French · Spleen and Ideal

L'Invitation au voyage

Invitation to the Voyage

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My child, my sister,
Monmymon · determiner, singulardeterminer of enfant
enfantchildenfant · noun, masculine, singularhead of the phrase
mamymon · determiner, feminine, singulardeterminer of soeur
soeursistersoeur · noun, feminine, singularcoordinated with enfant
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dream of the sweetness
Grammarsonger à + noun «songer» = 'to dream, to muse', and it governs «à» before its object: «songer à quelque chose» = 'to dream of / think upon something'. The imperative «Songe à la douceur» opens the whole poem as a soft command — 'dream of the sweetness…' — that the rest of the stanza unrolls.
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of going off to live there together!
Wordlà-bas «là-bas» = 'over there, yonder' — a place pointed at from a distance, never named. This unnamed «là-bas» is the imagined country (often read as Holland) toward which the whole poem reaches; it stays a destination of longing rather than a fact.
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To love at leisure,
Wordà loisir «à loisir» = 'at leisure, at one's ease, taking all the time one wants'. Paired with the bare infinitive «Aimer», it frames love as unhurried — an act with no clock on it, in keeping with the poem's slow, balanced calm.
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to love and to die
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in the land that resembles you!
Grammarressembler à «ressembler» takes «à» ('to resemble, to look like'), and the object is the pronoun «te» ('you'). «le pays qui te ressemble» = 'the land that resembles you' — the country and the beloved are folded into one image, each a likeness of the other.
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The watery suns
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of those clouded skies
Wordbrouillé «brouillé» = 'blurred, muddled, overcast' (from «brouiller», 'to mix up, to cloud'). «ciels brouillés» are misty, indistinct skies; the diffuse, rain-soaked light is what gives these «soleils mouillés» ('watery suns') their charm for the poet.
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hold for my spirit the charms,
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so mysterious,
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of your treacherous eyes,
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shining through their tears.
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There, all is order and beauty,
Grammarne … que (restrictive 'only') «ne … que» is not a negation but the restrictive 'only / nothing but'. «tout n'est qu'ordre et beauté» = 'everything is nothing but order and beauty', i.e. 'there is only order and beauty'. The refrain returns three times, each repeating this serene 'only'.
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luxury, calm, and voluptuous pleasure.
Wordvolupté (f.) «volupté» = 'sensual delight, voluptuous pleasure' — a richer, more bodily word than English 'pleasure'. Set beside «calme» and «luxe», it names the sensuous ease that is the poem's whole promise; Matisse later borrowed «Luxe, calme et volupté» as a painting title.
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Gleaming furniture,
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polished by the years,
GrammarPast participle + «par» (passive) «Polis» is the past participle of «polir» ('to polish'), agreeing in the masculine plural with «meubles». «par les ans» names the agent: 'polished by the years'. It is a reduced passive — 'furniture (that has been) polished by the years' — giving the room its worn, time-burnished glow.
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would adorn our room;
GrammarConditional mood «Décoreraient» is the conditional of «décorer» ('to decorate, adorn'): 'would adorn'. From here the stanza stays in the conditional — «parlerait», 'would speak' — because the whole room is imagined, not real: this is the furnishing of a daydream.
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the rarest flowers
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mingling their scents
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with the faint perfumes of amber,
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the rich ceilings,
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the deep mirrors,
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the oriental splendor,
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everything there would speak
GrammarThe pronoun «y» «y» = 'there, in that place', standing in for «dans notre chambre». «Tout y parlerait» = 'everything there would speak'. The objects of the room are imagined as quietly addressing the soul in its own «douce langue natale» — its sweet native tongue.
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to the soul in secret
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its sweet native tongue.
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There, all is order and beauty,
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luxury, calm, and voluptuous pleasure.
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See, upon these canals,
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those vessels sleeping,
GrammarVerb of perception + infinitive After a verb of perception like «voir» ('to see'), French uses a bare infinitive where English often uses '-ing'. «Vois … dormir ces vaisseaux» = 'See those vessels sleeping' (literally 'see those vessels sleep'). The infinitive «Dormir» is held back to the line's start, suspending the ships in their drowsing stillness.
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whose temper is given to wandering;
GrammarThe relative «dont» «dont» means 'whose / of which' — a relative that carries the sense of «de». «les vaisseaux dont l'humeur est vagabonde» = 'the vessels whose temper is roving'. «humeur» here is 'disposition, mood', and «vagabonde» ('vagabond, roving') gives the ships a restless, wandering character.
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It is to satisfy
Wordassouvir «assouvir» = 'to sate, to gratify, to slake' a hunger or desire — stronger than plain 'satisfy'. «pour assouvir ton moindre désir» = 'to slake your least desire': the ships have come from the ends of the earth to feed even the smallest of the beloved's wishes.
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your least desire,
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that they come from the ends of the earth.
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— The setting suns
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clothe the fields,
Wordrevêtir «revêtir» = 'to clothe, to dress, to robe (in)'; the present tense «revêtent» = 'they clothe'. The setting suns 'clothe' the fields, canals, and whole town «D'hyacinthe et d'or» — in hyacinth and gold — dressing the landscape as if in rich fabric.
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the canals, the whole town,
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in hyacinth and gold;
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the world falls asleep
Grammars'endormir (pronominal) «s'endormir» is the pronominal verb 'to fall asleep' (the reflexive «se» marks the change of state); «endormir» alone means 'to put to sleep'. «Le monde s'endort» = 'the world falls asleep', drifting off on its own «Dans une chaude lumière» — in a warm light.
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in a warm light.
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There, all is order and beauty,
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luxury, calm, and voluptuous pleasure.

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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