French · Flowers of Evil

Une Martyre

A Martyr

61 lines · 33 notes

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Drawing by an unknown Master
DessinDrawingdessin · noun, masculine, singularhead of the phrase
d'byde · prepositionpreposition marking Maître
unanun · determiner, masculine, singulardeterminer of Maître
MaîtreMastermaître · noun, masculine, singularobject of d', modifies Dessin
inconnuunknowninconnu · adjective, masculine, singularmodifies Maître
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Amid the phials, the lamé fabrics
Word«lamé» «lamé» describes cloth interwoven with thin strips of gold or silver — what English also calls 'lamé'. «étoffes lamées» are these glittering, metal-shot fabrics; the opening piles up the boudoir's luxuries («flacons» = perfume phials) before the body is revealed.
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and the voluptuous furnishings,
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marbles, paintings, perfumed gowns
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that trail in sumptuous folds,
Word«traîner» / «à plis» «traîner» here is intransitive, '(of clothes) to trail, to drag along the ground'. «à plis somptueux» uses «à» to describe a defining feature — 'in / with sumptuous folds'. The gowns lie heaped and trailing, the room's opulence framing the corpse to come.
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In a warm chamber where, as in a hothouse,
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the air is dangerous and deadly,
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where dying bouquets, in their coffins of glass,
Word«cercueil» A «cercueil» (m.) is a coffin. The flower vases become «cercueils de verre» — coffins of glass — so that the wilting bouquets are already corpses on display, a small rehearsal of the woman's body. «mourants» is the present participle of «mourir» (to die) used adjectivally: 'dying'.
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breathe out their final sigh,
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A headless corpse pours out, like a river,
Word«épancher» «épancher» means 'to pour out, to shed, to let flow'. The headless «cadavre» (corpse) «épanche … un sang rouge et vivant» — pours out, like a river, a red and living blood. The verb's object arrives two lines later, the syntax spilling across the lines like the blood itself.
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onto the slaked pillow
Word«désaltérer» «désaltérer» means 'to quench the thirst of, to slake'. The past participle «désaltéré» here turns the bloodstained pillow into something that has drunk its fill — 'the slaked pillow'. The conceit runs on in the next lines, where the linen «s'abreuve» (drinks) with the «avidité d'un pré» (the greed of a meadow).
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a red and living blood, on which the linen drinks
Grammar«dont» + «s'abreuver de» «s'abreuver de qqch.» is the pronominal 'to drink one's fill of, to slake oneself on'. The relative «dont» stands in for «de + le sang»: «un sang … dont la toile s'abreuve» = 'a blood on which the linen drinks its fill'. «la toile» (the cloth, the canvas) keeps the painterly metaphor alive even here.
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with the greed of a meadow.
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Like the pale visions that the shadow breeds
GrammarInverted subject after «que» «enfanter» means 'to give birth to, to bring forth, to breed'. After the relative «que» the subject is inverted to follow its verb: «les visions … qu'enfante l'ombre» = 'the visions that the shadow brings forth' — «l'ombre» is the subject, «que» (the visions) the object. The head, described next, is likened to such dream-apparitions.
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and that fetter our eyes,
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the head, with the mass of its dark mane
Word«crinière» A «crinière» is properly a mane — the long hair on a horse's or lion's neck. Applied to the woman's hair it is faintly bestial and wild, an «amas» (heap, mass) of dark hair. The subject «La tête» finally lands here after the long simile of the previous lines; its verb «Repose» arrives only in the next stanza.
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and its precious jewels,
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on the night table, like a buttercup,
Word«renoncule» A «renoncule» is a buttercup or ranunculus. The severed head set on the bedside table is likened to a cut flower in a vase — an obscene tenderness typical of the poem, which keeps draping horror in the imagery of the boudoir and the garden.
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rests; and, empty of thoughts,
Word«penser» as a noun «pensers» is an archaic, poetic noun, 'thoughts, musings' — the substantive use of the verb «penser» (to think), favored by older verse for its elevated ring. «vide de pensers» = 'empty of thoughts'. «Repose» (rests) is at last the main verb of «La tête», held back across five lines.
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a gaze vague and white as the twilight
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escapes from the rolled-back eyes.
Word«yeux révulsés» «révulsé» describes eyes turned violently upward or back so that mostly the whites show — 'rolled back, upturned'. «S'échappe» is the pronominal «s'échapper» ('to escape, to slip out'); from the dead, upturned eyes a vague white look still seems to escape.
