French · Spleen and Ideal

L'Irréparable

The Irreparable

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1
Can we smother the old, the long Remorse,
Pouvonscanpouvoir · verb, present, indicative, first-person, pluralmain verb of the sentence
-nouswenous · pronoun, pluralsubject of Pouvons
étouffersmotherétouffer · verb, infinitivecomplement of Pouvons
lethele · determiner, masculine, singulardeterminer of Remords
vieuxoldvieux · adjective, masculine, singularmodifies Remords (in apposition)
lethele · determiner, masculine, singulardeterminer of Remords
longlonglong · adjective, masculine, singularmodifies Remords
RemordsRemorseremords · noun, masculine, singulardirect object of étouffer
GrammarInversion in a question: «Pouvons-nous» French forms a formal yes/no question by inverting subject and verb: «Pouvons-nous» = 'can we', from «nous pouvons». «étouffer» = 'to smother, stifle, choke'. This opening question, echoed at the end of the stanza, sets the poem's refusing rhythm — every stanza asks whether the wound can be undone.
2
Which lives, writhes and twists about,
GrammarPronominal verbs «s'agiter», «se tortiller» Both are pronominal: «s'agiter» = 'to thrash, fidget, stir', «se tortiller» = 'to wriggle, squirm, writhe'. The reflexive «se» keeps the action inside the subject (Remorse) as a living thing twisting on its own. The piling of three verbs — «vit, s'agite et se tortille» — makes the gnawing feel ceaseless.
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And feeds on us as the worm feeds on the dead,
Grammar«se nourrir de» (to feed on) «se nourrir de» = 'to feed on, to live off' — pronominal, always with «de» before what is consumed. «le ver des morts» means 'the worm of the dead', i.e. the grave-worm; the «de» of «du chêne» / «des morts» marks what each devourer eats. Remorse battens on us as the worm battens on corpses.
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as the caterpillar on the oak?
WordInverted order; «chêne» / «chenille» Word order is poetically inverted: prose would say «comme la chenille [se nourrit] du chêne» — 'as the caterpillar feeds on the oak'. «le chêne» = 'oak', «la chenille» = 'caterpillar'; the near-rhyme of the two words is deliberate. The «de» (here «du chêne») again names what is eaten.
5
Can we smother the implacable Remorse?
6
In what philtre, in what wine, in what herbal brew,
Word«philtre», «tisane» «un philtre» is a magic potion or love-charm, not a 'filter' (faux ami). «une tisane» is an herbal infusion or tea steeped for its medicinal effect. With «vin», the line lists three things one might drink to dose oneself — three vain remedies against Remorse.
7
Shall we drown this old enemy,
GrammarFuture tense + inversion: «noierons-nous» «noierons-nous» is the future of «noyer» ('to drown') with question inversion: 'shall we drown'. «vieil» is the form of «vieux» ('old') used before a masculine noun beginning with a vowel sound — «ce vieil ennemi», 'this old enemy'.
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Destructive and greedy as the courtesan,
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patient as the ant?
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In what philtre? — in what wine? — in what herbal brew?
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Tell it, fair sorceress, oh! tell, if you know,
GrammarImperative with attached pronoun: «Dis-le» «dis» is the «tu» imperative of «dire» ('to say, tell'); in the affirmative imperative the object pronoun follows and hyphenates: «dis-le» = 'tell it / say it'. The «le» points ahead to the secret remedy. «si tu le sais» = 'if you know it' — the conditional doubt that the sorceress may not.
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to this spirit filled to the brim with anguish
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and like the dying man whom the wounded crush,
GrammarVerb-before-subject in a relative clause «que» is the object here, and French often puts the verb before its subject inside a relative clause: «qu'écrasent les blessés» = 'whom the wounded crush', not 'whom crush the wounded'. «écraser» = 'to crush, trample'; «les blessés» ('the wounded') are the ones doing the crushing. The dying man is pressed under the bodies of other fallen men.
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whom the horse's hoof bruises,
Word«froisser» (to bruise, crush) «froisser» literally means 'to crumple, crease' (as of paper or cloth) and, of a body, 'to bruise, contuse'. «le sabot» = 'the hoof'; «le sabot du cheval froisse [le mourant]» = 'the horse's hoof bruises [the dying man]'. The image extends the battlefield: the helpless spirit is trampled by hooves as well as by the wounded.
