Baudelaire for the Beginner: Angel Flores (1955)
[Version of 22 Sept 2919]
Lon Clay Hill, Jr.
Longer, more precise title. Beginner-appropriate English Renderings of 33 Baudelaire Poems: Angel Flores (1955)
Abstract: A modest selection of translated poems which may help English-speaking persons who are not fluent in French in understanding why Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867) is considered by many to be France’s greatest modern poet. We consider 30 poems and 3 prose-poems in nuanced translations which render Baudelaire’s “poetic conceits” — his aesthetic Weltanschauung — into 33 readable texts which allowing the reader to glimpse the workmanship of this most nuanced of poets working with a language which celebrates nuance (nuances in sensory descriptions, nuances in metaphors, and nuances in existential philosophy).
The Book
Angel Flores, Editor (1958). Anthology of French Poetry from Nerval to Valéry in English translations. Anchor Books, Doubleday & Company, Inc.: Garden City, New York. 480 pages, paper [xviii+456+6]. (French originals found towards rear in French Texts texts, pp. 287-443). English Renderings of Baudelaire’s Poems are found on pages 15-59; French originals of the Baudelaire poems — in smaller print — are found on pages 294-323.
The 33 Poems
Flores#1. To The Reader/Au Lecteur — 10 stanzas
Flores#2. Benediction/Bénédiction — 19 stanzas
Flores#3. The Albatross/L’Albatros — 4 stanzas
Flores#4. Correspondences/Correspondances — Sonnet
Flores#5. The Enemy/L’Ennemi — Sonnet
Flores#6. The Former Life/La Vie antérieure — Sonnet
Flores#7. Beauty/La Beauté — Sonnet
Flores#8. Posthumous Remorse/Remords posthume — Sonnet
Flores#9. I offer you this verse…/“Je te donne ces vers” — Sonnet
Flores#10. The Vial/Le Flacon — 7 stanzas
Flores#11. Invitation to the voyage/L’Invitation au voyage — 3 stanzas & chorus
Flores#12. Music/La Musique — Sonnet
Flores#13. The Cracked Bell/La Cloche Fêlée — Sonnet
Flores#14. Spleen/Spleen [“Quand le ciel bas et lourd pése comme un couvercle;…”] — 5 Stanzas
Flores#15. Heautontimoroumenos/L’Héautontimorouménos — 7 stanzas
Flores#16. Landscape/Paysage — 3 stanzas, 28 lines in toto
Flores#17. The Swan/Le Cygne — 13 Stanzas in 2 sections
Flores#18. The Seven Old Men/Les Sept vieillards — 13 Stanzas
Flores#19. The Little Old Women/Les Petites vieilles — A four part poem w. 21 Stanzas
Flores#20. The Love of Deceit/L’Amour du mensonge — 6 Stanzas, each w. 4 lines
Flores#21. I have not forgotten…/Je n’ai pas oublié… — 10 lines
Flores#22. Morning Twilight/Le Crépuscule du matin — 28 lines within 4 Stanzas
Flores#23. Beatrice/La Béatrice — 3 Stanzas, 30 lines in toto
Flores#24. A Voyage/Un Voyage à Cythère — 15 Four-line Stanzas
Flores#25. The Voyage/Le Voyage — 8 Sections, mostly in 35 Four-line Stanzas
Flores#26. Lesbos/Lesbos — 15 Five-line Stanzas
Flores#27. Lethe/Le Léthe — 6 Stanzas
Flores#28. Epigraph for a Condemned Book/Epigraphe pour un livre condamné — Sonnett
Flores#29. Meditation/Recueillement — Sonnet
Flores#30. The Gulf/Le Gouffre — Sonnet
Flores#31. At One O’Clock in the Morning/Á Une Heure du matin — Prose Poem
Flores#32. Be Drunk/Enivrez-vous — — Prose Poem
Flores#33. Anywhere Out of the World/Anywhere Out of the World — Prose Poem
Reading Notes on English Renderings of 33 Poems By Charles Baudelaire in Flores (1958)
Prefatory Note to Several Recent Posts: This essay is the one of several essays (posted and planned) that may help to explain why Charles Baudelaire is believed by many to be the greatest French poet of the modern era. The essays address (1) English readers who are not fluent in French, (2) epistemologically curious lovers of Poetry and the Arts, and (3) an assortment of philosophical-psychological/artistic issues. In addition to considerations of Baudelaire’s original poetic corpus, the essays have until now focused on books published in the 1950-1970’s which targeted English readers not fluent in French. Future essays (1) will deal more directly with Baudelaire’s creative genius as a master wordsmith of the French Language who embedded his words within a rhythmic tonal ‘world’ and (2) will include several more recent responses to Baudelaire’s work up to and into the 21st Century.
