French · Death

La Mort des pauvres

The Death of the Poor

14 lines · 11 notes

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1
It is Death that consoles, alas! and that makes us live;
C'itce · pronoun, singularsubject of est
estisêtre · auxiliary verb, present, indicative, third-person, singularcopula linking to Mort
lathele · determiner, feminine, singulardeterminer of Mort
MortDeathmort · noun, feminine, singularpredicate noun after est
quithatqui · pronoun, relativesubject of console
consoleconsolesconsoler · verb, present, indicative, third-person, singularrelative clause verb, modifies Mort
hélasalashélas · interjectioninterjection, parenthetical
etandet · conjunctionlinks the coordination
quithatqui · pronoun, relativesubject of fait
faitmakesfaire · verb, present, indicative, third-person, singularrelative clause verb, modifies Mort, takes vivre as complement
vivrelivevivre · verb, infinitivecomplement infinitive of fait
Grammar«c'est … qui» — the cleft of emphasis «c'est … qui» is a cleft construction that throws the spotlight onto the subject: 'it is Death that consoles', not anything else. The poem will hammer «C'est…» at the head of nearly every stanza, each time naming what Death is. «la Mort» is capitalized because she is personified — a figure, almost an allegory, rather than an event.
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It is the goal of life, and it is the only hope
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which, like an elixir, mounts in us and intoxicates us,
Word«enivrer» — to intoxicate «enivrer» = 'to make drunk, to intoxicate, to exhilarate' (built on «ivre», 'drunk'). Here «nous monte» ('rises in us, goes to our head') and «nous enivre» work as a pair: hope acts on us like a draught of «élixir» ('elixir' — a magical, life-giving cordial), heady and warming. The «nous» before each verb marks us as the ones it works upon.
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and gives us the heart to walk on until evening;
Grammar«donner le coeur de» + infinitive «donner le coeur de (faire)» = 'to give the heart, the courage, the spirit to (do)'. «le coeur» here is figurative — not the organ but nerve, the will to keep going. «jusqu'au soir» ('until evening') reads on two levels at once: until nightfall, and until the close of life — the day's end standing for life's end.
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Across the tempest, and the snow, and the frost,
Word«le givre» — hoarfrost «le givre» is hoarfrost — the white, feathery ice that forms on cold surfaces, not the same as «le gel» (the freeze) or «la glace» (ice). The repeated «et … et … et» piles up the hardships of the journey — «la tempête» (storm), «la neige» (snow), «le givre» — the bitter weather of a poor life through which hope alone gives strength to walk.
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it is the throbbing brightness on our black horizon,
Word«la clarté» — radiance, light «la clarté» is brightness, radiance, the quality of being light or luminous (from «clair», 'clear, bright'). «vibrante» ('vibrant, throbbing, quivering') makes the light seem alive, trembling against «notre horizon noir» ('our black horizon'). Death is the one glow at the far edge of a darkened life — the lamp that promises the journey will end.
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it is the famous inn written down in the book,
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where one will be able to eat, and sleep, and sit down;
Grammar«l'on», the future «pourra», and reflexive «s'asseoir» «l'on» is simply «on» ('one, people') with a euphonic «l'» added after «où» for smoothness — no change of meaning. «pourra» is the future of «pouvoir» ('to be able'): at the inn one 'will be able to' rest. «s'asseoir» is reflexive, 'to sit oneself down' — the plainest of comforts, eating, sleeping, sitting, which a poor life so often denies.
9
It is an Angel who holds in his magnetic fingers
Word«magnétique» — mesmeric, magnetic «magnétique» means 'magnetic', but in Baudelaire's day it also carried the sense of 'animal magnetism' — the mesmerist's power to induce sleep and trance with a touch. The Angel's «doigts magnétiques» ('magnetic fingers') draw the sleeper down as a mesmerist would, which is why the next line gives him «le sommeil» and «le don des rêves extatiques».
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sleep and the gift of ecstatic dreams,
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and who remakes the bed of the poor and naked;
Word«refaire le lit» — to make the bed again «refaire le lit» is the everyday phrase 'to make the bed, to make it up again' (the prefix «re-» on «faire», 'to do, make'). The Angel performs the humblest household tenderness for «les gens pauvres et nus» ('poor and naked people') — those who in life had no one to tend them. Death is imagined as the servant who, at last, smooths their sheets.
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It is the glory of the Gods, it is the mystic granary,
Word«le grenier» — granary, garret «le grenier» means both 'granary, storehouse' and 'garret, attic'. The pun is pointed: for the poor, the «grenier» is the bare attic where they live, but here it becomes a «grenier mystique» — a mystic storehouse, full at last. Death turns the empty garret of the destitute into a granary heaped with the plenty they never knew in life.
13
it is the poor man's purse and his ancient homeland,
Word«la bourse» and «la patrie antique» «la bourse» is a purse, the small bag for one's money — so Death is the only wealth the «pauvre» ('poor man') ever owns. «sa patrie antique» ('his ancient homeland, his age-old native country') frames death as a return: not exile but the old home the soul comes back to. Two figures for the same gift — riches and belonging — that life withheld.
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it is the portico thrown open onto the unknown Heavens!
Word«le portique» and «les Cieux» «le portique» is a portico or colonnade — a grand pillared porch, here the threshold of the beyond. «les Cieux» is the plural, elevated form for 'the Heavens' (loftier than the everyday «le ciel», 'sky/heaven'). «inconnus» ('unknown') keeps the destination a mystery: the sonnet ends not on certainty but on an open doorway onto a heaven no one has seen.

The particulars

The text: Les Fleurs du mal, Charles Baudelaire. Death.
Words: Every word of the text, by letter.
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