French · Spleen and Ideal

Le Poison

The Poison

20 lines · 10 notes

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1
Wine knows how to clothe the most squalid hovel
Lethele · determiner, masculine, singulardeterminer of vin
vinwinevin · noun, masculine, singularsubject of sait
saitknows howsavoir · verb, present, indicative, third-person, singularmain verb of the sentence
revêtirto clotherevêtir · verb, infinitivecomplement of sait
lethele · determiner, masculine, singulardeterminer of bouge
plusmostplus · adverbmodifies sordide
sordidesqualidsordide · adjective, singularmodifies bouge
bougehovelbouge · noun, masculine, singulardirect object of revêtir
Wordbouge (a low den) «un bouge» = 'a hovel, a squalid den, a dive' — a cramped, sordid room. «revêtir» = 'to clothe, to dress, to cover over'; «sait revêtir» ('knows how to clothe') gives wine an artist's skill, draping the meanest room in «un luxe miraculeux».
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in a miraculous luxury,
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and makes more than one fabulous portico rise up
GrammarCausative «faire» + infinitive «faire surgir» = 'to make (something) spring up / cause to rise'. French builds the causative with «faire» + a bare infinitive, where English needs 'make … rise'. «un portique» is a colonnaded porch; «plus d'un» ('more than one') takes a singular verb and noun in French though the sense is plural.
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in the gold of its red vapor,
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like a setting sun in a clouded sky.
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Opium enlarges what has no bounds,
Grammar«ce qui» (what / that which) «ce qui» = 'what / that which' — the headless relative pronoun, subject of its clause. «une borne» is a boundary-marker or limit; «ce qui n'a pas de bornes» = 'that which has no limits'. The paradox is deliberate: opium makes even the limitless larger still, a theme the next two lines push further.
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stretches out the limitless,
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deepens time, hollows out pleasure,
Wordcreuser / volupté «creuser» = 'to dig, to hollow out, to deepen'. Paired with «approfondit» ('deepens'), it turns sensation into excavated space. «la volupté» is 'voluptuous pleasure, sensual delight' — a key word across «Les Fleurs du Mal», stronger and more carnal than ordinary «plaisir».
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and with black, dismal pleasures
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fills the soul beyond its capacity.
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All that is not worth the poison that flows down
Grammar«valoir» (to be worth) «valoir» = 'to be worth'; «cela ne vaut pas X» = 'that is not worth X / is no match for X'. «vaut» is its irregular present. The refrain «Tout cela ne vaut pas» opens both this stanza and the last, ranking the lover's poison above wine and opium alike.
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from your eyes, from your green eyes,
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lakes where my soul trembles and sees itself reversed...
GrammarReflexive «se voir» + «à l'envers» «se voir» = 'to see oneself'; the reflexive «se» makes the soul both viewer and image. «à l'envers» = 'upside down, inside out, the wrong way round' — the soul, mirrored in the green-eyed lakes, sees itself inverted, as a reflection on water always is.
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my dreams come crowding in
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to slake their thirst at these bitter chasms.
Wordse désaltérer (to quench one's thirst) «se désaltérer» = 'to quench one's thirst, to drink one's fill' — a pronominal verb, literally 'to un-thirst oneself'. The dreams come «en foule» ('in a crowd') to drink at «ces gouffres amers», 'these bitter chasms' — the same green eyes, now abysses the dreams flock to drown in.
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All that is not worth the terrible marvel
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of your saliva that bites,
Wordprodige / mordre «un prodige» = 'a marvel, a wonder, a prodigy'; «le terrible prodige» yokes awe and dread together, as the whole poem braids delight and poison. «mord» is from «mordre» ('to bite') — the kiss is venomous, the saliva itself a thing with teeth.
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that plunges my soul into oblivion without remorse,
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and, sweeping along the vertigo,
GrammarPresent participle «charriant» «charrier» = 'to cart, to carry along, to sweep down' (as a river carries debris). The present participle «charriant» ('carrying / sweeping along') describes the saliva of line 2, prolonging the action into the final line, where it «roule» the soul down to the shores of death.
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rolls it, swooning, to the shores of death!
Wordrouler / défaillant «la roule» = 'rolls it', the object pronoun «la» standing for «mon âme» ('my soul'). «défaillante» ('fainting, swooning, failing', feminine) agrees with «âme» — the soul is rolled along already losing consciousness. «aux rives de la mort» = 'to the shores of death', closing the poison's river at the water's edge of death itself.

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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