French · Spleen and Ideal

Sed non satiata

But Not Sated

14 lines · 7 notes

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1
Bizarre divinity, brown as the nights,
Bizarrebizarrebizarre · adjective, feminine, singularmodifies déité
déitédivinitydéité · noun, feminine, singularhead of the phrase
brunebrownbrun · adjective, feminine, singularin apposition to déité
commeascomme · prepositionpreposition marking nuits
lesthele · determiner, pluraldeterminer of nuits
nuitsnightsnuit · noun, feminine, pluralmodifies brune
Word«déité» — a divinity «déité» is a deity, a goddess; «bizarre» here is 'strange, outlandish' rather than merely 'odd'. The sonnet opens by deifying the dark-skinned mistress — «brune comme les nuits» ('brown as the nights') — and the rhyme word «nuits» returns, against the usual rule, in lines 4 and 5, binding the whole octave to night.
2
With a perfume blended of musk and Havana,
3
work of some obi, the Faust of the savanna,
Word«obi» — a sorcerer of the Antilles «un obi» (also «obeah») is a West Indian sorcerer or witch-doctor, a worker of Afro-Caribbean magic. «Oeuvre de quelque obi» = 'the work of some sorcerer': the woman is cast as a charm conjured into being, and the same line crowns her maker «le Faust de la savane» — 'the Faust of the savanna', a wilderness Faust who has traded with the devil to make her.
4
witch with ebony flank, child of the black midnights,
5
I prefer, to Constantia, to opium, to Nuits,
6
the elixir of your mouth where love struts in pride;
GrammarPronominal «se pavaner» — to strut «se pavaner» is a pronominal verb meaning 'to strut, to show off, to parade' — built on «paon», the peacock. «où l'amour se pavane» = 'where love struts / displays itself'. Like the peacock spreading its tail, love preens in the woman's mouth; the reflexive «se» makes the showing-off something love does to itself, for its own glory.
7
when toward you my desires set out in caravan,
8
your eyes are the cistern where my sorrows drink.
Word«la citerne» — the desert cistern «la citerne» is a cistern or water-tank, the well at a desert oasis. It completes the line's caravan image: «mes désirs partent en caravane» and arrive at «la citerne où boivent mes ennuis» — 'the cistern where my sorrows drink'. «ennuis» is the plural of «ennui», the soul-weariness that haunts the book; here the woman's eyes are the only water that slakes it.
9
Through those two great black eyes, vents of your soul,
Word«le soupirail» — a cellar vent «un soupirail» (plural «soupiraux») is a small basement window or air-vent, the grated opening through which a cellar — or a furnace — breathes. Calling the black eyes «soupiraux de ton âme» = 'vents of your soul' turns the woman into a sealed furnace, the eyes mere grilles through which her inner fire escapes; «soupirail» even hides «soupir», a sigh.
10
O pitiless demon! pour me less of your flame;
GrammarImperative with attached «-moi» «verse» is the imperative of «verser» (to pour); in a positive command the object pronoun follows and is hyphenated, and «me» becomes the stressed «moi»: «verse-moi» = 'pour me / pour for me'. «verse-moi moins de flamme» = 'pour me less flame'. The lover does not beg for more passion but for mercy from too much of it — a plea against being consumed.
11
I am not the Styx, to embrace you nine times over,
12
Alas! and I cannot, libertine Megaera,
13
to break your spirit and bring you to bay,
Word«aux abois» — at bay «les abois» is the baying of hounds at the kill; «être aux abois» means 'to be at bay, cornered, at the last extremity'. «te mettre aux abois» = 'to bring you to bay, to corner you'. The lover wishes he could exhaust and subdue this woman — «briser ton courage», break her resolve — but the final tercet admits he cannot.
14
and in the hell of your bed become Proserpina!

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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