Homme libre, toujours tu chériras la mer ; La mer est ton miroir ; tu contemples ton âme Dans le déroulement infini de sa lame, Et ton esprit n'est pas un gouffre moins amer. Tu te plais à plonger au sein de ton image, Tu l'embrasses des yeux et des bras, et ton cœur Se distrait quelquefois de sa propre rumeur Au bruit de cette plainte indomptable et sauvage. Vous êtes tous les deux ténébreux et discrets ; Homme, nul [ne connaît]1 le fond de tes abîmes ; Ô mer, nul ne connaît tes richesses intimes, Tant vous êtes jaloux de garder vos secrets. Et cependant, voilà des siècles innombrables Que vous vous combattez sans pitié ni [remord]2, Tellement vous aimez le carnage et la mort, Ô lutteurs éternels, ô frères implacables !
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with Revue de Paris, Paris: Bureaux de la Revue de Paris, October 1852, page 135 [first publication]; also confirmed with Les Fleurs du mal, Spleen et Idéal, Paris: Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1857, pages 40-41. Punctuation follows first publication. The poem was first published in Revue de Paris as "L'Homme libre et la Mer"; this poem is entitled "L'Homme et la Mer" in all editions of Les Fleurs du mal.
1 1861 and 1868 editions, Flégier: "n'a sondé"2 Flégier: "remords"
Authorship:
- by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), title 1: "L'Homme libre et la Mer", title 2: "L'Homme et la Mer", appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 14, Paris, Bureaux de la Revue de Paris, first published 1852 [author's text checked 2 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 Ange Flégier (1846 - 1927), "L'homme et la mer", subtitle: "Contemplation" [ low voice and piano ], Éd. Émile Gallet; confirmed with a CD booklet [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Jules Gohy (1888 - 1985), "L'homme et la mer" [ medium voice and piano ], from Trois mélodies, no. 1, Bruxelles, Éd. Mutuelle des compositeurs belges [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Haasz) , "Člověk a moře"
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Goll) , "Člověk a moře"
- ENG English (Cyril Meir Scott) , "Man and the Sea", appears in The Flowers of Evil, London, Elkin Mathews, first published 1909
- POL Polish (Polski) (Bronisława Ostrowska) , "Człowiek i morze", Kraków, first published 1911
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2018-07-16
Line count: 16
Word count: 133
Free man! the sea is to thee ever dear! The sea is thy mirror, thou regardest thy soul In its mighteous waves that unendingly roll, And thy spirit is yet not a chasm less drear. Thou delight'st to plunge deep in thine image down; Thou tak'st it with eyes and with arms in embrace, And at times thine own inward voice would'st efface With the sound of its savage ungovernable moan. You are both of you, sombre, secretive and deep: Oh mortal, thy depths are foraye unexplored, Oh sea — no one knoweth thy dazzling hoard, You both are so jealous your secrets to keep! And endless ages have wandered by, Yet still without pity or mercy you fight, So mighty in plunder and death your delight: Oh wrestlers! so constant in enmity!
Confirmed with Cyril Scott, The Flowers of Evil [by Charles Baudelaire; translated into English verse by Cyril Scott], London: Elkin Mathews, 1909, page 17.
Authorship:
- by Cyril Meir Scott (1879 - 1970), "Man and the Sea", appears in The Flowers of Evil, London, Elkin Mathews, first published 1909 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), title 1: "L'Homme libre et la Mer", title 2: "L'Homme et la Mer", appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 14, Paris, Bureaux de la Revue de Paris, first published 1852
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: Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2018-08-05
Line count: 16
Word count: 133