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Tell it, fair sorceress, oh! tell, if you know,
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to this dying man already sniffed at by the wolf
Word«agonisant», «flairer» «un agonisant» is a person in the death-agony, dying but not yet dead. «flairer» = 'to sniff, scent, smell out', what an animal does tracking prey. «que le loup déjà flaire» = 'whom the wolf already scents' — the verb sits before its subject «le loup» again, as French verse allows.
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and watched over by the crow,
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to this broken soldier! whether he must despair
Grammar«il faut que» + subjunctive «il faut que» ('it is necessary that / one must') always triggers the subjunctive: «qu'il désespère» is the subjunctive of «désespérer» ('to despair'). «s'il faut que» = 'whether it must be that, whether he is doomed to' — the soldier asks if despair is now obligatory, his only fate.
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of ever having his cross and his tomb;
Word«désespérer de» + «croix» «désespérer de [faire]» = 'to despair of [having]', to give up hope of it. «sa croix» here is the cross marking a grave (and the soldier's medal-cross of honour glances behind it); «son tombeau» = 'his tomb'. To despair «d'avoir sa croix et son tombeau» is to fear dying unburied, unmarked, unhonoured.
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This poor dying man whom the wolf already scents!
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Can one light up a muddy and black sky?
Word«bourbeux» (muddy, miry) «bourbeux/bourbeuse» = 'muddy, miry, slimy', from «la bourbe», the thick mud of a swamp. «Peut-on» is the impersonal «on» ('one') with inversion = 'can one'. A 'muddy black sky' fuses earth-filth with the heavens — the despair is total, with no clean height left to brighten.
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Can one tear open shadows
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denser than pitch, with no morning and no evening,
Word«la poix» (pitch) «la poix» is pitch or tar — black, thick, clinging. «plus dense que la poix» = 'denser than pitch'. The phrase modifies «des ténèbres» ('shadows, darkness') from the line before; the darkness has no «matin» (morning) and no «soir» (evening), no edge of light at either end of the day.
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with no stars, with no funereal lightning?
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Can one light up a muddy and black sky?
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The Hope that shines in the windowpanes of the Inn
Word«carreau», «auberge» «un carreau» is a windowpane (also a floor-tile); «aux carreaux» = 'in the panes' of the lit window. «une auberge» is a wayside inn. Capitalised «l'Espérance» and «l'Auberge» turn them into emblems: Hope is the warm light glimpsed through an inn's window by a traveller on a bad road.
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is blown out, is dead forever!
GrammarPassive «est soufflée»; «à jamais» «est soufflée» is a passive: «souffler» = 'to blow', and of a flame 'to blow out, snuff'; «la lumière est soufflée» = 'the light is blown out'. The past participle «soufflée» agrees with the feminine «l'Espérance». «à jamais» = 'forever, for all time' — the snuffing is final.
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With no moon and no rays, to find where one shelters —
Word«héberger» (to lodge, shelter) «héberger» = 'to lodge, take in, give shelter to'. «où l'on héberge les martyrs» = 'where one lodges the martyrs / where the martyrs find lodging'. The euphonic «l'on» (instead of plain «on») is common after «où» to ease the sound. Without moon or light, finding that shelter is impossible — the point of the despairing infinitive «trouver».
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the martyrs of an evil road!
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The Devil has put out every light in the windowpanes of the Inn!
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Adorable sorceress, do you love the damned?
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Tell me, do you know the unforgivable?
Word«irrémissible» (unforgivable) «irrémissible» = 'unforgivable, beyond remission', from the theology of sins that cannot be absolved. Used as a noun, «l'irrémissible» names the thing itself: the sin (or sorrow) past all pardon. It rhymes the title's «irréparable» in sense — what is done cannot be undone.
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Do you know Remorse, with its poisoned darts,
Word«trait» (dart) + «à» of attribute «un trait» here is an arrow or dart (as well as a 'feature'); «aux traits empoisonnés» = 'with poisoned darts'. The preposition «à/aux» commonly marks a defining attribute: 'the one with…'. Remorse is personified as an archer whose shafts are venomed.