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On the bed, the naked trunk, without scruple, spreads out
Grammar«étaler» (transitive verb, delayed object) «étaler» means 'to spread out, to display, to lay bare'. «le tronc nu» (the naked trunk) is the subject and «étale» the verb; its object — «La secrète splendeur et la beauté fatale» — does not arrive until two lines down. «sans scrupules» ('without scruple, shamelessly') sets the body's brazen exposure even in death.
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in the most complete abandon
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the secret splendor and the fatal beauty
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with which nature endowed her;
Grammar«faire don de» + «dont» «faire don de qqch. à qqn» = 'to make a gift of something to someone, to endow with'. The relative «dont» replaces «de» + the splendor and beauty above: «la beauté … dont la nature lui fit don» = 'the beauty that nature gave her as a gift'. «fit» is the passé simple of «faire»; «lui» is 'to her'.
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A pinkish stocking, trimmed with gold clocks, on the leg,
Word«coins» (of a stocking) «coin» normally means 'corner', but on hosiery the «coins» are the embroidered ornaments worked into the ankle of a stocking — what English calls the 'clocks'. «orné de coins d'or» = 'adorned with gold clocks'. «rosâtre» is 'pinkish', the «-âtre» suffix giving a faint, slightly unpleasant tinge to the color.
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has stayed on, like a keepsake;
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the garter, just like a secret eye that blazes,
Grammar«ainsi que» (just as / like) «ainsi que» means 'just as, in the same way as, like' — here introducing a simile, not the additive 'as well as'. «La jarretière, ainsi qu'un oeil secret qui flambe» = 'the garter, like a secret eye that blazes'. «flamber» is 'to blaze, to flame up'; the jeweled garter glints like a watching, burning eye.
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darts a diamonded glance.
Word«darder» / «diamanté» «darder» means 'to dart, to shoot forth' (as a ray or a sting); «un regard» is 'a look, a glance'. «diamanté» is 'set with diamonds, diamond-bright'. The garter «darde un regard diamanté» — 'shoots out a diamonded glance' — the jewel turned into a glittering, almost menacing eye.
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The singular aspect of this solitude
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and of a great languorous portrait,
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with eyes as provoking as her posture,
GrammarDescriptive «à» («with eyes…») «à» + a body part describes a defining feature: «un portrait aux yeux provocateurs» = 'a portrait with provoking eyes'. «provocateur» here means 'provocative, inviting'. The portrait on the wall, as bold-eyed as the living woman once was, looks down on the murder scene.
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reveals a shadowy love,
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a guilty joy and strange revels
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full of infernal kisses,
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in which the swarm of evil angels delighted,
Grammar«se réjouir de» + inverted subject «se réjouir de qqch.» is the pronominal 'to rejoice in, to delight in'. «dont» stands for «de» + the revels above, and the subject «l'essaim des mauvais anges» (the swarm of evil angels) is inverted after the verb: «Dont se réjouissait l'essaim…» = 'in which the swarm… delighted'. «essaim» = a swarm (of bees, of spirits).
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swimming in the folds of the curtains;
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And yet, to see the elegant leanness
Grammar«à» + infinitive ('to judge by') «à» + infinitive can express the basis of an inference, 'on seeing, to judge by': «à voir la maigreur élégante» = 'to see / judging by the elegant leanness'. The construction launches a long conditional musing — looking at her slender shoulder and hip, the speaker wonders whether she was very young.
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of the shoulder with its abrupt contour,
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the slightly pointed hip and the dashing waist
Word«fringant» «fringant» means 'lively, frisky, dashing' — used of a spirited horse or a sprightly young person. «la taille fringante» gives the dead woman's waist a startling vitality, sharpened by the next line's simile, «comme un reptile irrité» (like an angry reptile).
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like an angry reptile,
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she is still quite young! — Her exasperated soul
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and her senses bitten by ennui
GrammarPassive participle «mordus» «mordus» is the past participle of «mordre» (to bite), here used passively with «par»: «ses sens par l'ennui mordus» = 'her senses bitten by ennui'. The agent «par l'ennui» is fronted before the participle for the verse. «l'ennui» is Baudelaire's signature listless despair, the spleen that gnaws at the senses.
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had they half-opened to the thirsting pack
