Charles Baudelaire
(1821—1867)
Correspondences
Nature is a temple
where living pillars
Let escape sometimes confused words;
Man traverses it through forests of symbols
That observe him with familiar glances.
Like long echoes that intermingle from afar
In a dark and profound unity,
Vast like the night and like the light,
The perfumes, the colors and the sounds respond.
There are perfumes fresh like the skin of infants
Sweet like oboes, green like prairies,
—And others corrupted, rich and triumphant
That have the expanse of infinite things,
Like ambergris, musk, balsam and incense,
Which sing the ecstasies of the mind and senses.
. . .
Correspondances
La nature est un temple où
de vivants piliers
Laissent parfois sortir de confuses paroles
L'homme y passe à travers des forêts de symboles
Qui l'observent avec des regards familiers.
Comme de longs échos qui de loin se confondent
Dans une ténébreuse
et profonde unité,
Vaste comme une nuit et comme la clarté,
Les parfums, les couleurs et les sons se répondent.
Il est des parfums frais comme de chairs d'enfants,
Doux comme les hautbois, verts comme les prairies,
—Et d'autres, corrompus, riches et triomphants,
Ayant l'expansion des choses infinies,
Comme l'ambre, le musc, le benjoin et l'encens,
Qui chantent les transports de l'esprit et des sens.
. . .
*
Etching, 'Charles Baudelaire' 1967, by Edouard Manet, Bibliothèque Nationale
de France, Paris.
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In
Paris 1857, Baudelaire wrote "Correspondances", arguably his best-known
poem. This work beautifully introduced Baudelaire's theory of *Synaesthesia:
the idea that the senses can and should intermingle was enjoying a brief
vogue, but its deeper significance was its prioritizing of symbol over
symbolized. Inspired by the mystical theory of "Correspondences", a
Swedenborgian term referring to the idea that every form in Heaven "corresponds"
to a form on Earth, Baudelaire had come to believe that the artist's
unique ability to represent truth un-didactically, through symbols and
metaphors, was of immense importance.
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