French · Spleen and Ideal

Une Charogne

A Carcass

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Remember the thing we saw, my soul,
Rappelezrememberrappeler · verb, imperative, second-person, pluralmain verb of the sentence
-vousyourselfvous · pronoun, reflexive, pluralreflexive object of Rappelez
l'thele · determiner, singulardeterminer of objet
objetthingobjet · noun, masculine, singulardirect object of Rappelez
quethatque · pronoun, relativedirect object of vîmes, introduces relative clause on objet
nouswenous · pronoun, pluralsubject of vîmes
vîmessawvoir · verb, past, indicative, first-person, pluralclausal complement of Rappelez
monmymon · determiner, singulardeterminer of âme
âmesoulâme · noun, feminine, singularvocative address
Grammar«se rappeler» (pronominal imperative) «se rappeler qqch.» means 'to remember, to recall something'. In the affirmative imperative the reflexive pronoun follows the verb and is hyphenated: «Rappelez-vous» = 'recall (to yourself)'. The poem opens by commanding the beloved — addressed as «mon âme» (my soul) — to remember a shared walk.
Grammar«voir» in the passé simple «vîmes» is the first-person plural passé simple (literary past tense) of «voir» (to see): 'we saw'. The passé simple sets the remembered scene firmly in a finished, narrated past — the tense of storytelling rather than speech.
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that beautiful summer morning so mild:
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at the bend of a path, a vile carcass
Word«charogne» A «charogne» (f.) is a carcass — the rotting carrion of a dead animal. The word is also a coarse insult ('filthy beast'), and Baudelaire keeps that double charge alive: the title object is both literal decay and, by the poem's end, a figure for the beloved's body and for love itself.
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on a bed strewn with pebbles,
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legs in the air, like a lustful woman,
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burning and sweating out its poisons,
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opened in a nonchalant and cynical way
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its belly full of foul exhalations.
Word«exhalaison» An «exhalaison» (f.) is a vapour or stench given off by something — here the gases rising from the swollen «ventre» (belly). The verb of the sentence, «Ouvrait» (was opening), reaches back to «une charogne» two lines earlier: the carcass lewdly opens its belly to the air.
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The sun blazed down on this rottenness,
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as if to cook it through to a turn,
Grammar«afin de» + infinitive (purpose) «afin de + infinitive» expresses purpose, 'in order to'. Softened by «Comme» it becomes 'as if to': «Comme afin de la cuire à point» = 'as if to cook it to just the right point'. «la» is the object pronoun for «cette pourriture» (this rottenness). «à point» is a cookery term — meat cooked 'just right', medium.
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and to give back a hundredfold to great Nature
Word«au centuple» «au centuple» means 'a hundredfold, a hundred times over'. The infinitive «rendre» (to give back) still depends on «afin de» from the line above: the sun seems to cook the carcass so as to return to «la grande Nature» — a hundredfold — everything she had once «joint» (joined together).
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all that she had joined together;
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And the sky watched the magnificent carcass
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open out like a flower.
Grammar«s'épanouir» after «regarder» «s'épanouir» is a pronominal verb meaning '(of a flower) to bloom, open out; to blossom'. The verb of perception «regardait» (was watching) takes a direct infinitive: «le ciel regardait la carcasse ... s'épanouir» = 'the sky watched the carcass blossom'. The obscene image of putrefaction blooming «comme une fleur» is the engine of the whole poem.
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The stench was so strong that on the grass
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you thought you would faint.
Grammar«croire» (passé simple) + «s'évanouir» «crûtes» is the second-person plural passé simple of «croire» (to believe, to think): 'you thought'. It takes a direct infinitive here, the pronominal «vous évanouir» (to faint, to swoon): «Vous crûtes vous évanouir» = 'you thought you were about to faint'. Note the two «vous» — first the subject, then the reflexive of «s'évanouir».
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The flies were buzzing over that putrid belly,
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out of which black battalions poured,
GrammarInverted subject after «d'où» After the relative «d'où» (from which) the subject is inverted to follow its verb: «D'où sortaient de noirs bataillons» = 'from which black battalions were coming out'. The subject is «de noirs bataillons / De larves» (the next line) — squadrons of maggots. The inversion is normal, even preferred, after such adverbial relatives.
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of larvae, that flowed like a thick liquid
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down the length of those living rags.
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All this sank, rose like a wave,
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or surged up, crackling and sparkling;
Grammar«s'élancer» / «en» + gerund «s'élancer» is a pronominal verb, 'to leap up, to surge forward'. «en pétillant» is the gerund of «pétiller» (to sparkle, crackle, fizz): «en + present participle» expresses a manner or simultaneous action — 'surged up while sparkling'. The seething mass moves like effervescent liquid.
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one would have said the body, swollen with a vague breath,
