French · Spleen and Ideal

L'Ennemi

The Enemy

14 lines · 12 notes

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1
My youth was nothing but a shadowy storm,
Mamymon · determiner, feminine, singulardeterminer of jeunesse
jeunesseyouthjeunesse · noun, feminine, singularsubject of fut
nenotne · adverbmodifies fut
futwasêtre · auxiliary verb, past, indicative, third-person, singularcopula linking to orage
qu'onlyque · adverbmodifies fut (ne...que = only)
"ne...que" is a restrictive construction meaning "only".
unaun · determiner, masculine, singulardeterminer of orage
ténébreuxshadowyténébreux · adjective, masculine, singularmodifies orage
oragestormorage · noun, masculine, singularpredicate complement of fut
GrammarThe restrictive «ne ... que» «ne ... que» is not a negation but a restriction meaning 'only, nothing but': «ma jeunesse ne fut qu'un orage» = 'my youth was nothing but a storm'. «fut» is the «passé simple» of «être» (to be), the literary past tense that seals the youth off as a finished, vanished thing. «ténébreux» (shadowy, murky) is one of Baudelaire's signature words for darkness shot through with menace.
2
Crossed here and there by brilliant suns;
Word«çà et là» — here and there «çà et là» is a fixed adverbial phrase meaning 'here and there, in scattered places'. The «çà» carries a grave accent to distinguish it from «ça» ('that'). «Traversé» is a past participle modifying «orage» from the line before — the storm 'crossed' by «de brillants soleils»; note «de», not «des», because the adjective «brillants» stands ahead of the noun.
3
The thunder and the rain have wrought such havoc,
4
That very few crimson fruits remain in my garden.
GrammarImpersonal «il reste» «il reste» is an impersonal construction — 'there remains / there is left' — where «il» refers to nothing; the true subject «bien peu de fruits vermeils» ('very few crimson fruits') follows the verb. «vermeil» means a deep ruby-red, almost gilded; the storm-wrecked garden is the soul, and its scant red fruit the little that survived of the poet's promise.
5
Now I have reached the autumn of ideas,
Grammar«voilà que» — and now, suddenly «voilà que» introduces an event as it arrives upon the speaker — 'and now, suddenly, here it is that...'. It lends the line the shock of a turning point: «voilà que j'ai touché l'automne des idées» = 'now I have reached the autumn of ideas'. The metaphor folds the seasons into the mind — youth was the storm, and middle age is the harvest's late, declining season.
6
And that I must take up the spade and the rakes
GrammarImpersonal «il faut» + infinitive «il faut» is the impersonal verb of necessity — 'one must, it is necessary to' — and takes an infinitive directly: «il faut employer» = 'one must use / take up'. The «qu'» links it back to «voilà que», so the obligation arrives with the autumn: the gardener-poet must now use «la pelle» (the spade) and «les râteaux» (the rakes) to repair the ruined ground.
7
To gather anew the flooded earth,
Word«à neuf» — afresh, like new «à neuf» is an idiom meaning 'anew, afresh, so as to be like new' (from «neuf», 'new, brand-new'). «rassembler à neuf les terres inondées» = 'to bank up the flooded soil afresh'. «inondées» is the past participle of «inonder» (to flood), agreeing in the feminine plural with «les terres» — the labour is to reclaim the drowned ground of the self.
8
Where the water hollows out holes as large as tombs.
Word«grand comme» — as large as «grand comme» sets up a comparison of size — 'as large as'. «des trous grands comme des tombeaux» = 'holes as large as tombs'. «creuser» is 'to dig, to hollow out', here in the present tense for a damage still underway. The simile turns the eroded garden-beds into open graves, and quietly summons the Enemy who will be named in the final lines.
9
And who knows whether the new flowers I dream of
Grammar«qui sait si» — who knows whether «si» after «qui sait» is the conjunction 'whether / if', opening an indirect question that hangs unanswered until the verb «Trouveront» in the next line. «que je rêve» uses «rêver» transitively — 'the flowers that I dream', i.e. dream of — a slightly elevated turn. The tercet's doubt sets the whole poem trembling: will anything new grow from the wrecked, washed soil?
10
Will find in this soil, washed bare like a shore,
Word«la grève» — the strand «la grève» here means a flat, gravelly shore or strand, especially one swept and scoured by the tide (its other modern sense, 'a labour strike', is unrelated). «ce sol lavé comme une grève» = 'this soil washed bare like a shore' — rinsed of all nourishment, clean and barren. «lavé» is the past participle of «laver» (to wash).
11
The mystic nourishment that would give them strength?
GrammarThe conditional «ferait» «ferait» is the conditional of «faire» (to make, to do): «l'aliment qui ferait leur vigueur» = 'the nourishment that would make / give their strength'. The conditional keeps the outcome hypothetical, suspended on the «qui sait si» of two lines back. «aliment» is sustenance, food in the broad sense; «mystique» raises it from the literal garden to the spiritual nourishment a depleted soul might still need.
12
— O grief! O grief! Time eats away our life,
13
And the dark Enemy that gnaws at our heart
GrammarThe dative «nous» of the body part Where English says 'gnaws at our heart', French marks the possessor with a dative pronoun and a definite article: «nous ronge le coeur» = 'gnaws the heart from us'. «ronger» (to gnaw, to eat away) makes the Enemy a slow, biting parasite. The capitalised «Ennemi» gives the poem its title and its riddle — Time, or remorse, or death itself, never finally named.
14
Grows and gathers strength on the blood we lose!
GrammarPronominal «se fortifier» Two verbs close the sonnet on the Enemy: «croît» (from «croître», to grow — the circumflex on «î» distinguishes it from «croit», 'believes') and the pronominal «se fortifier» (to strengthen oneself, grow stronger). «Du sang que nous perdons» is a prepositional phrase — «du» = de + le, 'from the blood that we lose' — so the Enemy feeds and draws strength from our very wasting: the more life drains away, the stronger it becomes.

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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