Preface:
This brief commentary focuses on 33 poetic works (technically, 30 poems and 3 prose poems) written by Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867) which were translated into English by various translators. These renderings were later collected in a now old anthology edited by Angel Flores (1958). This commentary is part of an ongoing effort by this author to understand [with my mind’s eye, my mind’s ear, and my gut] why Baudelaire is considered by a significant number of artists, writers, and critics to be the most important French poet of the modern era [e.g., ~1850-2000]. Indeed, some commentators consider Baudelaire to be the most important modern European poet. The effort here is largely restricted to understanding Baudelaire’s poetic or aesthetic ideas [his aesthetic conceits — understanding Baudelaire’s poetry per se requires us to dive deeper into Baudelaire’s poetry as heard). Baudelaire’s spoken poems will become the subject of several coming commentaries.]
The primary audiences targeted here are (A) English speaking readers who are not fluent in French and (B) those readers who are particularly sensitive to the interactions between philosophy and poetry. Flores’s anthology is particularly suited to the person who is not fluent in French because it focuses on (1) Baudelaire’s best efforts and (2) utilizes poems of moderately consistent tonality [as rendered by a small number of translators]. The author hopes that his commentary may also be helpful because his own protestant religious-philosophical assumptions are intermediate between Baudelaire’s Roman Catholic predispositions and the dominant secular predispositions of many who appreciate Baudelaire’s poetry. My own effort is further guided by the fundamental assumption that “Beauty is Truth and Truth is Beauty.” Which is another way of saying that while we are writing about poetry and art, we are simultaneously utilizing and exploring epistemological ideas.
Reading Notes on 33 English Renderings of Baudelaire in Flores (1958)
Introduction; Reading Notes on the 33 Poems; Conclusions; The Translators;
Introduction
While Charles Baudelaire received scattered acclaim and some well-publicized notoriety during his lifetime, in the next few decades his star began to rise and today, in some circles, he is considered to be France’s premier modern poet and even, occasionally, Europe’s premier poet of the last two centuries. As Baudelaire’s poetry utilizes — among other things — some unusually nuanced French, it may be difficult for those whose French is limited to appreciate why Baudelaire might be given such high acclaim in various quarters. The problem is amplified, however, by several additional considerations. One, the individual narratives of Baudelaire’s poems run an unusually broad gamut of tones, moods, and perspectives. Some poems are quite concrete and local while others may be quite general or even metaphysical. Most are, in part at least, both local and philosophical and somewhat uneven in the sensations and emotions which they evoke. Some poems are celebratory, some are mellow, some are resigned, some are sad, and some are utterly despondent. Secondly, some poems travel on an even keel, while others darken as they proceed, and a few end on short and sharp upheavals [bouleversements]. Third, Baudelaire’s poetry was written to be heard. Baudelaire’s poetry is musical. It is no accident that several of his poems have been set to music. Finally, further complicating matters, Baudelaire’s personal life — especially, his early separation from his mother’s affection after she remarried and his long-running and troubled affair with Jeanne Duval — left him with deep wounds which he could only inconsistently master. These wounds affected not only his perspectives (his Weltanschauung), but as he attempted to keep these wounds hidden from both himself and others — the wounds inevitably damaged the poetic integrity of his work [much more obvious in some poems than others]. I will deal with these complications in much more detail elsewhere. However, these very complications provide a superb opportunity to consider translations of 30 poems (and 3 ‘prose-poems’) by Baudelaire which are contained in Angel Flores’s (1958). Anthology of French Poetry from Nerval to Valéry in English translations (1958). [More ‘up-to-date’ translations are to be considered in the future. These essays — in general — are reflections of learning episodes occurring over 5 decades…]
The Flores anthology presents a modest selection of Baudelaire poems translated into English — renderings which Flores rightfully, I believe, considered to be poems in their own right. [The French text of the poems are found at the end of the book so our immediate attention is drawn to the English renderings.] Her selection does not attempt to cover the full range of Baudelaire poetic efforts and ‘conceits’. Instead, she considers the best of Baudelaire’s work and, in addition, generally prefers those poems delivered either on an even keel or on a slowly changing perspective as the poet develops his theme. As a general rule she does not highlite Baudelaire’s more maudlin or his deliberately blasphemous efforts — altho hints of such Baudelairian inclinations are inescapable. We should note that most of Baudelaire’s poems have a negative tonality which is often developed within a descending register. Whether the poem begins with a positive, neutral, or gloomy note, when the poem ends we are often presented with inescapable pain or death, plus defiance against or submission to life’s ills [All modulated or even contradicted by the usually more mellow or even uplifting rhythm of the poem]. The incredible range of tonality and topics of Baudelaire’s poetry means that in selections with English translations a wide variety of translators are often represented in anthologies with even a modest number of Baudelaire poems (e.g., Fowlie, 1964). An additional advantage of the Flores anthology is that a relatively small number of translators are represented with three of them (Gibbs, Flores, Watkins) accounting for slitely more than half of the poems. Again, we are limited in the range of poetic voices — and can focus on the more “generic” renderings. [There is, of course, no generic Baudelairean poem. But sometimes we must begin with a simplification in order to get our bearings.]
