French · Spleen and Ideal

Spleen (Quand le ciel bas et lourd)

Spleen (When the Low, Heavy Sky)

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When the low, heavy sky weighs down like a lid
QuandWhenquand · subordinating conjunctionintroduces the clause of pèse
lethele · determiner, masculine, singulardeterminer of ciel
cielskyciel · noun, masculine, singularsubject of pèse
baslowbas · adjective, masculine, singularmodifies ciel
etandet · conjunctionlinks the coordination
lourdheavylourd · adjective, masculine, singularcoordinated with bas, modifies ciel
pèseweighs downpeser · verb, present, indicative, third-person, singularmain verb of the sentence
commelikecomme · prepositionpreposition marking couvercle
unaun · determiner, masculine, singulardeterminer of couvercle
couverclelidcouvercle · noun, masculine, singularoblique argument of pèse
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upon the groaning spirit prey to long ennuis,
Word«en proie à» — prey to «en proie à» = 'a prey to, in the grip of, beset by'. «une proie» is literally the prey of a hunting animal, so the spirit is being devoured by its «longs ennuis». «ennui» here is far heavier than English 'boredom' — the soul-deep weariness and despair that is the very «spleen» the poem and its section are named for.
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and when, embracing the whole circle of the horizon,
Grammar«Et que» — resuming a «Quand» clause «que» here stands in for a repeated «Quand»: rather than write «Quand... et quand...», French uses «Quand... et que...» to chain a second 'when' clause without repeating the conjunction. The poem opens three of its four first stanzas with «Quand», so each «Et que» you meet ('and when') is hooking another condition onto that long suspended sentence.
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it pours upon us a black day sadder than the nights;
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When the earth is changed into a dank dungeon,
Word«cachot» — a dungeon cell «un cachot» is a dark, often underground prison cell or dungeon — narrower and grimmer than the general «prison» of the next stanza. «humide» = 'damp, dank'. The whole earth shrinks to a wet cell, and «l'Espérance» (Hope) becomes its trapped prisoner, beating the walls in the lines that follow.
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where Hope, like a bat,
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goes beating the walls with its timid wing
Grammar«s'en aller» + present participle «s'en aller» is the pronominal verb 'to go off, to go away' (stronger and more departing than plain «aller»). Followed by the present participle «battant», it expresses ongoing motion: 'goes off beating / keeps beating'. Hope, the caged bat, «s'en va battant les murs» — flits about striking the walls — never escaping the «cachot».
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and knocking its head against rotten ceilings;
Grammar«se cogner la tête» — reflexive with a body part «se cogner» = 'to knock, bump oneself'. With a part of the body the reflexive «se» does the work English does with a possessive: «se cogner la tête» = 'to bang one's head' (literally 'to bang oneself the head'). The bat-Hope bruises itself blindly against the «plafonds pourris» (rotten ceilings) of its prison.
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When the rain, spreading out its immense streaks,
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imitates the bars of a vast prison,
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and when a mute people of vile spiders
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comes to stretch its webs in the depths of our brains,
Word«tendre ses filets» — to set its nets «tendre» = 'to stretch tight, to set, to lay' and «un filet» is a net or web; «tendre ses filets» is the set phrase for laying snares or spinning a web. The silent army of spiders spins its webs «au fond de nos cerveaux» — in the very depths of our brains — making despair an infestation of the mind, much as the «Démons» swarm the brain in «Au Lecteur».
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Bells all at once leap up with fury
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and hurl toward the sky a hideous howling,
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just like wandering spirits with no homeland
Word«errant» — wandering (a false friend) «errant» means 'wandering, roaming, straying' (from «errer», to roam) — not the English 'erring'. The clanging bells are likened to «des esprits errants et sans patrie» — homeless, wandering souls 'with no homeland' — who, in the next line, break into an obstinate moaning. The same root gives «le Juif errant», the Wandering Jew.
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who set themselves to whine obstinately.
Grammar«se mettre à» + infinitive — to start to «se mettre à» + infinitive = 'to begin to, to set about (doing)', stressing the abrupt onset of an action. «geindre» = 'to whine, moan, groan'; «opiniâtrement» = 'stubbornly, doggedly'. The homeless spirits «se mettent à geindre opiniâtrement» — break into a relentless, obstinate moaning — the very sound the furious bells make.
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— And long hearses, with neither drums nor music,
Word«corbillard» — a hearse «un corbillard» is a hearse, the carriage that bears the coffin in a funeral. The opening em-dash and «Et» mark the turn into the final movement: the outer storm collapses into an inner funeral, a slow file of hearses «sans tambours ni musique» (with neither drums nor music) processing «dans mon âme» — through the speaker's very soul.
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file slowly through my soul; Hope,
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vanquished, weeps, and atrocious, despotic Anguish
Grammar«vaincu» — past participle of «vaincre» «vaincu» is the past participle of the irregular verb «vaincre» ('to vanquish, defeat'). Set off as an adjective describing «l'Espoir» across the line break — «l'Espoir, / Vaincu, pleure» — it means 'Hope, defeated, weeps'. With Hope beaten and in tears, «l'Angoisse» (Anguish) seizes power in the final image.
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plants its black flag on my bowed skull.

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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