# Le Masque · The Mask

Les Fleurs du mal · Charles Baudelaire · Spleen and Ideal

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/baudelaire/le-masque. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/baudelaire/le-masque.json.

**1** Statue allégorique dans le goût de la Renaissance  
Allegorical statue in the taste of the Renaissance
> «Statue allégorique» — the poem's epigraph: This first line is not verse but the sculpture's own descriptive title, printed beneath «Le Masque» as an epigraph. «dans le goût de la Renaissance» means 'in the taste / manner of the Renaissance'. It frames the whole poem as the description of a real two-faced statue by Baudelaire's friend Christophe.


**2** À Ernest Christophe, statuaire.  
To Ernest Christophe, sculptor.


**3** Contemplons ce trésor de grâces florentines;  
Let us contemplate this treasure of Florentine graces;

**4** Dans l'ondulation de ce corps musculeux  
In the undulation of this muscular body

**5** L'Elégance et la Force abondent, soeurs divines.  
Elegance and Strength abound, divine sisters.

**6** Cette femme, morceau vraiment miraculeux,  
This woman, a truly miraculous morsel,

**7** Divinement robuste, adorablement mince,  
Divinely robust, adorably slender,

**8** Est faite pour trôner sur des lits somptueux  
Is made to sit enthroned upon sumptuous beds
> «trôner» — to sit enthroned: «trôner» is built from «le trône» (the throne): 'to sit enthroned, to reign'. «Est faite pour trôner sur des lits somptueux» — 'is made to be enthroned upon sumptuous beds' — gives the sculpted woman the bearing of a queen or idol, the same regal stillness Baudelaire's «belles» so often hold.

**9** Et charmer les loisirs d'un pontife ou d'un prince.  
And to charm the leisure of a pontiff or a prince.

**10** — Aussi, vois ce souris fin et voluptueux  
— And so, behold this smile, refined and voluptuous,
> «aussi» in initial position — 'and so, therefore': When «aussi» opens a clause (rather than meaning 'also'), it means 'and so, therefore, consequently' and often triggers inversion in formal prose. Here, after the em-dash that marks a turn to the listener, «— Aussi, vois...» = 'And so, look...'. The dash signals the speaker pivoting to point things out to a companion.

**11** Où la Fatuité promène son extase;  
Where Self-Conceit parades its rapture;

**12** Ce long regard sournois, langoureux et moqueur;  
This long gaze, sly, languorous, and mocking;

**13** Ce visage mignard, tout encadré de gaze,  
This dainty face, all framed in gauze,

**14** Dont chaque trait nous dit avec un air vainqueur:  
Whose every feature tells us with a conquering air:

**15** «La Volupté m'appelle et l'Amour me couronne!»  
"Voluptuousness calls me and Love crowns me!"
> Object pronouns «me / m'» before the verb: French places unstressed object pronouns before the verb: «La Volupté m'appelle» = 'Voluptuousness calls me', «l'Amour me couronne» = 'Love crowns me'. The «m'» is «me» elided before a vowel. The guillemets «...» quote the boast the statue's face seems to make.

**16** À cet être doué de tant de majesté  
To this being endowed with such majesty

**17** Vois quel charme excitant la gentillesse donne!  
See what an exciting charm her prettiness bestows!

**18** Approchons, et tournons autour de sa beauté.  
Let us draw near, and turn about her beauty.


**19** Ô blasphème de l'art! ô surprise fatale!  
O blasphemy of art! O fatal surprise!
> «le blasphème» — blasphemy, sacrilege: «le blasphème» is blasphemy, an outrage against the sacred. «Ô blasphème de l'art!» — 'O blasphemy of art!' — is the poet's cry on discovering the second face: the beautiful body that 'promises bliss' is a sacrilege because it lies. The exclamation marks and the doubled «ô» carry the recoil of the revelation.

**20** La femme au corps divin, promettant le bonheur,  
The woman with the divine body, promising bliss,

**21** Par le haut se termine en monstre bicéphale!  
Above the waist ends in a two-headed monster!
> «bicéphale» — two-headed: «bicéphale» is a Greco-Latin compound: «bi-» is a Latin prefix meaning 'two', while «-céphale» derives from Greek «kephalē» (head). A purely Greek form would be «dikephalos». It describes the statue's hidden second head. «Par le haut se termine en monstre bicéphale» — literally 'ends, by the upper part, in a two-headed monster'. The flawless body conceals a second, grieving face turned behind the smiling one — the 'mask' of the title.