What I have done below, then, is to list these 33 English renderings and provide some very brief notes. Some notes are very brief — a single sentence or phrase. In other cases, we quote a few sentences and/or provide a short paragraph. Obviously, this approach will work best with English speaking readers who have access to the Flores Text and/or those lovers of Baudelaire’s poetry who are already familiar with Baudelaire in French, but who are not that sensitive to Baudelaire’s very nuanced — even if self-contradictory at times — Roman Catholic background. We should note that some of the poems are dominated by a visual image or image set (e.g., The Albatross; The Swan) that keeps the entire poem in focus. And, furthermore, we note that Baudelaire’s poetry is singularly rich in the tactile and olfactory (scents, smells) details and metaphors as well as the visible and auditory details and metaphors found in almost all poetry. Baudelaire is a wordsmith of the highest order and blends these images into individual poems. The particular translators of these poems are themselves excellent wordsmiths — and provide us with lovely introductions to the ideas or conceits of Baudelaire’s aesthetics-in-action (referred to by Baudelaire as his “Spleen”). Once the reader actually hears Baudelaire’s poems in French, he or she will have been oriented to understanding why Baudelaire was a great poet! My own contribution here is to add commentary which may clarify the connection between Baudelaire’s craft and his aesthetics-and-underlying philosophy (more precisely, his Weltanschauung — in Baudelaire’s own words, his “Metaphysics”). As a general rule, I believe that while Baudelaire’s pose as an poet narrator suggests an “objective” narrator — the power of his poetry is derived from the fact that when we actually hear or imagine the voice of the narrator we almost always hear a human witness (even if in muted tones).
II. 33 Poems: Reading Notes
Poem #1: To The Reader/Au Lecteur — Stanley Kunitz, Translator, pp. 17-18 — 10 stanzas w. 4 lines in each stanza
Introduction to “Ennui”. A secular Catholic speaks of sin and entices the reader into looking at his own soul!
Poem #2: Benediction/Bénédiction — Stephen Stepanchev, Translator, pp. 18-20 — 19 stanzas w. 4 lines in each stanza
A long diatribe against a deceitful lover as “reported” from within the poet’s nearly hermetically sealed psychic cage.
Poem #3: The Albatross/L’Albatros— Kate Flores, Translator, p. 21
— 4 stanzas w. 4 lines in each stanza
A single image dominates this brief poems — one of his greatest. The awkward and scorned albatross while on land is transformed, once he has launched, and soars into the sky! The “Albatross” is the poet himself — in one of those rare moments when his primary focus remains upon his upward strivings.
Poem #4: Correspondences/Correspondances — Flores, Editor & Translator, pp. 21-22 — Sonnet
The poet describes and celebrates the blessings of nature!
Poem #5: The Enemy/L’Ennemi — Vernon Watkins, Translator, p. 22
— Sonnet
One of Baudelaire’s eloquently pessimistic poems with his melancholia in full force! The seasons move, the leaves fall as autumn comes, followed by cold and sterile winter as “Death’s Dominion” overcomes the living.