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for whom our heart serves as a target?
Grammar«servir de» (to serve as) «servir de [qqch.]» = 'to serve as, act as' — no article before the noun: «sert de cible» = 'serves as a target'. «à qui» ('for whom / to whom') refers back to «le Remords». Our heart is the bull's-eye the poisoned darts are aimed at.
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Adorable sorceress, do you love the damned?
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The Irreparable gnaws with its accursed tooth
Word«ronger», «maudit» «ronger» = 'to gnaw, eat away, corrode', the slow chewing of a rodent or rust. «maudit/maudite» = 'accursed, damned', the past participle of «maudire» ('to curse'). The capitalised «L'Irréparable» — the poem's title, what can never be put right — bites at the soul with a cursed tooth.
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our soul, a pitiful monument,
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and often it attacks just as the termite does,
Grammar«ainsi que» (just as, like) «ainsi que» = 'just as, in the same way as' — a comparison, here 'as the termite does'. «le termite» eats wood from within, unseen; the soul-as-building is hollowed out «par la base» ('from the base'), undermined before it shows.
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the building, from its base.
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The Irreparable gnaws with its accursed tooth!
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— I have sometimes seen, at the back of a humdrum theatre
Word«au fond de», «banal» «au fond de» = 'at the back of, deep in'. «banal» here means 'ordinary, commonplace, unremarkable' (not the English 'banal' of cliché). The dash and «J'ai vu» (perfect of «voir», 'I have seen') turn the poem outward to a remembered scene — a cheap theatre — that will hold the one stray image of hope.
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which the resounding orchestra set ablaze,
GrammarInverted relative; imperfect «enflammait» «que» is the object, with verb before subject: «qu'enflammait l'orchestre» = 'which the orchestra set ablaze'. «enflammer» = 'to set on fire, kindle, inflame'; the imperfect «enflammait» gives ongoing, atmospheric action. The loud orchestra 'inflames' the dingy theatre — a figurative blaze of sound.
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a fairy kindle, in an infernal sky,
Grammar«voir» + infinitive (perception verb) Verbs of perception like «voir» take a direct object plus an infinitive: «j'ai vu une fée allumer» = 'I saw a fairy kindle / light up'. «une fée» is a stage-fairy, «allumer» = 'to light, kindle'. The construction spans three lines, from «J'ai vu» (s9-l1) to its objects here.
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a miraculous dawn;
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I have sometimes seen, at the back of a humdrum theatre,
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A being who was nothing but light, gold and gauze,
Grammar«ne ... que» (only, nothing but) «ne ... que» is the restrictive 'only / nothing but': «qui n'était que lumière» = 'who was only light, nothing but light'. It is not a negation — the being is not nothing, it is purely those things. «la gaze» is 'gauze', the sheer fabric of a stage costume, with «or» ('gold') its glitter.
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strike down the enormous Satan;
Word«terrasser» (to floor, throw down) «terrasser» = 'to fell, floor, strike to the ground' — from «terre» ('earth'), to bring an enemy down onto it. It is the second infinitive governed by «J'ai vu» from the line above: 'I saw a being… strike down Satan'. On the cheap stage, the spangled fairy floors the great Devil — the one dawn breaking an infernal sky.
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But my heart, which ecstasy never visits,
GrammarInverted relative with «ne ... jamais» Verb before subject again: «que jamais ne visite l'extase» = 'which ecstasy never visits' («l'extase» is the subject, «que» = my heart, the object). «ne ... jamais» = 'never'. After the stage's miracle, the «Mais» ('but') turns the poem back to the real heart, which no such rapture ever reaches.
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is a theatre where one waits
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always, always in vain, for the Being with wings of gauze!
Word«en vain»; «l'Être aux ailes de gaze» «en vain» = 'in vain, to no purpose'; «attendre ... en vain» = 'to wait in vain'. «l'Être aux ailes de gaze» = 'the Being with wings of gauze' — the «aux» of attribute again ('the one with…'). The heart is its own theatre, endlessly awaiting a saviour-fairy who never comes onstage.

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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