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by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867)
Translation by Jaroslav Goll (1846 - 1929)

Quand le ciel bas et lourd pèse comme un...
Language: French (Français) 
Our translations:  ENG
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,"

Text 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 (b. 1960), "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]
  • by Aimée Strohl (1865 - 1941), as Rita Strohl, "Spleen", 1894 [ soprano and piano ], from Six Poésies de Baudelaire mises en musique, no. 2, Paris : Toledo & Ce [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: 158

Spleen (2)
Language: Czech (Čeština)  after the French (Français) 
Když nízká obloha jak víko rakve tíží
nám duši stísněnou, již dlouhý svírá bol,
když noci smutnější se temné ráno plíží,
an mlhou zastírá se obzor kol a kol;

Svět vlhký na žalář když kolem nás se mění,
kde Naděj‚ netopýr, ach! lítá těkavý,
jenž bije bázlivě svým křídlem o sklepení
a tluče plesnivý se o strop do hlavy;

Když jako velká mříž, jež žalář uzavírá,
déšť v dlouhých splývaje se ryhách rozkládá,
tlum němých pavouků své niti rozprostírá
a sítí šerednou nám mozek zapřádá:

Tu zvony rozhoupnou se rázem z nenadání
a k nebi vrhají svůj rozpoutaný vřesk
jak bludných duchů shluk a nemajících stání,
že stále zní jich ston a nepřestává stesk.

— A průvod bez hudby a bez bubnů jde tluku
mou duší pohřební; v něm v slzách Naděj lká...
A Úzkost, tyran můj, svou krutou zvednouc ruku,
v mou lebku zatkne žerď — s ní černý prapor vlá.

Confirmed with BAUDELAIRE, Charles. Výbor z Květů zla translated by Jaroslav Goll, Praha : Otto, 1927, page 42.


Text Authorship:

  • by Jaroslav Goll (1846 - 1929), "Spleen (2)" [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. 62, Paris, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, first published 1857
    • Go to the text page.

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: 2019-07-15
Line count: 20
Word count: 152

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This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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