latin «aquilo»). The line is in apposition to «mon nom»: the name is a «Vaisseau favorisé», a ship driven onward — here, unusually, the harsh north wind is a help, the gust that carries the poet's fame «aux époques lointaines».
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your memory, like the uncertain fables,
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wearies the reader as a dulcimer does,
Word«le tympanon» — the hammered dulcimer «ainsi que» = 'just as, like'. «le tympanon» is the hammered dulcimer, a stringed instrument struck with little mallets — its insistent, monotonous ringing is what tires «le lecteur». «Fatigue» is the present subjunctive of «fatiguer» (spelled identically to the indicative for 3rd-person singular -er verbs, but subjunctive in mood, governed by «afin que»). The poem's main clause remains «Je te donne ces vers»; «Ta mémoire … Fatigue» belongs to the purpose clause. Your memory wearies the reader like that droning music, yet clings on, in the next lines, to the poet's rhymes.
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and by a fraternal and mystic link
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stays as if hung upon my haughty rhymes;
Grammar«pendue» — past participle agreeing with «Ta mémoire» «pendue» is the past participle of «pendre» ('to hang'), feminine singular to agree with the subject «Ta mémoire» ('your memory'). «Reste comme pendue à …» = 'stays as if hung upon …'. The chain image of the line before («chaînon», a link of a chain) becomes literal: her memory hangs, suspended, from the poet's «rimes hautaines» — surviving only because it is fastened to his verse.
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Accursed being, to whom, from the deep abyss
Word«Être maudit» — accursed being Here «Être» is the noun 'a being' (capitalized, in apposition to «toi»), and «maudit» is 'cursed, accursed' (past participle of «maudire»). «à qui … rien … ne répond» = 'to whom nothing answers': the beloved is a doomed being whom nothing in all creation, from abyss to sky, will answer — nothing «hors moi», except the poet himself.
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to the highest heaven, nothing but me replies!
Word«hors» — except, apart from «hors» here means 'except, apart from' (the sense of «hormis», «excepté»). «rien … hors moi … ne répond» = 'nothing answers except me'. The «ne … rien» negation frames the whole span from «l'abîme profond» to «le plus haut du ciel» — the entire vertical of creation — leaving the poet as the sole voice that responds to this accursed being.
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— O you who, like a shadow of fleeting trace,
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trample with a light foot and a serene gaze
Word«fouler» — to tread, to trample «fouler» = 'to tread, to trample underfoot'. «Foules» is the present indicative, 'you trample', continuing the «Ô toi qui …» address across the tercet; its object «Les stupides mortels» arrives only in the next line. She walks over the dull mortals «d'un pied léger» (with a light foot) and «d'un regard serein» (with a serene gaze) — untouched by the scorn they aimed at her.
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the stupid mortals who judged you bitter,
GrammarPast-participle agreement with the preceding object «jugée» agrees in gender and number with the direct object «t'» (= «te», you, feminine) that precedes the verb «ont jugé» — hence the extra «-e». «qui t'ont jugée amère» = 'who judged you bitter'. «amère» ('bitter') likewise is feminine to match «toi». The mortals misjudged her as bitter; she now treads over them, serene.
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statue with eyes of jet, great angel with a brow of bronze!
Word«jais» (jet) and «airain» (bronze) «le jais» is jet, the deep-black stone used for mourning jewelry — «yeux de jais», black-glittering eyes. «l'airain» is bronze (poetic for «le bronze»), so «front d'airain» is a brow of bronze: hard, unyielding, impassive. The two metals close the sonnet by making the beloved a monument — «Statue … grand ange» — cold, immortal, and lifted above the mortals at her feet.

The particulars

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