French · Spleen and Ideal

L'Aube spirituelle

The Spiritual Dawn

14 lines · 10 notes

Tap a line to open its words.

1
When among the debauched the white and rosy dawn
Quandwhenquand · subordinating conjunctionintroduces the clause; verb is Entre (l-aube-spirituelle-s1-l2)
chezamongchez · prepositionpreposition marking débauchés
lesthele · determiner, pluraldeterminer of débauchés
débauchésdebaucheddébauché · noun, masculine, pluralhead of the phrase
l'thele · determiner, singulardeterminer of aube
aubedawnaube · noun, feminine, singularmodifies débauchés
blanchewhiteblanc · adjective, feminine, singularmodifies aube
etandet · conjunctionlinks the coordination
vermeillerosyvermeil · adjective, feminine, singularcoordinated with blanche, modifies aube
Word«vermeil» — bright rosy red «vermeil(le)» is a poetic word for a vivid pink-red, the flush of a ruddy complexion or of dawn — warmer and more luminous than plain «rouge». «l'aube blanche et vermeille» = 'the white and rosy dawn'. «chez les débauchés» = 'at the place of / among the debauched', «chez» locating the scene in the world of the dissolute.
2
enters into the company of the gnawing Ideal,
Word«rongeur» — gnawing «rongeur» is an agent noun/adjective formed from «ronger» with the suffix «-eur», meaning 'one that gnaws' or, as a noun, 'a rodent'. The present participle of «ronger» is «rongeant»; «rongeur» is a different derivational form. «l'Idéal rongeur» = 'the gnawing Ideal' — the longing for the absolute that eats away at the debauchee even in his stupor. «entrer en société de» = 'to enter into company / partnership with', a slightly formal turn that pairs the dawn with the Ideal as it arrives.
3
by the working of an avenging mystery
4
within the drowsing brute an angel awakens.
Grammar«se réveiller» — pronominal 'to wake up' «se réveiller» is the pronominal verb 'to wake (oneself), to come awake' — distinct from transitive «réveiller», 'to wake someone else'. «un ange se réveille» = 'an angel wakes / awakens'. Note the inverted, suspended sentence that has run since «Quand» in line 1: the long «Quand...» clause finally lands on its main verb here, the angel stirring inside «la brute assoupie», the drowsing brute.
5
The unreachable blue of the Spiritual Heavens,
Word«l'azur» — the blue of the heavens «l'azur» is the deep blue of a clear sky, and by extension the heavens or the ideal itself — a charged word throughout the book. «Des Cieux Spirituels l'inaccessible azur» inverts the natural order ('the unreachable blue of the Spiritual Heavens'): the possessor «Des Cieux Spirituels» is fronted before the noun «l'azur» it qualifies, a poetic word-order that holds back the subject of the sentence until the verb arrives two lines later.
6
for the man laid low who still dreams and suffers,
Word«terrassé» — struck to the ground «terrasser» (from «terre», the earth) means 'to throw down, to floor, to lay low' — to bring an opponent crashing to the ground. «l'homme terrassé» = 'the man laid low / felled', here the debauchee flattened by his own excess, who even so «rêve encore et souffre», 'still dreams and suffers'.
7
opens and sinks down with the pull of the abyss.
GrammarTwin pronominal verbs «s'ouvrir» / «s'enfoncer» Both verbs are pronominal: «s'ouvrir» = 'to open (up)' and «s'enfoncer» = 'to sink in, plunge, recede into depth'. Their subject is «l'azur» from the line above: 'the blue ... opens and sinks down'. «l'attirance du gouffre» = 'the pull / lure of the abyss' («attirer» = to attract): the heavenly blue paradoxically draws the eye downward like a chasm, the height and the depth becoming one vertiginous pull.
8
So it is, dear Goddess, lucid and pure Being,
9
Over the smoking debris of the stupid orgies
Word«débris» / «fumeux» — smoking wreckage «les débris» (the noun is identical in singular and plural) is rubble, wreckage, the remains left after destruction; «fumeux» = 'smoky, smoking, giving off smoke or haze'. «les débris fumeux des stupides orgies» = 'the smoking debris of the stupid orgies' — the morning-after ruin of the night's revels, still smouldering like a battlefield.
10
your memory, clearer, rosier, more charming,
11
before my widened eyes flutters unceasingly.
Word«voltiger» / «incessamment» «voltiger» = 'to flit, flutter, hover' (as a butterfly or a wind-blown thing); «incessamment» here is the literal 'unceasingly, without stop' (in modern usage it can also mean 'very soon'). «Ton souvenir ... voltige incessamment» = 'your memory ... flutters unceasingly': the subject «Ton souvenir» from two lines up is the verb's subject, hovering «À mes yeux agrandis» — before eyes 'widened / enlarged' by the vision.
12
The sun has blackened the flame of the candles;
Grammar«noircir» in the passé composé «noircir» means 'to blacken, to make black / dim'; «a noirci» is its passé composé, 'has blackened'. «Le soleil a noirci la flamme des bougies» = 'the sun has blackened the flame of the candles' — daybreak does not extinguish the candle-flames so much as dirty and dim them, the same dawn-versus-flame image that closes «Le Flambeau vivant». «une bougie» is the ordinary household candle.
13
So too, ever victorious, your phantom is like —
14
radiant Soul — to the immortal sun!
Grammar«pareil à» — like, similar to «pareil à quelque chose» = 'like / similar to something', the adjective governing its term with «à». The comparison straddles the line break: «ton fantôme est pareil ... à l'immortel soleil» = 'your phantom is like ... the immortal sun', with the vocative «Ame resplendissante» ('radiant Soul') wedged between. Note «Ame» printed without its accent — the bare capital is Baudelaire's own orthography, where an accent on a capital was often dropped in period typesetting.

The particulars

The text: Les Fleurs du mal, Charles Baudelaire. Spleen and Ideal.
Words: Every word of the text, by letter.
Data: JSON · Markdown · A guide for agents