French · Spleen and Ideal

Remords posthume

Posthumous Remorse

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1
When you shall sleep, my dark and shadowy beauty,
Lorsquewhenlorsque · subordinating conjunctionintroduces the clause of dormiras
tuyoutu · pronoun, singularsubject of dormiras
dormirasshall sleepdormir · verb, future, indicative, second-person, singularmain verb of the subordinate clause
mamymon · determiner, feminine, singulardeterminer of ténébreuse
bellebeautifulbeau · adjective, feminine, singularmodifies ténébreuse
ténébreuseshadowy oneténébreux · adjective, feminine, singular (used as noun, vocative)head of the phrase, addressee
Word«ténébreux» — shadowy, dark, murky «ténébreux» (from «les ténèbres», 'darkness, shadows') means 'dark, shadowy, murky', and figuratively 'mysterious, obscure'. «ma belle ténébreuse» = 'my dark beauty / my beautiful woman of shadows' — an address charged with both her black hair and her sinister allure. «Lorsque tu dormiras» uses the future ('when you shall sleep'), and the whole poem turns on that euphemism: this sleep is death.
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Deep in a monument built of black marble,
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And when you shall have, for alcove and for manor,
Word«alcôve» and «manoir» — bower and manor «une alcôve» is the recessed bedchamber or bower of love, «un manoir» a manor-house or dwelling. Pairing them — 'for bower and manor' — names exactly what the grave replaces: the seductress's bed and home shrink, in the next line, to «un caveau pluvieux» and «une fosse creuse». The sentence runs on across the line, so «n'auras … Qu'un caveau» is one «ne … que» ('shall have only').
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But a rain-soaked vault and a hollow grave;
Grammar«ne … que» — to have only Spanning lines 3–4, «tu n'auras pour alcôve et manoir / Qu'un caveau … et qu'une fosse» is the restrictive «ne … que» — 'you shall have only a vault and a grave'. The «que» is repeated before the second noun for emphasis. «pluvieux» ('rainy, rain-soaked') and «creuse» ('hollow, dug-out') close the quatrain on dank, empty earth.
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When the stone, crushing your timorous breast
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And your flanks that a charming languor renders supple,
GrammarVerb–subject inversion in the relative clause Inside the relative clause «que … assouplit …», the verb «assouplit» ('makes supple, softens') comes before its subject «un charmant nonchaloir». Read straight: «un charmant nonchaloir assouplit tes flancs» — 'a charming languor makes your flanks supple'. «le nonchaloir» is an archaic, poetic word for nonchalance, listless ease — the indolent grace of her body that the crushing stone will end.
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Shall keep your heart from beating and from desiring,
Grammar«empêcher … de» + infinitive «empêcher quelqu'un de faire quelque chose» = 'to keep / prevent someone from doing something', always with «de» before the infinitive. «Empêchera ton coeur de battre et de vouloir» = 'shall stop your heart from beating and from willing'. «Empêchera» is the future, the main verb the whole «Quand …» clause has been waiting for: stone stilling both pulse and desire at once.
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And your feet from running their adventurous course,
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The tomb, the confidant of my unending dream
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(For the tomb will always understand the poet),
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Throughout those great nights from which sleep is banished,
Word«le somme» — slumber (masculine) «le somme» (masculine) is 'slumber, a spell of sleep' — distinct from «la somme» (feminine, 'the sum'). «les grandes nuits d'où le somme est banni» = 'the great nights from which sleep is banished': the long, sleepless nights of the dead in the grave. The earlier «tu dormiras» called death a sleep; here that sleep is denied, and the tomb speaks instead.
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Shall say to you: "What good is it to you, imperfect courtesan,
Grammar«À quoi cela vous sert-il?» — what good is it? «Que vous sert …?» is an elevated, archaic way of asking «À quoi cela vous sert-il …?» — 'What good does it do you …? / What use to you is …?'. The verb «servir» here means 'to be of use, to profit'. Note the shift to formal «vous»: the tomb addresses the dead seductress with cold ceremony as «courtisane imparfaite» ('imperfect courtesan').
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To have never known what the dead lament?"
Grammar«ce que» + inversion — what the dead weep for «ce que» is 'that which / what' (the object form). Within it the verb «pleurent» precedes its subject «les morts» — inversion natural in verse: read «ce que les morts pleurent», 'what the dead weep for / mourn'. «De n'avoir pas connu …» completes the tomb's taunt: what does it profit her to have never known, in life, the thing the dead now grieve they let pass?
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— And the worm shall gnaw your skin like a remorse.
Word«le ver» — the grave-worm, and «ronger» — to gnaw «le ver» is the worm (here the grave-worm); «ronger» is 'to gnaw, to eat away'. «le ver rongera ta peau comme un remords» = 'the worm shall gnaw your skin like a remorse'. The simile closes the poem on its title, «Remords posthume»: the literal worm of the corpse becomes the figurative worm of conscience, the remorse the unfeeling beloved would not feel in life now eating her in death.

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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