Grands bois, vous m'effrayez comme des cathédrales ; Vous hurlez comme l'orgue ; et dans nos cœurs maudits, Chambres d'éternel deuil où vibrent de vieux râles, Répondent les échos de vos De profundis. Je te hais, Océan ! tes bonds et tes tumultes, Mon esprit les retrouve en lui ; ce rire amer De l'homme vaincu, plein de sanglots et d'insultes, Je l'entends dans le rire énorme de la mer. Comme tu me plairais, ô nuit ! sans ces étoiles Dont la lumière parle un langage connu ! Car je cherche le vide, et le noir, et le nu ! Mais les ténèbres sont elles-mêmes des toiles Où vivent, jaillissant de mon œil par milliers, Des êtres disparus aux regards familiers.
Confirmed with Les Fleurs du mal, Spleen et Idéal, Paris: Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1861, pages 178-179. Note: this was number 79 in the 1861 edition of Les Fleurs du mal but number 81 in subsequent editions.
Authorship
- by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "Obsession", appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 79, Paris, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, first published 1861 [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 Gérard Bertouille (1898 - 1981), "Obsession", 1940 [ soprano or tenor and piano ], from Trois poèmes de Baudelaire, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Robert Francès (1919 - 2012), "Obsession", published 2002 [ medium voice and piano ], from Paysages musicaux, no. 5, Paris, Éditions Alphonse Leduc [sung text not yet checked]
- by Gordon Kerry (b. 1961), "Obsession", 1985 [ voice and piano ], from Obsessions, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Robert Montfort (d. 1941), "Obsession", published [1911] [ high voice and piano ], from Trois poèmes de Baudelaire, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Eugène Saeys , "Obsession" [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Lev L'vovich Kobylinsky (1889 - 1947) ; composed by Sergei Ivanovich Taneyev.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Haasz) , "Trýzeň"
- ENG English (Emily Wyatt) , "Obsession", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Cyril Meir Scott) , "Obsession", appears in The Flowers of Evil, first published 1909
- GER German (Deutsch) (Stefan George) , "Besessenheit", appears in Die Blumen des Bösen, in Trübsinn und Vergeisterung, first published 1901
- POR Portuguese (Português) (Delfim Guimarães) , "Obsessão ", appears in As Flores do Mal
Research team for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2009-08-23
Line count: 14
Word count: 121
Great forests, you alarm me like a mighty fane; Like organ-tones you roar, and in our hearts of stone, Where ancient sobs vibrate, O halls of endless pain! The answering echoes of your "De Profundis" moan. I hate thee, Ocean! hate thy tumults and thy throbs, My spirit finds them in himself. This bitter glee Of vanquished mortals, full of insults and of sobs, I hear it in the mighteous laughter of the sea. O starless night! thy loveliness my soul inhales, Without those starry rays which speak a language known, For I desire the dark, the naked and the lone. But e'en those darknesses themselves to me are veils, Where live—and, by the millions 'neath my eyelids prance, Long, long departed Beings with familiar glance.
Confirmed with The Flowers of Evil [by Charles Baudelaire; translated into English verse by Cyril Scott], London: Elkin Mathews, 1909
Authorship
- by Cyril Meir Scott (1879 - 1970), "Obsession", appears in The Flowers of Evil, first published 1909 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
- a text in French (Français) by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "Obsession", appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 79, Paris, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, first published 1861
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 text: Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2018-08-05
Line count: 14
Word count: 126