**22** — Mais non! ce n'est qu'un masque, un décor suborneur,  
— But no! it is only a mask, a seducing disguise,
> «suborneur» — seducing, beguiling: «suborneur» (feminine «suborneuse») means 'seducing, leading astray, suborning' — one who bribes or beguiles. «un décor suborneur» — 'a seducing stage-set / disguise' — names the smiling mask as a deliberate deception, a painted scenery that lures the eye away from the truth behind it.

**23** Ce visage éclairé d'une exquise grimace,  
This face lit up with an exquisite grimace,

**24** Et, regarde, voici, crispée atrocement,  
And, look, behold, clenched atrociously,

**25** La véritable tête, et la sincère face  
The true head, and the sincere face

**26** Renversée à l'abri de la face qui ment  
Turned over, sheltered behind the face that lies.

**27** Pauvre grande beauté! le magnifique fleuve  
Poor great beauty! the magnificent river

**28** De tes pleurs aboutit dans mon coeur soucieux  
Of your tears flows into my anxious heart;

**29** Ton mensonge m'enivre, et mon âme s'abreuve  
Your lie intoxicates me, and my soul drinks deep
> Reflexive «s'abreuver» — to drink one's fill: «s'abreuver» is the pronominal verb 'to drink, to slake one's thirst' (often of animals at water). «mon âme s'abreuve / Aux flots...» = 'my soul drinks deep from the floods...'. The reflexive makes the soul both drinker and vessel, feeding on the tears Sorrow makes gush from her eyes.

**30** Aux flots que la Douleur fait jaillir de tes yeux!  
From the floods that Sorrow makes gush from your eyes!


**31** — Mais pourquoi pleure-t-elle? Elle, beauté parfaite,  
— But why does she weep? She, perfect beauty,
> Inversion in a question: «pleure-t-elle»: A formal question inverts verb and subject pronoun: «pourquoi pleure-t-elle?» = 'why does she weep?'. The «-t-» is a euphonic buffer inserted between the verb's final vowel and «elle» so the two vowels don't collide. The dash again marks a new speaker breaking in with the question.

**32** Qui mettrait à ses pieds le genre humain vaincu,  
Who could lay the conquered human race at her feet,
> Conditional «mettrait» — 'who would / could lay': «mettrait» is the conditional of «mettre» (to put, place): 'would put / could put'. «Qui mettrait à ses pieds le genre humain vaincu» = 'who could lay the conquered human race at her feet'. The conditional measures her power as potential — a beauty that could subdue all mankind, yet still weeps.

**33** Quel mal mystérieux ronge son flanc d'athlète?  
What mysterious ill gnaws her athlete's flank?


**34** — Elle pleure insensé, parce qu'elle a vécu!  
— She weeps, fool, because she has lived!
> «vivre» in the passé composé: «a vécu»: «vécu» is the irregular past participle of «vivre» (to live). «parce qu'elle a vécu» = 'because she has lived'. The blunt answer to the question lands here: she weeps simply because she has lived — and, the next line insists, «parce qu'elle vit», because she still lives.

**35** Et parce qu'elle vit! Mais ce qu'elle déplore  
And because she lives! But what she laments

**36** Surtout, ce qui la fait frémir jusqu'aux genoux,  
Above all, what makes her shudder to the knees,

**37** C'est que demain, hélas! il faudra vivre encore!  
Is that tomorrow, alas! she must go on living!
> Impersonal «falloir» in the future: «il faudra»: «falloir» ('to be necessary') exists only in the impersonal «il» form. «il faudra vivre encore» = 'one will have to / she will have to go on living'. The future tense turns survival into a sentence rather than a gift — the dread that makes her «frémir jusqu'aux genoux», shudder to the knees.

**38** Demain, après-demain et toujours! — comme nous!  
Tomorrow, the day after, and forever! — like us!

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Source text: public domain (Charles Baudelaire, d. 1867). English translation: © 2026 1732 Studios, LLC — original draft, pending editorial review.