Pluviôse irrité contre la [ville]1 entière De son urne à grands flots verse un froid ténébreux Aux pâles habitants du voisin cimetière Et la mortalité sur les faubourgs brumeux. Mon chat sur le carreau cherchant une litière Agite sans repos son corps maigre et galeux ; [L'ombre]2 d'un vieux poète erre dans la gouttière Avec la triste voix d'un fantôme frileux. Le bourdon se lamente, et la bûche enfumée Accompagne en fausset la pendule enrhumée, Cependant qu'en un jeu plein de sales parfums, Héritage fatal d'une vieille hydropique, Le beau valet de cœur et la dame de pique Causent sinistrement de leurs amours défunts.
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View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du mal, Paris: Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1857, in Spleen et Idéal, pages 138-139. Also confirmed with Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du mal, Paris: Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1861, in Spleen et Idéal, pages 170-171. Also confirmed with Charles Baudelaire, Œuvres complètes de Charles Baudelaire, vol. I : Les Fleurs du mal, Paris: Michel Lévy frères, 1868, in Spleen et Idéal, page 198. Punctuation follows 1857 edition. The modern spelling "poète" in line 8 used in the 1857 edition is preferred over the historical spelling "poëte" used in the 1861 and 1868 editions.
First published by Le Messager de l'Assemblée, April 9, 1851. Also appears as number 59 in the 1857 edition of Les Fleurs du mal and as number 75 or 77 in subsequent editions.
1 1868 edition: "vie"2 1861 and 1868 editions: "L'âme"
Authorship:
- by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "Spleen", appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 59, Paris, Le Messager de l'Assemblée, first published 1851 [author's text checked 4 times against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Gilles Auger (b. 1957), "Spleen 1", 2009 [ medium voice (male voice) and piano ], from Spleen, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Haasz) , "Spleen (1)"
- ENG English (Cyril Meir Scott) , "Spleen", appears in The Flowers of Evil, London, Elkin Mathews, first published 1909
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2014-01-18
Line count: 14
Word count: 104
Čas dešťů, rozzloben jsa na veškeré žití, chlad temný z urny své kol v proudech rozlívá, jím bledé občany hřbitova v blízku sytí, a leje úmrtnost v předměstí mlživá. Má kočka, na dlážce se chtějíc uložiti, se vrtí bez klidu vždy suchá, prašivá; duch pěvce starého se po okapu řítí a lká, jak příšera, jež zkřehlá, truchlivá. Zvon hrubý naříká, a dřevo z krbu, v dýmu provází fistulí hlas hodin, jenž má rýmu, co v kartách, plničkých už vůně zvetšelé, jež bídný odkaz jsou po vodnatelné ženě, kluk ladný srdcový pomlouvá nerušeně i s dámou pikovou své lásky zemřelé.
Confirmed with BAUDELAIRE, Charles. Výbor z Květů zla II, translated by Jaroslav Haasz, Praha: J. Otto, 1919, pages 70-71.
Authorship:
- by Jaroslav Haasz (1860 - 1939), "Spleen (1)" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "Spleen", appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 59, Paris, Le Messager de l'Assemblée, first published 1851
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- [ None yet in the database ]
Researcher for this page: Andrew Schneider [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2019-07-24
Line count: 14
Word count: 99