GrammarPronominal pluperfect + interrogative inversion «s'entr'ouvrir» means 'to half-open, to open a little'. The form is the pluperfect of this pronominal verb with subject-verb inversion to mark a question: «S'étaient-ils entr'ouverts… ?» = 'had they half-opened… ?'. The subject «ils» is «Son âme… et ses sens»; the speaker asks whether soul and senses had opened to wandering desires.
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of wandering and lost desires?
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The vengeful man whom you could not, while living,
Grammar«vivante» as a depictive adjective «vivante» ('living, alive') is feminine to agree with «tu» — the dead woman, now addressed directly. It is dropped in as a depictive: 'whom you could not, while alive, sate'. The object of «assouvir» (to sate) is «L'homme vindicatif» fronted at the head; «tu n'as pu» = 'you were unable to'.
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despite so much love, satisfy,
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did he glut, upon your inert and yielding flesh,
Grammar«combler» + interrogative inversion «combler» means 'to fill to the brim, to glut, to fulfil completely'. The inverted «Combla-t-il… ?» (with the euphonic «-t-») = 'did he fill / glut… ?'. Its object is «L'immensité de son désir» in the next line: the speaker asks whether the murderer slaked on her dead flesh the whole immensity of his desire.
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the immensity of his desire?
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Answer, impure corpse! and by your stiff tresses
Word«roide» (archaic «raide») «roide» is the older spelling of «raide», 'stiff, rigid, taut'. «tresses roides» are the corpse's stiffened braids. «Réponds» is the imperative of «répondre» (to answer); the speaker commands the severed head to answer, and the sentence runs on into the act of lifting it by the hair.
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lifting you with a feverish arm,
Grammar«soulever» + present participle «soulever» means 'to lift, to raise up'. «Te soulevant» is its present participle with the object pronoun «te» before it: 'lifting you (up)'. The participle describes the speaker's action as he gives the next command — raising the head by its braids with a feverish arm to demand its answer.
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tell me, frightful head, did he, on your cold teeth,
GrammarImperative «dire» + inverted question «Dis-moi» is the imperative of «dire» with the stressed pronoun «moi» (the «me» of the imperative): 'tell me'. It is followed by an inverted yes/no question, «a-t-il… collé… ?» = 'did he press / glue… ?'. The two clauses together: 'tell me… did he press the last farewells onto your cold teeth?'
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pressed the supreme farewells?
Word«coller» «coller» means 'to glue, to stick, to press hard against'. «collé les suprêmes adieux» = 'pressed / planted the last farewells' — a final, glued-on kiss. «suprême» here is 'last, final, ultimate'. The grotesque question imagines the murderer kissing the dead mouth goodbye.
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— Far from the mocking world, far from the impure crowd,
Word«railleur» «railleur» means 'mocking, jeering, given to ridicule' (from «railler», to mock). The em-dash opens the poem's last movement, a hushed funeral blessing: «Loin du monde railleur… Dors en paix» — far from the sneering world, sleep in peace. The repeated «loin de» piles up everything the dead woman is now spared.
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far from the prying magistrates,
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sleep in peace, sleep in peace, strange creature,
GrammarImperative of «dormir» «Dors» is the familiar (tu) imperative of «dormir» (to sleep). The doubled «Dors en paix, dors en paix» = 'sleep in peace, sleep in peace' takes the cadence of a graveside benediction, the murderous scene resolving into a tender lullaby addressed to the «étrange créature».
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in your mysterious tomb;
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Your husband roams the world, and your immortal form
Word«courir le monde» «courir le monde» is an idiom, 'to roam the world, to wander far and wide'. Here «Ton époux court le monde» = 'your husband roams the world' — the killer (ironically named «époux», husband) is far away, while the dead woman's «forme immortelle» keeps watch over him: a bitter inversion of marital fidelity.
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keeps watch beside him when he sleeps;
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as much as you, no doubt, he will be faithful to you,
Grammar«être fidèle à» + irony «être fidèle à qqn» = 'to be faithful to someone'; «il te sera fidèle» = 'he will be faithful to you'. «Autant que toi» ('as much as you') makes the closing barb mutual and ironic: he will be as faithful to you as you were to him — that is, constant only «jusques à la mort», unto death, the death he dealt you.
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and constant unto death.
Word«jusques» (poetic «jusqu'à») «jusques» is an archaic, poetic variant of «jusqu'à» ('until, as far as'), the extra «-s» often added in verse before a vowel for the meter. «constant jusques à la mort» = 'constant unto death' — the poem's last words, where the language of wedding vows turns into the language of murder.

The particulars

The text: Les Fleurs du mal, Charles Baudelaire. Flowers of Evil.
Words: Every word of the text, by letter.
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