Grammar«on eût dit» (past conditional) «on eût dit que ...» is a literary fixed expression, 'one would have said that ..., you would have thought that ...'. «eût dit» is the past conditional (here in its literary form, the conditionnel passé deuxième forme). It frames what follows as a vivid impression rather than fact — the corpse only seemed to live.
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was living by multiplying itself.
GrammarPronominal verb in the gerund «se multiplier» means 'to multiply, to increase in number'. In the gerund «en se multipliant» the reflexive pronoun «se» is kept: 'by multiplying itself'. The paradox closes the stanza — the dead body «Vivait» (was living) only through the swarming life of the maggots that consume it.
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And this world gave off a strange music,
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like running water and the wind,
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or the grain that a winnower, with a rhythmic motion,
Word«vanneur» / «van» A «vanneur» is a winnower — a worker who tosses threshed grain in a «van» (a wide winnowing basket or fan) so the wind carries off the chaff. The simile likens the sound of the seething carcass to grain hissing as it is shaken — a homely, almost pastoral image set against the horror.
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shakes and turns in his winnowing-basket.
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The forms were fading and were now no more than a dream,
Grammar«ne ... plus que» (no more than) «ne ... plus que» means 'no longer anything but, no more than': «n'étaient plus qu'un rêve» = 'were no more than a dream'. It combines «ne ... plus» (no longer) with the restrictive «ne ... que» (only). «s'effaçaient» is the pronominal «s'effacer», 'to fade, to wear away, to blur'.
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a sketch slow in coming
Word«ébauche» An «ébauche» (f.) is a rough draft or preliminary sketch — the first blocking-out of a painting before it is finished. Baudelaire turns decay into an art metaphor: the dissolving forms are an unfinished canvas that the artist (the next stanza's «artiste») completes only from memory.
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on the forgotten canvas, which the artist completes
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only by memory.
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Behind the rocks an anxious bitch
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watched us with an angry eye,
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watching for the moment to take back from the skeleton
Word«épier» «épier» means 'to watch for, to spy on, to lie in wait for'; «Epiant» is its present participle (the source prints it without the accent: «Épiant»). «reprendre au squelette» = 'to take back from the skeleton' — «reprendre à qqn» is 'to take (something) back from someone', the «à» marking what is being taken from.
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the morsel she had let go.
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— And yet you too will be like this filth,
Word«semblable à» «semblable à» means 'similar to, like, resembling'. The em-dash and «Et pourtant» (and yet) mark the poem's pivot: turning from the roadside scene to the beloved, the speaker warns «vous serez semblable à cette ordure» = 'you will be like this filth'. «serez» is the future of «être».
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like this horrible infection,
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star of my eyes, sun of my being,
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you, my angel and my passion!
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Yes! such you will be, O queen of graces,
Grammar«tel» fronted for emphasis «tel/telle» means 'such, of that kind'. Fronted before the verb for emphasis — «telle vous serez» = 'such you shall be' — it points back to the carrion just described. «telle» takes the feminine to agree with «vous», the woman addressed; «ô» is the lyric vocative O.
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after the last sacraments,
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when you go, beneath the grass and the rank blossoms,
GrammarFuture after «quand» After «quand» referring to future time, French uses the future tense where English uses the present: «Quand vous irez» = 'when you go (will go)'. «irez» is the future of «aller». «floraisons grasses» are the lush, fat blossoms — «gras» here meaning rich, rank, fed by the decay below.
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to moulder among the bones.
Word«moisir» «moisir» means 'to grow mouldy, to rot, to moulder'. It is the infinitive completing «vous irez ... Moisir» = 'you will go ... to moulder'. «les ossements» (m. pl.) are bones, especially the dry bones of the dead — the destination of even «la reine des grâces».
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Then, O my beauty! tell the vermin
GrammarImperative «dire à qqn» «dites» is the second-person plural imperative of «dire» (to say, to tell), continuing the address to «ma beauté». «dire à quelqu'un» = 'to tell someone', the «à» marking the person told — here «la vermine» (the vermin, the worms). The whole command runs across the final stanza to its triumphant «Que ...» clause.
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that will devour you with kisses,
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that I have kept the form and the divine essence
GrammarReported speech «que» after «dites» This «Que» introduces what the beauty is told to say — the content of «dites» from two lines above: 'tell the vermin ... that I have kept ...'. «j'ai gardé» is the passé composé of «garder» (to keep, to preserve). Against bodily rot the poet asserts that art has kept «la forme et l'essence divine» of his love.
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of my decomposed loves!

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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