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Quand le ciel bas et lourd pèse comme un couvercle Sur l'esprit gémissant en proie aux longs ennuis, Et que de l'horizon embrassant tout le cercle Il nous [fait]1 un jour noir plus triste que les nuits ; Quand la terre est changée en un cachot humide, Où l'Espérance, comme une chauve-souris, S'en va battant les murs de son aile timide, Et se cognant la tête à des plafonds pourris ; Quand la pluie étalant ses immenses traînées D'une vaste prison imite les barreaux, Et qu'un peuple muet [d'horribles]2 araignées Vient tendre ses filets au fond de nos cerveaux, Des cloches tout-à-coup sautent avec furie Et lancent vers le ciel un affreux hurlement, Ainsi que des esprits errants et sans patrie Qui se mettent à geindre opiniâtrément. -- Et [d'anciens]3 corbillards, sans tambours ni musique, Défilent lentement dans mon âme ; [et,]4 l'Espoir [Pleurant comme un vaincu, l'Angoisse]5 despotique Sur mon crâne incliné plante son drapeau noir.
About the headline (FAQ)
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 144-145. Also confirmed with Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du mal, Paris: Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1861, in Spleen et Idéal, pages 176-177. 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, pages 202-203. Punctuation and formatting follows 1857 edition. Note: this was number 62 in the 1857 edition of Les Fleurs du mal but number 78 or 80 in subsequent editions.
1 1861 and 1868 editions: "verse"2 1861 and 1868 editions: "d'infâmes"
3 1861 and 1868 editions: "de longs"
4 omitted in 1861 and 1868 editions
5 1861 edition: "Vaincu, pleure, et l'Angoisse atroce,"
Authorship:
- by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "Spleen", appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 62, Paris, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, first published 1857 [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 4", 2009 [ medium voice (male voice) and piano ], from Spleen, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Armand Bournonville (d. 1957), "Spleen" [ high voice and piano ], Nancy, Éd. Dupont-Metzner [sung text not yet checked]
- by Vincent Minazzoli , "Spleen", 1989 [ high voice and piano ], from Cinq Poèmes de Baudelaire, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Nguyen Phuc Buu Phoi (b. 1945), "Spleen", 2013, published 2013 [ soprano and piano ], from Les Fleurs du Mal, six mélodies pour soprano et piano, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Goll) , "Spleen (2)"
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Haasz) , "Spleen (3)"
- ENG English (Peter Low) , copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- POR Portuguese (Português) (Delfim Guimarães) , "Spleen"
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: 20
Word count: 156
When the low heavy sky presses down like a lid on the groaning spirit attacked by long spells of boredom, and when from the horizon that rings the whole circle it makes for us a dark day sadder than a night, when the earth is changed into a moist dungeon in which Hope, fluttering like a bat, keeps beating the walls with its timid wings and bumping its head against rotten ceilings, when the rain spreading out its extensive trails imitates the bars of a vast prison, and when a silent tribe of horrible spiders comes and spreads its nets in the depths of our brains, then suddenly bells start jumping furiously and throw a frightful shrieking up at the sky like wandering homeless spirits that begin to moan stubbornly. ... And ancient hearses, with no drums or music, slowly process through my soul: and Hope weeps defeated, and Despotic Anguish plants on my bowed skull its black flag.
About the headline (FAQ)
Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2023 by Peter Low, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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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. 62, Paris, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, first published 1857
This text was added to the website: 2023-08-22
Line count: 20
Word count: 159