Poem #6: The Former Life/La Vie antérieure—Flores, Editor (1958); Dwight Durling, Translator, p. 23— Sonnet
This short poem describes a seemingly idyllic scene which in the last two lines reveal as having hidden a secret — very deep and dark — “Douleur” [e.g., an inwardly writhing sorrow].
Poem #7: Beauty/La Beauté — Bert M-P. Leefmans, Translator, pp. 23-24 — Sonnet
A “Secret Admirer” (the poet) asserts an objective appreciation for a very proud and indifferent beauty. Truth to tell, it strikes me that the admirer is frozen in unrequited pain.
Poem #8: Posthumous Remorse/Remords posthume — Barbara Gibbs, Translator, p. 24 [Sonnet]
“When you shall sleep, my faithless one under/A monument built all of gloomy marble…And the worm will gnaw your flesh like a remorse.” Baudelaire’s melancholia permeates a short poem with arguments and descriptions which are replete with a desire for revenge…. Revenge is present “all the way down”. Indeed when we reach the last line, his desire for revenge is all that is left is to see.
Poem #9: I offer you this verse…/“Je te donne ces vers” — Vernon Watkins, Translator, p. 25 [Sonnet]
First 2 lines … last line — “I offer you this verse so that if once my name/Beaches with good fortune on epochs far away… Accurst being… Statue with eyes of jet, great angle browed with bronze!”
In this poem, the poet looks backwards-and-forward with bitter pride, but when the litany is over he is again a nearly Frozen Admirer — with, however, his nearly intact pride still remaining nearly intact.
Poem #10: The Vial/Le Flacon — Kate Flores, Translator, pp. 25-26
[7 stanzas w. 4 lines in each stanza]
A poem of simple descent accompanied by thoughtful remarks and interesting details which fall like petals from a flower. Vials of perfume become potions which then become poisons as the waiting Grave portends — and eventually rules.
Poem #11: Invitation to the voyage/L’Invitation au voyage — Richard Wilbur, Translator, pp. 26-27 [3 stanzas, each followed by the two line chorus.]
A strangely mellow pessimism. Even simply as written text, the short chorus seems to interrupt and temper the apparent pessimism of the soul’s journey to the waiting harbor of death.
Poem #12: Music/La Musique — Robert Fitzgerald, Translator, p. 28
[Sonnet]
For all of Baudelaire’s musicality — in this particular poem all I read is a message of moderately calm despair.
Poem #13: The Cracked Bell/La Cloche Fêlée — Vernon Watkins, Translator, pp. 28-29 [Sonnet]
“It is bitter and sweet, during the Winter night,/To listen…/To memories…that ascend…/On the carillons whose music sings out through the fog,/… [until] … [my soul] … Seems a wounded man’s rattle… [and the man] dies… in immense throes of dread!”
The Winter bell strikes him like a death rattle. The entire poem is, as it were, a Death Drip — a Job suffering with his pain centers heightened by steroids or by some other malevolent “medication”!
Poem #14: Spleen/Spleen (“Quand le ciel bas et lourd pése comme un couvercle;…”) — Barbara Gibbs, Translator, p. 29 [5 Four-line Stanzas]
“When the oppressive sky weighs like a cover/On the sick spirit, in the toils of ennui/ …[until] … Hope vanquished/Weeps, and atrocious, despotic Anguish/Plants on my bowed head her black flag.”
Pessimism all the way down. In actual fact, the poem is so well constructed [rain spreads, bells clamor, hearses file along…] that the poem succeeds as a poem. We sense that there is a witness here. We have a poet who at times can only say “My God, why has thou forsaken me!?” (and who — for whatever reasons — is only occasionally able to speak of the “lilies of the field” without being distracted by his douleurs…) [An expectation we often have for poets and artists!!??]
Poem #15: Heautontimoroumenos/L’Héautontimorouménos — Bert M-P. Leefmans, Translator, p. 30 [7 Four-line stanzas]
“I shall strike you without anger/And without hate, as a butcher strikes,/As Moses struck the rock! …-…-… I am the limbs and the wheel/And condemned and executioner!/I am the vampire of my heart:/One of the lost forever,/ Condemned to eternal laughter/And who can never smile again.”
Furious anger! “Like flies to the Gods, you say. Oh no! I, Charles Baudelaire, can do much better than that!!”
