French · Spleen and Ideal

Le Serpent qui danse

The Dancing Serpent

36 lines · 13 notes

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How I love to see, dear indolent one,
Quehowque · adverb, exclamativeintroduces the exclamative clause with aime
j'Ije · pronoun, singularsubject of aime
aimeloveaimer · verb, present, indicative, first-person, singularmain verb of the sentence
voirto seevoir · verb, infinitivecomplement of aime
chèredearcher · adjective, feminine, singularmodifies indolente
indolenteindolent oneindolent · adjective used as noun, feminine, singularvocative address
Word«indolent(e)» as a substantive «indolent(e)» = 'languid, listless, idle'. Here the adjective stands in for a noun — «chère indolente» = 'dear indolent one' — addressing the languorous woman directly. The opening «Que j'aime voir» is an exclamatory 'how I love to see', setting the whole poem as one long admiring look.
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Of your body so lovely,
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Like a shimmering cloth,
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The skin glint and waver!
Word«miroiter» — to shimmer «miroiter» (from «miroir», mirror) is 'to shimmer, to glint, to play with reflected light'. It is the infinitive completing «j'aime voir … la peau miroiter» — 'I love to see the skin shimmer'. The verb makes the skin behave like the «étoffe vacillante» (wavering cloth) of the line above: light slides over it as over water.
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Over your deep head of hair
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With its acrid perfumes,
Word«âcre» — acrid «âcre» = 'acrid, pungent, harsh to the senses'. «aux âcres parfums» = 'with acrid perfumes': the «aux» (= «à les») marks a defining trait, 'the one having…'. Baudelaire prefers the biting word to a sweet one — the hair's scent stings, the same heavy, animal perfume that runs through the Jeanne Duval poems.
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Fragrant and roving sea
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With its blue and brown waves,
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Like a ship that wakes
GrammarPronominal «s'éveiller» — to awaken «s'éveiller» is the pronominal verb 'to wake (oneself), to come awake'. The reflexive «se» makes the ship wake of its own accord — «un navire qui s'éveille / Au vent du matin» = 'a ship that wakes to the morning wind'. The hair-as-sea now carries a vessel that stirs, launching the soul's voyage in the next stanza.
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To the morning wind,
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My dreaming soul sets sail
Word«appareiller» — to set sail «appareiller» is the nautical verb 'to weigh anchor, to get under way, to set sail'. «Mon âme rêveuse appareille / Pour un ciel lointain» = 'my dreaming soul sets sail for a far-off sky'. The sea-imagery of the hair becomes literal departure: the body's swaying launches the poet toward an imagined elsewhere.
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For a far-off sky.
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Your eyes, where nothing reveals itself
GrammarPronominal «se révéler» — to reveal itself «se révéler» is the pronominal 'to reveal itself, to show'. With «rien … ne» it becomes 'nothing reveals itself': «où rien ne se révèle / De doux ni d'amer» = 'where nothing of sweet or bitter shows'. The eyes give nothing away — neither tenderness nor malice — which is why the next line can call them cold jewels of gold and iron.
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Of sweet or bitter,
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Are two cold jewels where mingle
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Gold with iron.
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Seeing you walk in measured step,
Grammar«à» + infinitive — 'on / from doing' «à» + infinitive here means 'on / from / by doing': «à te voir marcher» = 'on seeing you walk, from the sight of you walking'. «en cadence» = 'in rhythm, in measured time'. The construction sets up the simile that follows — the rhythmic walk is what makes one think of a dancing serpent.
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Lovely with abandon,
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One would say a serpent that dances
Grammar«on dirait» — 'one would say / it looks like' «on dirait» is the conditional of «dire» used idiomatically: 'one would say, you'd think, it looks like'. «On dirait un serpent qui danse / Au bout d'un bâton» = 'you'd think it a serpent dancing at the end of a stick'. This is the line that names the poem — the swaying walk likened to a charmer's snake rising along its rod.
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At the end of a stick.
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Beneath the burden of your idleness
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Your child's head
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Sways with the softness
GrammarPronominal «se balancer» — to sway «se balancer» is the pronominal 'to sway, to rock, to swing to and fro'. «Ta tête d'enfant / Se balance avec la mollesse / D'un jeune éléphant» = 'your child's head sways with the softness of a young elephant'. The same rocking motion («balancement») threads through the poem — the cloth, the ship, the snake, and now the heavy, gentle nod of the head.
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Of a young elephant,
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And your body leans and stretches out
GrammarPaired pronominals «se pencher» / «s'allonger» Two pronominal verbs in a row: «se pencher» = 'to lean, to tilt', and «s'allonger» = 'to stretch out, to lengthen'. «ton corps se penche et s'allonge / Comme un fin vaisseau» = 'your body leans and stretches like a slender vessel'. The doubled reflexives keep the motion self-driven — the body moves on its own, like a ship rolling «bord sur bord» (side to side).
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Like a slender vessel
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That rolls side to side and plunges
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Its yardarms into the water.
Word«la vergue» — the yardarm «la vergue» is the yard, the horizontal spar slung across a mast to carry a sail. «Qui roule bord sur bord et plonge / Ses vergues dans l'eau» = 'that rolls from side to side and plunges its yardarms into the water'. The ship heels so far over that its rigging dips into the sea — the most extreme of the poem's swaying images.
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Like a flood swollen by the melting
Word«la fonte» — the melt; «grondant» — rumbling «la fonte» is 'melting, thaw' (from «fondre», to melt); «grondant» = 'rumbling, roaring' (present participle of «gronder»). «un flot grossi par la fonte / Des glaciers grondants» = 'a flood swelled by the melt of rumbling glaciers'. The simile prepares the final image: a rising, cold, swelling water — like the moisture welling up to the edge of her teeth.
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Of rumbling glaciers,
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When the water of your mouth rises
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To the edge of your teeth,
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I seem to drink a wine of Bohemia,
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Bitter and conquering,
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A liquid sky that strews
Word«parsemer» — to strew, to sprinkle «parsemer (qch de qch)» is 'to strew, scatter, sprinkle something with something'. «Un ciel liquide qui parsème / D'étoiles mon coeur!» = 'a liquid sky that strews my heart with stars'. The closing image makes the kiss a drink of sky: the wine becomes a liquid heaven that sows stars across the heart, ending the poem on dizzy exaltation.
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My heart with stars!

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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