French · Flowers of Evil

Un Voyage à Cythère

A Voyage to Cythera

60 lines · 38 notes

Tap a line to open its words.

1
My heart, like a bird, was fluttering all joyful
Monmymon · determiner, singulardeterminer of coeur
coeurheartcoeur · noun, masculine, singularsubject of voltigeait
commelikecomme · prepositionpreposition marking oiseau
unaun · determiner, masculine, singulardeterminer of oiseau
oiseaubirdoiseau · noun, masculine, singulardepends on voltigeait
voltigeaitwas flutteringvoltiger · verb, imperfect, indicative, third-person, singularmain verb of the sentence
toutalltout · adverbmodifies joyeux
joyeuxjoyfuljoyeux · adjective, masculinepredicate adjective describing coeur
Word«voltiger» «voltiger» means to flit, flutter, or wheel through the air, as a bird or insect does. Here it is in the imperfect («voltigeait»), painting an ongoing, weightless state. The buoyant opening is set up to be crushed by the gibbet at the poem's center.
2
And soared freely about the rigging;
Word«à l'entour de» «à l'entour de» is a literary phrase meaning 'around, in the vicinity of' (modern French prefers «autour de»). «les cordages» (m. pl.) are a ship's ropes and rigging. The verb «planait» (imperfect of «planer», to glide/soar) continues the airborne mood of the first line.
3
The ship rolled along beneath a cloudless sky;
4
Like an angel made drunk on a radiant sun.
Word«enivré de» «enivré» is the past participle of «enivrer» (to intoxicate, to make drunk), here used adjectivally and governing «de»: «enivré d'un soleil radieux» = 'drunk on a radiant sun'. Drunkenness on light and beauty is a recurring Baudelairean image; «s'enivrer» ('get drunk') is the pronominal counterpart.
5
What is this island, sad and black? — It is Cythera,
6
We are told, a land famous in the songs,
GrammarInversion with «on»: «nous dit-on» «on» is the impersonal subject ('one, they, people'). In a parenthetical aside the verb and subject invert: «nous dit-on» = 'we are told / so they tell us', literally 'tells-us-one'. The «t» liaison links «dit» to «on». It drops the speakers' enthusiasm into the line like hearsay.
7
A hackneyed Eldorado for every old bachelor.
Word«un vieux garçon» «un vieux garçon» (literally 'an old boy') is the idiom for a confirmed bachelor, an aging single man. Calling Cythera — Venus's island of love — a 'banal Eldorado' for such men deflates its romance with a sneer before the horror arrives.
8
Look closer: after all, it is a poor scrap of land.
9
— Island of sweet secrets and of the heart's festivals!
10
Of ancient Venus the proud phantom
GrammarFronted «de» phrase Prose order would be «le superbe fantôme de l'antique Vénus» ('the proud phantom of ancient Venus'). Baudelaire fronts the «de» complement to the head of the line — a verse inversion that suspends the grammatical subject «le superbe fantôme» until line's end, where it can flow into the verb «plane» of the next line.
11
Above your seas hovers like a perfume
12
And laden the spirits with love and with languor.
Grammar«charger qqch. de» «charger quelque chose de» means 'to load / burden something with'. Here «charge les esprits d'amour et de langueur» = 'burdens the spirits with love and languor'. «la langueur» is a soft, dreamy weariness — a key word in Baudelaire's vocabulary of enervated desire.
13
Fair island of green myrtles, full of blossomed flowers,
Word«le myrte» «le myrte» is the myrtle, an evergreen shrub sacred to Venus and an ancient emblem of love. «écloses» is the past participle of «éclore» (to bloom, to hatch), so «fleurs écloses» are flowers that have opened. The lush imagery is the last beauty before the poem turns to carrion.
14
Forever revered by every nation,
15
Where the sighs of hearts in adoration
16
Roll like incense over a garden of roses
17
Or the eternal cooing of a wood-pigeon!
Word«le roucoulement» «le roucoulement» is the cooing of a dove or pigeon (verb «roucouler»), by extension the murmur of lovers. «un ramier» is a wood-pigeon. This line completes the sentence begun in the previous stanza, then the dash snaps the reverie shut as the real island appears.
18
— Cythera was now no more than a most meagre patch of ground,
Grammar«ne ... plus que» Two negations stack here. «ne ... plus» = 'no longer'; «ne ... que» = 'only, nothing but'. Combined, «n'était plus qu'un terrain» = 'was no longer anything but a patch of ground'. «des plus maigres» ('of the most meagre') is a superlative intensifier: 'extremely scrawny'.
19
A stony desert troubled by harsh, shrill cries.
20
Yet I made out, dimly, a singular object!
Word«entrevoir» «entrevoir» (entre- 'between' + voir 'to see') means to glimpse or half-see, to make out indistinctly. The imperfect «entrevoyais» gives a lingering, uncertain peering. «pourtant» ('yet, nevertheless') marks the swerve from desolate landscape to the one strange thing that will dominate the rest of the poem.
21
It was not a temple in leafy, woodland shade,