Poem #16: Landscape/Paysage — Vernon Watkins, Translator, p. 31 [3 stanzas, 28 lines in toto]
“I want, the more chastely to compose my verse,/To sleep close to the sky, like the astrologers,/ …-…/And when Winter comes…/I shall close all…shutters and lattices/ …-…/The tumult at my window …/Shall not cause me to lift my forehead [as] I shall be absorbed… [in]…Drawing from my burning thoughts an atmosphere of balm.”
This particular poem is about as calm and as positive as anything Baudelaire ever wrote. It is almost as if the poet were Prometheus as portrayed by Camus — but listening to a music which softens and, to some extent, overpowers the incessant pain.
Poem #17: The Swan/Le Cygne — Kate Flores, Translator, pp. 32-33 [13 Four-line Stanzas. Two sections w. 7 and 6 stanzas, resp.
In my opinion, one of Baudelaire’s greatest poems. In the first sentence we are introduced to Andromache, Hector’s widow, who is carried off as a choice concubine at the end of the destruction. We are almost immediately taken back to Euripides’ Trojan Women. Soon after she is introduced, we are provided by a striking visual image of a swan caught on dry pavement where she is nearly completely hobbled. [When I read this poem I simply cannot get the image out of my mind!] In the second part of the poem, other victims of rape, rapine, and enslavement are introduced. A cry of moral outrage (misercordia) penetrates the entire poem as the detailed description of the swan’s struggles are generalized into a critique of entitled male cruelty — a criticism which is more trenchant, more compelling, than what we might perhaps expect even from a misanthropic feminist.
Poem #18: The Seven Old Men/Les Sept vieillards — Barbara Gibbs, Translator, pp. 34-35 [13 Four-line Stanzas]
One foggy morning an apparition is seen which soon multiplies itself into seven identical crippled centenarians. Gradually the author finds that he himself is lost “without masts on a monstrous sea.”
Poem #19: The Little Old Women/Les Petites vieilles — Barbara Gibbs, Translator, pp. 36-38 [A four part poem with 21 Four-line Stanzas]
This poem is similar in tone and and in its moderately even cadence to “The Seven Old Men”, but the subjects are very diverse women whose “souls [are] whipped by iniquitous north-winds [as] they creep in their tattered skirts”. Details multiply: “Mothers of the bleeding heart, courtesans/Or saints, whose names were once on every tongue”… Eventually, the poet begins to tie it together as he summons “up your last days;
My heart, multiplied, revels in your vices! My soul grows resplendent with your virtues!” …
While Baudelaire provided the label “Spleen” to several of his poems, this particular and moderately long poem is — to my mind — among the very best examples of such Spleen. By the end of the poem he is still holding out for his poetic equivalent of what Nietzsche labelled “Amor Fati” — the acceptance and celebration of all that exists as “good.” However, with Baudelaire there are usually various “stray” emotions (enjoyment of forbidden delights, sympathetic horror, intimations of revenge) accompanying his Spleen. In this instance, however, these minor emotional shades remain largely in the background.
Poem #20: The Love of Deceit/L’Amour du mensonge — Dwight Durling, Translator, p. 39 [6 Four-line Stanzas]
The blessings of ripe fruits taken before they rot — and other, more shallow pleasures!
Poem #21: I have not forgotten…/Je n’ai pas oublié… — Vernon Watkins, Translator, p. 40 [10 lines]
A mildly pleasant trip down memory lane.
Poem #22: Morning Twilight/Le Crépuscule du matin — Barbara Gibbs, Translator, p. 40-41 [4 Stanzas w. 28 lines [2, 9, 13, 4 lines, resp..]. The 2nd and 3rd stanzas carry the weight of the tale.
“As Paris … woke like an ancient drudge to another day’s work.”
A narrative poem — “The soul begins to imitate the boundary between daylite and dark.”
A narrative poem — “The soul begins to imitate the boundary between daylite and dark.”
A brief intro is followed by 2 long stanzas carrying the weight of the poem. The final stanza bring a mildly dramatic end to a mostly rather even presentation of those unhappy souls who live outside the glare of success and celebration.
The dark underbelly of the sleeping and working poor and other forgotten souls are highlited in this poetic narrative. This is one of those poems where Baudelaire’s misercordia is on full display.
The dark underbelly of the sleeping and working poor and other forgotten souls are highlited in this poetic narrative. This is one of those poems where Baudelaire’s misercordia is on full display.
Poem #23: Beatrice/La Béatrice — Stephen Stepanchev, Translator, p. 41
[Sonnet]
A troop of demons appears — and then a revengeful lover!
