French · Spleen and Ideal

La Vie antérieure

The Former Life

14 lines · 11 notes

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1
Long did I dwell beneath vast porticoes
J'Ije · pronoun, singularsubject of habité
aihaveavoir · auxiliary verb, present, indicative, first-person, singulardepends on habité
longtempslonglongtemps · adverbmodifies habité
habitédwelthabiter · verb, past, participle, masculine, singularmain verb of the sentence
sousbeneathsous · prepositionpreposition marking portiques
desomede · determiner, pluraldeterminer of portiques
vastesvastvaste · adjective, pluralmodifies portiques
portiquesporticoesportique · noun, pluraloblique argument of habité
Grammar«de» before a fronted plural adjective Before a plural noun introduced by a preceding adjective, French uses «de» rather than «des»: «de vastes portiques» = 'vast porticoes', not «des vastes portiques». «habiter» here is used without a preposition in the literal past — «j'ai longtemps habité» = 'I dwelt for a long time' — opening the sonnet in the «passé composé» of remembered, lived experience.
2
That sea-suns stained with a thousand fires,
Word«teindre» — to dye, to tinge «teignaient» is the imperfect of «teindre» (to dye, to stain with colour) — a verb usually reserved for cloth and skin, so the «soleils marins» ('sea-suns') do not merely light the columns but soak them in colour. The imperfect tense sets the scene as a continuous, habitual radiance, the steady backdrop against which the remembered life unfolds.
3
And whose great pillars, straight and majestic,
4
Made them, at evening, like basalt grottoes.
Grammar«rendre» + adjective = to make (something) become «rendre» followed by an adjective means 'to make / render (something) such': «rendaient pareils aux grottes basaltiques» = 'made them resemble basalt grottoes'. «pareil à» takes «à» for what is compared (here contracted to «aux»). The subject is «leurs grands piliers» of the line before — the pillars, at dusk, turn the porticoes into something geological, the «grottes basaltiques» recalling the hexagonal columns of Fingal's Cave.
5
The swells, as they rolled the images of the skies,
GrammarThe gerund «en» + present participle «en roulant» is the gerund — «en» plus the present participle of «rouler» (to roll) — expressing manner and simultaneity: 'while/by rolling'. The «houles» ('swells, ocean swells') roll the reflected sky on their surface, so that sea and heaven turn over together. The construction keeps the whole quatrain in a single rocking, suspended motion until its main verb «Mêlaient» arrives.
6
Mingled, in a solemn and mystic way,
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The all-powerful chords of their rich music
Word«tout-puissant» — almighty «tout-puissant» means 'all-powerful, almighty' — the very epithet used for God — here lent to the «accords» ('chords, harmonies') of the sea's music. «tout-puissant» is a compound adjective that inflects like any ordinary adjective: masculine singular «tout-puissant», masculine plural «tout-puissants», feminine singular «toute-puissante». Adverbial «tout» is invariable before masculine adjectives — the agreement here is that of the compound adjective, not adverbial «tout». The sacred word quietly divinises the ocean, making its sound a kind of liturgy.
8
With the colours of the sunset mirrored in my eyes.
Grammar«mêler A à B» — to mingle one thing with another Reaching back to «Mêlaient» two lines above, the pattern is «mêler quelque chose à quelque chose» = 'to mingle one thing with another'. The sea's chords are mingled «aux couleurs du couchant» ('with the colours of the sunset'). «reflété» (past participle of «refléter», to reflect) is singular, agreeing with «couchant» — the sunset reflected by the speaker's own eyes, so that sound and colour answer each other, a synesthesia close to the «Correspondances».
9
It was there that I lived amid calm voluptuousness,
GrammarThe cleft «c'est ... que» «c'est là que j'ai vécu» = 'it is there that I lived' — the cleft construction «c'est ... que» frames and emphasises an element, here the place «là» ('there'). The tercet pivots the sonnet from describing the seascape to the speaker's own existence within it. «les voluptés» (plural) are sensual pleasures, delights; «calmes» keeps them serene rather than feverish — a paradise of untroubled ease.
10
In the midst of the azure, the waves, the splendours
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And the naked slaves, all steeped in perfumes,
GrammarAdverbial «tout» + past participle «tout» here is the adverb 'wholly, all', intensifying «imprégnés» ('steeped, saturated', past participle of «imprégner»). Before this masculine plural it agrees as «tout», not «touts». «imprégné de» takes «de» for what something is steeped in — «d'odeurs», 'with scents'. The detail belongs to the languid, exotic luxury of the remembered «vie antérieure», and prepares the «palmes» of the next line.
12
Who cooled my brow with palm-fronds,
GrammarDative pronoun for the body part Where English says 'cooled my brow', French marks the possessor with a dative pronoun and a definite article: «me rafraîchissaient le front» = 'cooled the brow for me / on me'. «rafraîchir» is 'to refresh, to cool'; the imperfect «rafraîchissaient» keeps the fanning continuous and habitual. The relative «Qui» reaches back to «les esclaves nus» of the previous line — the slaves who fan the dreamer with «des palmes» (palm-fronds).
13
And whose sole care was to fathom
GrammarThe relative «dont» (= of whom / whose) «dont» is the relative pronoun standing for «de qui / duquel» — 'of whom, whose'. «dont l'unique soin était...» = 'whose sole care was...', still referring to the slaves. «approfondir» literally 'to deepen', here 'to probe to the bottom, to fathom' — their one task is to plumb the speaker's hidden grief, the «secret douloureux» named in the final line.
14
The grievous secret that made me languish.
Word«faire languir» — to make pine away «languir» is 'to languish, to pine, to waste away with longing'; «faire languir» is the causative — 'to make (someone) languish'. The sonnet closes on its sting: even within this serene, sensual paradise the speaker carries a «secret douloureux» ('a grievous, painful secret') that quietly consumes him — the worm of «spleen» surviving at the heart of the «idéal».

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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