Word«bocager / bocagère» «bocager» is a literary adjective from «le bocage» (a grove, leafy woodland). «aux ombres bocagères» = 'with grove-like shadows'. The whole stanza is a negation — what the object is not — building suspense before the gibbet is finally named.
22
Where the young priestess, in love with the flowers,
23
Would walk, her body burning with secret heat,
24
Half-opening her robe to the passing breezes;
Word«entrebâiller» «entrebâiller» means to open partway, to leave ajar (a door, a window, here a robe). The present participle «entrebâillant» describes the priestess as she walks. The sensual, half-glimpsed gesture belongs to the imagined Cythera that the next stanza will violently replace.
25
But now, as we skimmed the coast close enough
GrammarGerund «en rasant» «en» + present participle (the gérondif) gives the manner or timing of an action: «en rasant la côte» = 'while skimming / grazing the coast'. «raser» literally means to shave, here to pass very close to. «voilà que» ('and now / suddenly') announces the turn into the grisly discovery.
26
To startle the birds with our white sails,
27
We saw that it was a gallows with three arms,
Word«un gibet» «un gibet» is a gallows or gibbet, the wooden frame for hanging. «vîmes» is the passé simple (the literary past tense) of «voir» — 'we saw'. The island of Venus reveals not a temple but an instrument of execution, the image around which the whole poem pivots.
28
Standing out black against the sky, like a cypress.
Grammar«se détacher» (pronominal) «se détacher» is the pronominal form meaning 'to stand out, to be silhouetted' against a background: «se détachant du ciel en noir» = 'standing out black against the sky'. The cypress is a traditional tree of mourning and graveyards, deepening the funereal image.
29
Ferocious birds, perched upon their feed,
Word«la pâture» «la pâture» is fodder, feed, or pasture — what an animal grazes on. Applied to scavengers on a corpse, «perchés sur leur pâture» ('perched on their feed') reduces the hanged man to mere meat, the first of many words in this stanza that strip away his humanity.
30
Were tearing apart with fury a hanged man already ripe,
Word«un pendu déjà mûr» «un pendu» is a hanged man (past participle of «pendre», to hang, used as a noun). «mûr» means ripe; «déjà mûr» ('already ripe') is a grim euphemism for a body well into decay. The fruit-imagery makes the rot almost appetizing to the birds — and unbearable to the reader.
31
Each one driving in, like a tool, its unclean beak
32
Into every bleeding corner of this rottenness;
Word«la pourriture» «la pourriture» is rot, putrefaction, decay (verb «pourrir», to rot). Demonstrating «cette pourriture» — 'this rottenness' — names the corpse by its corruption alone. The clinical, repellent diction here links the poem to Baudelaire's other great carrion piece, «Une Charogne».
33
The eyes were two holes, and from the caved-in belly
Word«effondré» «effondré» is the past participle of «effondrer» (to collapse, to cave in), here adjectival: «le ventre effondré» = 'the caved-in belly'. The «de» of «du ventre» is the partitive/source preposition ('from the belly'), leading into the entrails that spill in the next line.
34
The heavy intestines spilled down over his thighs,
GrammarDative «lui» of the body part French marks possession of a body part with an indirect-object pronoun rather than a possessive. «les intestins lui coulaient sur les cuisses» = 'the intestines spilled down over his thighs' (literally 'spilled to-him over the thighs'). The «lui» is what makes the gore belong to the hanged man.
35
And his torturers, gorged on hideous delights,
Word«le bourreau» «un bourreau» is an executioner or torturer — calling the carrion-birds «ses bourreaux» ('his torturers') treats the dead man as if still capable of suffering. «gorgés de» (past participle of «se gorger», to gorge oneself) means 'gorged on, glutted with'.
36
Had, with strokes of the beak, utterly castrated him.
Grammar«à coups de» «à coups de» means 'by repeated blows / strokes of': «à coups de bec» = 'with peck after peck of the beak'. The verb «châtrer» (to castrate) lands as the stanza's brutal climax; on the island of Venus, love's pilgrim is unmanned by scavengers.
37
Below the feet, a pack of jealous four-footed beasts,
38
Snouts lifted high, wheeled about and prowled;
GrammarAbsolute construction «le museau relevé» A noun plus past participle with no verb forms an absolute (descriptive) phrase: «le museau relevé» = 'with snout raised'. «le museau» is an animal's snout or muzzle. The singular collective subject «un troupeau» takes singular verbs «tournoyait» and «rôdait» (imperfect of «tournoyer», to wheel, and «rôder», to prowl).
39
A larger beast in their midst was stirring restlessly
Grammar«s'agiter» (pronominal) «s'agiter» is the pronominal verb 'to move about, fidget, stir restlessly'. In the imperfect «s'agitait» it depicts continuous, agitated motion. The reflexive «se» turns the plain «agiter» (to shake something) inward onto the beast itself.
40
Like an executioner surrounded by his assistants.
41
Dweller of Cythera, child of a sky so fair,
42