Poem #24: A Voyage/Un Voyage à Cythère — Frederick Morgan, Translator, p. 42 [Sonnet]
The poet describes the pains of love with all the gruesome details and exactitude of a forensic excavation of mass graves — from the perspective of the bottommost corpse.
Poem #25: The Voyage/Le Voyage — Barbara Gibbs, Translator, p. 45 [ long poem with 8 Sections. 35 Stanzas w. 4 lines. And three very short stanzas — 2 consisting of a single line.]
This poem celebrates those who seek out the unknown, the new:
In section I: “One morning we set out…following the wave’s rhythm,/ Cradling our infinite on the seas’ finite:”
…-[after many ups-and-downs]-…
By section VIII: we now have “Death, old captain, it’s time to weigh anchor!/ … We long, so does this fire burn in our brains,/To dive into the gulf, Hell or Heaven,/What matter? Into the unknown in search of the New!”
This poem presents a plethora of details — both experiences and moods — to create an overall mixture of pain, adventure, seeming defeat, and assertive resistance. The poet then declares his victory. However, unlike Prometheus in Camus’s fable — this Voyager does not return again and again to the same task. Baudelaire’s Voyager tacks this way and that —and sometimes turns around as his daemon (his “Ennui”) flickers in the wind as his own flame weakens and is apparently foredoomed.
Poem #26: Lesbos/Lesbos — Barbara Gibbs, Translator, pp. 51-53 [15 Five-line Stanzas]
Forbidden pleasures are examined (with delight) — and then the Grand Inquisitor purports to give the last word (Punishment in spades). In this instance Baudelaire’s puritan Roman Catholicism strikes me as much worse than his frequently cited “blasphemies”.
Poem #27: Lethe/Le Léthe — Barbara Gibbs, Translator, pp. 53-54 [6 Four-line Stanzas]
Sexual Pleasure and masochistic pain. [One of six poems condemned by the French censors in 1857.]
Poem #28: Epigraph for a Condemned Book/Epigraphe pour un livre condamné — Kate Flores, Translator, p. 54 [Sonnet]
A poem accompanied with oblique details and reasons why some people should read his censored book and why others should not — all articulated by the censored poet himself. The expostulations end, however, with characteristic Baudelairean spleen — a curse on all those censors and detractors who continue to condemn him and his work.
Poem #29: Meditation/Recueillement — Dwight Durling, Translator, p. 55 [Sonnet]
Traveling in the imagination, the poet recites a number of life’s miseries and yet — in spite of itself — comes peacefully into the Harbor as life ends.
Poem #30: The Gulf/Le Gouffre — Kate Flores, Translator, pp. 55-56 [Sonnet]
Baudelaire references Pascal’s fear and trembling while considering the vast physical and psychological-spiritual infinitudes of space, time, and life. While Pascal’s efforts — esp. his “Wager” — present their own difficulties, Baudelaire’s response here — basically to simply jump into the void — presents only an episode in Baudelaire’s inner life. However, in this instance the “art” produced here strikes me as one of markedly inferior quality.
The references to Pascal are deliberate and critical — "The Abyss" or "The Void" would have been betters choices for the title.
Poem #31: At One O’Clock in the Morning/Á Une Heure du matin — Bert M-P. Leefmans, Translator, pp. 56-57 [Prose Poem
A soliloquy in which the poets tries to find peace and respite after spending an entire day dealing with small problems, superficial chatter, and a medley of distractions. He ends with a prayer. “[O]h Lord my God, accord me the grace to produce a few lovely verses which will prove that I am not the last of men, that I am not inferior to those I scorn.”
Poem #32: Be Drunk/Enivrez-vous — William M. Davis, Translator, pp. 57-58 [Prose Poem]
A very short, but very personal rant. The “piece” ends with a summarizing injunction: “It is time to be drunk! To throw off the chains and martyrdom of Time, be drunk; be drunk eternally! With wine, with poetry, or with virtue, as you please.”
A soliloquy. By way of contrast I am reminded of a short story by Dostoevsky in which he sets us up by allowing us to ‘pity’ an uninvited drunk who shows up at a party of ‘good standing’ persons. On the very last page or so, Dostoevsky quickly strips bare the soul of the utterly embarrassed drunk — and then, Hypocrite lecteur, each of us is forced to look at ourself.
