French · Parisian Scenes

Le Soleil

The Sun

20 lines · 14 notes

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1
Along the old faubourg, where on the hovels hang
Lethele · determiner, masculine, singularpart of the compound preposition le long de
'le long de' is an idiom meaning 'along'.
longalonglong · noun, masculine, singularhead of the compound preposition le long de
duof thede · prepositionpreposition marking faubourg
vieuxoldvieux · adjective, masculinemodifies faubourg
faubourgfaubourgfaubourg · noun, masculine, singularobject of le long de
oùwhereoù · adverb, relativelocative relative referring to faubourg, modifies pendent
pendenthangpendre · verb, present, indicative, third-person, pluralrelative clause on faubourg
auxon theà · prepositionpreposition marking masures
masureshovelsmasure · noun, feminine, pluraloblique argument of pendent
Wordfaubourg (m.) A «faubourg» is an outlying district of a city, an old suburb just beyond the historic center. «le vieux faubourg» sets the poem in the shabby outskirts of Paris, among the «masures» (hovels) named in the same line.
2
The slatted shutters, shelter of secret lusts,
Wordpersienne (f.) «persiennes» are louvered or slatted shutters that let air through while blocking sight — hence «abri des secrètes luxures», 'shelter of secret lusts': they hide what goes on behind the windows of the slum.
3
When the cruel sun strikes with redoubled darts
Wordtrait (m.); redoublé A «trait» here is a shaft or dart (as of an arrow or a ray); «redoublé» means 'redoubled, repeated'. «frappe à traits redoublés» pictures the sun striking blow on blow, like arrows — the cruelty Baudelaire gives it before turning it kind.
4
On the town and the fields, on the rooftops and the wheat,
5
I go to drill alone at my fanciful fencing,
GrammarPronominal verb «s'exercer» «s'exercer» is a pronominal (reflexive) verb meaning 'to practice, to train oneself'. The «m'» is the reflexive pronoun agreeing with «je»: «je vais m'exercer» = 'I am going to practice'. «escrime» is fencing — the poet trains at his solitary swordplay with words.
6
Scenting in every corner the chance-finds of rhyme,
GrammarPresent participle «flairant» «flairant» is the present participle of «flairer», 'to sniff out, to scent' (as a hound does). Used here without «en», it describes the poet as he goes: 'sniffing out the chance happenings of rhyme in every corner' — the hunt for a lucky word.
7
Stumbling over words as over the paving-stones,
8
Sometimes knocking against lines long since dreamed of.
Wordheurter (v.); vers (m.) «heurter» is to knock or collide against; «vers» means a line of verse. «Heurtant parfois des vers depuis longtemps rêvés» = 'sometimes bumping into lines long dreamed of' — the poet stumbles, as on cobblestones, into verses he had wanted for years.
9
This foster-father, enemy of the green sicknesses,
Wordchlorose (f.) «chlorose» was an old name for an anemia that left the skin pale-greenish, the 'green sickness'. The sun, «ennemi des chloroses», is the foster-father that drives out pallor and feeds growth — set against the morbidity elsewhere in «Les Fleurs du mal».
10
Wakes in the fields the worms as well as the roses;
Wordvers (m.): worms vs. verse Here «les vers» means worms, not lines of verse — a deliberate echo of «des vers» (verses) two lines above. The sun «éveille... les vers comme les roses», waking worm and rose alike, low life with high, all in its impartial gift of growth.
11
It makes our cares evaporate toward the sky,
GrammarCausative «faire» + pronominal infinitive «faire» plus an infinitive forms the causative ('to make something happen'); the infinitive «s'évaporer» is itself pronominal, 'to evaporate'. «Il fait s'évaporer les soucis» = 'It makes the cares evaporate' — the sun lifts worry skyward like mist.
12
And fills the brains and the beehives with honey.
13
It is he who makes young again the bearers of crutches
GrammarCleft sentence «c'est ... qui» «C'est lui qui rajeunit...» is a cleft construction that singles out and stresses the subject: 'It is he who makes young again...'. French uses «c'est ... qui» where English raises the voice — here it puts all the power of renewal on the sun.
14
And makes them gay and gentle as young girls,
Grammar«rendre» + adjective «rendre» plus an adjective means 'to make (something) become' that quality: «les rend gais et doux» = 'makes them cheerful and gentle'. Distinct from «faire» + infinitive above; «rendre» takes an adjective as its result.
15
And bids the harvests to grow and to ripen
Grammar«commander à qqn de faire» «commander» takes its object with «à» (the one commanded) and «de» before the infinitive (what is ordered): «commande aux moissons de croître et de mûrir» = 'commands the harvests to grow and to ripen'. The sun rules the fields like a sovereign.
16
In the immortal heart that always longs to flower!
17
When, just like a poet, it comes down into the towns,
Wordainsi que = 'just as, like' «ainsi que» is a literary equivalent of «comme», 'just as / like'. «ainsi qu'un poète» = 'like a poet': the sun descending into the city to ennoble lowly things is openly compared to the poet of the first stanza, making the two one.
18
It ennobles the lot of the vilest things,
19
And enters as a king, without noise and without servants,
GrammarPronominal «s'introduire»; «en roi» «s'introduire» is pronominal, 'to make one's way in, to enter'. «en roi» uses «en» + a noun to mean 'as a king, in the manner of a king' (compare «en maître»). The sun lets itself in everywhere like a king who needs no escort.
20
Into all the hospitals and into all the palaces.

The particulars

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