Silently you were suffering these outrages
GrammarApostrophe with «tu» The poet now addresses the corpse directly with the intimate «tu» («souffrais», imperfect of «souffrir», to suffer). This rhetorical turn — apostrophe — pulls the hanged man from spectacle into companion. «les insultes» here keeps its older, stronger sense of 'outrages, assaults', not mere verbal insults.
43
In expiation of your infamous rites
Word«le culte» «un culte» is a form of worship, rite, or devotion. «tes infâmes cultes» ('your infamous rites') frames the hanged man as punished for the cult of Venus — for love itself. «l'expiation» is atonement; the line reads the execution as penance demanded by a moralizing God.
44
And of the sins that have denied you the grave.
Grammar«interdire qqch. à qqn» «interdire quelque chose à quelqu'un» = 'to forbid / deny something to someone'. With a pronoun the dative comes first: «qui t'ont interdit le tombeau» = 'which have denied you the grave'. To be left hanging, unburied, was a final disgrace — the sins refuse him even rest.
45
Ridiculous hanged man, your sufferings are mine!
GrammarPossessive pronoun «les miennes» «le mien / la mienne / les miens / les miennes» is the possessive pronoun ('mine'), agreeing in gender and number with the thing owned — here feminine plural «les douleurs» ('the sufferings'), hence «les miennes». This line is the poem's hinge: the poet claims the corpse's agony as his own.
46
I felt, at the sight of your dangling limbs,
47
Like a fit of vomiting, rising back toward my teeth,
48
The long river of bile of old sorrows;
Word«le fiel» «le fiel» is gall or bile, and figuratively bitterness and rancour. «le long fleuve de fiel» — 'the long river of bile' — is the subject of the infinitive «remonter» ('to rise back up') two lines above, and the direct object of «je sentis»; the inversion makes the reader wait, like nausea, for the subject to surface.
49
Before you, poor devil whose memory is so dear,
Word«un pauvre diable» «un pauvre diable» is an idiom for a poor wretch, a hapless fellow — sympathy, not damnation. «au souvenir si cher» ('whose memory is so dear') uses «à» to attach a defining trait: the corpse has become a mirror the poet cherishes even as it sickens him.
50
I felt all the beaks and all the jaws
51
Of the stabbing crows and the black panthers
Word«lancinant» «lancinant» means shooting, throbbing, stabbing — used of a sharp recurring pain (verb «lanciner», to torment). «des corbeaux lancinants» ('stabbing crows') fuses the bird's pecking with the throb of remembered anguish, so the scavengers become the poet's own torments.
52
That once so loved to grind away at my flesh.
Word«triturer» «triturer» means to grind, crush, or knead — a relentless working-over. «aimaient tant à triturer» uses «aimer à» + infinitive ('to be fond of doing'), a slightly archaic construction. «jadis» means 'formerly, long ago'; the imperfect makes the torment a lifelong habit.
53
— The sky was charming, the sea was smooth;
Word«uni / unie» «uni(e)» means even, smooth, unbroken — of a sea, calm and flat. The dash and the return to the placid seascape («la mer était unie») coldly frame the horror: the world outside the poet stays serene while everything within him has gone black.
54
For me all was black and bloody from now on,
55
Alas! and I had, as though in a thick shroud,
Word«le suaire» «le suaire» is a shroud, the cloth that wraps a corpse for burial. «comme en un suaire épais» ('as though in a thick shroud') prepares «enseveli» ('buried') in the next line. The poet's heart is interred not in earth but in the allegory he has just witnessed.
56
My heart buried within this allegory.
57
On your island, O Venus! I found standing upright
58
Only a symbolic gallows where my own likeness hung...
Grammar«ne ... que» across a line break The restrictive «ne ... que» ('only, nothing but') is split across the line break: «n'» sits mid-line in «je n'ai trouvé debout», and only «qu'» (= que, elided) is carried onto this line. «je n'ai trouvé debout / Qu'un gibet» = 'I found standing upright only a gallows'. «pendait» (imperfect of «pendre», to hang) completes the image with the poet's likeness on the rope.
59
— Ah! Lord! give me the strength and the courage
GrammarImperative with attached pronoun «donnez-moi» In an affirmative command the object pronoun follows the verb and is joined by a hyphen: «donnez-moi» = 'give me' (the stressed «moi» replaces «me» after the verb). The poem ends as a prayer to «Seigneur» (Lord), the first and only turn from horror toward God.
60
To contemplate my heart and my body without disgust!
Word«le dégoût» «le dégoût» is disgust, loathing, revulsion. The closing plea — to look on one's own heart and body «sans dégoût» ('without disgust') — completes the circle that began with a heart fluttering 'all joyful': the voyage to love's island ends in self-revulsion and a cry for grace.

The particulars

The text: Les Fleurs du mal, Charles Baudelaire. Flowers of Evil.
Words: Every word of the text, by letter.
Data: JSON · Markdown · A guide for agents