Poem #33: William M. Davis, Translator, pp. 58-59
Anywhere Out of the World/Anywhere Out of the World [Prose Poem]
A slitely longer complaint than Be Drunk. The complaint begins with: “This life is a hospital where every patient longs desperately to change his bed.” The complaint ends with: “Finally, my soul explodes, crying: “Anywhere! Anywhere! As long as it be out of this world!”
Note that the title of Baudelaire's piece is in mildly ungrammatical English!
In between are many interesting details and precise words. This small “Confession” reminds me in many ways of Kafka. Kafka describes harrowing and terrorizing scenes in a prose that focuses on various minute and commonplace details in a matter-of-fact that only underscores the overall terror of his surroundings. In a somewhat similar manner Baudelaire presents seemingly normal - if guarded - geographical details of various places on earth while the poet is slowly going entirely out of his mind.
III. Conclussions
Our remarks here are mostly suggestive. We have dealt here only with a suggestive understanding of Baudelaire’s artistic and poetic ideas. We have not dealt with the man as a poet and and we have, mostly, only considered him as a man in indirect terms. However, for myself, this inquiry was necessary for me to break ground on key epistemological and psychological issues which are often obscured in Baudelaire’s own writings. Like Baudelaire, I believe that when one reaches the limits of our inquiries, it is time to reach for metaphors which recast our inquiry. So I have encapsulated my own epistemological issues, especially, with metaphors. However, there is a need for a systematic inquiry of these issues. We do not explore the issue in depth here — a full appreciation of Baudelaire’s deepest contributions will require an inquiry which treats both his poetry as heard and which takes a deeper look as his own personal struggles [especially, as a child, as a poet, and as a lover]. I am presently working on this more difficult task. However, we note here that there are times when Baudelaire makes brief statements which are quite close to ideas presented by more systematic thinkers such as Pascal, Nietzsche, Freud, and Chomsky. These specific issues are to be addressed in the future.
IV. Bookkeeping Note: 11 Translators in Flores, Ed. (1958) [(n) = number of translated poems]
William M. Davis (2); Dwight Durling (3); Barbara Gibbs (8); Robert Fitzgerald (1); Kate Flores (6); Stanley Kunitz (1); Bert M-P. Leefmans (3); Frederick Morgan (1); Stephen Stepanchev (2); Vernon Watkins (5); Richard Wilbur (1)
V. BRIEF BIBLIOGRAPHY
A. Primary Text of Interest
Angel Flores, Editor (1958). Anthology of French Poetry from Nerval to Valéry in English translations. Anchor Books, Doubleday & Company, Inc.: Garden City, New York. 480 pages, paper [xviii+456+6]. (French originals found towards rear in French Texts texts, pp. 287-443).
B. Other Texts of Interest
Charles Baudelaire (1964). Flowers of Evil and Other Works/Les Fleurs du Mal et Oeuvres Choisies by Charles Baudelaire. Wallace Fowlie, Editor & Translator. A Bantam Dual-Language, Bantam Books: New York. 299 pages, paper [=xiii + 291]. [52 poems, 14 prose poems, prose (essays, reviews, assortae - including 3 letters).] [A recent & virtually identical Dover edition (1992) is still in print.]
Charles Baudelaire (1968). Baudelaire. Francis Scarfe, Editor & Translator. Penguin Books: Middlesex, England; Baltimore, MD, USA. 282 pages, paper [=lxii + 270]. [143 poems w. smaller print plain English translations below.] [The introduction provides more biographical context than most selections.]
Charles Baudelaire (1998). Selected Poems from Les Fleurs du Mal [A Bilingual Edition]. Norman R. Shapiro, Translator-&-Editor. University of Chicago Press: Chicago & London. 246 [= xxxvii+209] pages.
[73 oeuvres from Les Fleurs du Mal; The English texts attempt to render Baudelaire’s French words into a form that embodies both the literal semantics and the musical tonality of Baudelaire’s poetry. 16 marvelous sketches by David Schorr are also included. Notes are replete with literary and other artistic references, but are notably sparse in psychologically grounded material. [As a general rule Baudelaire’s sexual guilt is displayed, but the measure of its contortions have been scarcely measured. …]
C. Why this is an “Early Version”. At the present time there are conflicts between the spacing and centering conventions as displayed on my screen and the actual text appearing in the Google posting. If and when these conflicts are resolved, a spiffier text will be prepared as time and health allow.
End of the Essay
