{"id":12439,"date":"2021-10-13T14:50:35","date_gmt":"2021-10-13T13:50:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/?p=12439"},"modified":"2021-10-13T14:50:35","modified_gmt":"2021-10-13T13:50:35","slug":"baudelaire-as-phenomenologist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/2021\/10\/13\/baudelaire-as-phenomenologist\/","title":{"rendered":"Baudelaire as Phenomenologist"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three Poems by Charles Baudelaire<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

IV – L\u2019ALBATROS<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Souvent, pour s\u2019amuser, les hommes d\u2019equipage
\nPrennent des albatross, vates oiseaux des mers,
\nQui suivent, indolents compagnons de voyage,
\nLe navire glissent sur les gouffres amers.<\/em><\/p>\n

A peien les ont-ils deposes sur les planches,
\nQue ces rois de l\u2019azur, maladroit et honteux,
\nLaissent piteusement leurs grandes ailes blanches
\nComme des avirons tra\u00eener \u00e0 c\u00f4t\u00e9 d\u2019eux.<\/em><\/p>\n

Ce voyageur ail\u00e9, comme il est gauche et veule!
\nLui, nagu\u00e8re si beau, qu\u2019il est comique et laid!
\nL\u2019un agace son bec avec un br\u00fble-gueule,
\nL\u2019autre mime, en boitant, l\u2019infirme qui volait!<\/em><\/p>\n

Le po\u00e8te est semblabe au prince de nu\u00e9es
\nQui hante la temp\u00eate et se rit de l\u2019archer;
\nExile sur le sol au milieu des hu\u00e9es,
\nSes ailes de g\u00e9ant l\u2019emp\u00eachent de marcher.<\/em><\/p>\n

IV – The Albatross<\/strong><\/p>\n

Often, to amuse themselves, ship crews
\nBrought aboard Albatross, those great birds of the sea,
\nAnd who often were their indolent companions,
\nAs their ships glided upon the bitter waves.<\/p>\n

And, almost as soon as they let them out on deck,
\nHow these great sky kings suddenly then appeared ungainly and awkward,
\nTrailing piteously their great white wings
\nLike proud useless oars behind them.<\/p>\n

These winged voyagers, how they appeared so out of place.
\nOnce the superb plungers, now they looked only comical and stupid.
\nOne shakes her beak about in frustration;
\nAnother mimes, as she clumsily walks, the infirm who fly.<\/p>\n

The Poet is rather like these Princes of the Clouds,
\nThose who would fly above the eye of the storm, smiling
\nAs they look down. Yet, exiled upon the earth,
\nTheir great wings impeding even the most local movements.<\/p>\n

Consider the L\u2019Albatros<\/em>, that most ungainly bird alive, used by the poet as an unforgettable metaphor for when s\/he is confined on Earth. Reaching the sky, its natural habitat, it glides for hours without flapping its great wings. This is analogous to the invigoration a poet feels when they are in the act of composition.<\/p>\n

\n

Peter O'Neill considers Une Charogne (A Carcass) by Charles #Baudelaire<\/a> to be among the greatest poems of the 19th Century and of particular importance for todayhttps:\/\/t.co\/SMIXEi4zcN<\/a>@broadsheet_ie<\/a> @ArtsOverBorders<\/a> @IlsaCarter1<\/a> @EdwardClarke20<\/a> @NMcDevitt<\/a> @wadeinthewate11<\/p>\n

— CassandraVoices (@VoicesCassandra) January 13, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n