L'albatros (the Albatross) Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABAB BBBB CDCD BEBE B FBGB HDBB BBIF JKBL F B BMBM BBBB NBNB BDBD C B FDFD BDBD NDND DBDB K B KBKB OBOB DFDF DBDB P B FBCB HDBQ RBSF BFCL FSouvent pour s'amuser les hommes d' quipage | A |
Prennent des albatros vastes oiseaux des mers | B |
Qui suivent indolents compagnons de voyage | A |
Le navire glissant sur les gouffres amers | B |
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peine les ont ils d pos s sur les planches | B |
Que ces rois de l'azur maladroits et honteux | B |
Laissent piteusement leurs grandes ailes blanches | B |
Comme des avirons tra ner c t d'eux | B |
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Ce voyageur ail comme il est gauche et veule | C |
Lui nagu re si beau qu'il est comique et laid | D |
L'un agace son bec avec un br le gueule | C |
L'autre mime en boitant l'infirme qui volait | D |
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Le Po te est semblable au prince des nu es | B |
Qui hante la temp te et se rit de l'archer | E |
Exil sur le sol au milieu des hu es | B |
Ses ailes de g ant l'emp chent de marcher | E |
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The Albatross | B |
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Often to amuse themselves the men of a crew | F |
Catch albatrosses those vast sea birds | B |
That indolently follow a ship | G |
As it glides over the deep briny sea | B |
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Scarcely have they placed them on the deck | H |
Than these kings of the sky clumsy ashamed | D |
Pathetically let their great white wings | B |
Drag beside them like oars | B |
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That winged voyager how weak and gauche he is | B |
So beautiful before now comic and ugly | B |
One man worries his beak with a stubby clay pipe | I |
Another limps mimics the cripple who once flew | F |
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The poet resembles this prince of cloud and sky | J |
Who frequents the tempest and laughs at the bowman | K |
When exiled on the earth the butt of hoots and jeers | B |
His giant wings prevent him from walking | L |
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Translated by William Aggeler | F |
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The Albatross | B |
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Sometimes for sport the men of loafing crews | B |
Snare the great albatrosses of the deep | M |
The indolent companions of their cruise | B |
As through the bitter vastitudes they sweep | M |
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Scarce have they fished aboard these airy kings | B |
When helpless on such unaccustomed floors | B |
They piteously droop their huge white wings | B |
And trail them at their sides like drifting oars | B |
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How comical how ugly and how meek | N |
Appears this soarer of celestial snows | B |
One with his pipe teases the golden beak | N |
One limping mocks the cripple as he goes | B |
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The Poet like this monarch of the clouds | B |
Despising archers rides the storm elate | D |
But stranded on the earth to jeering crowds | B |
The great wings of the giant baulk his gait | D |
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Translated by Roy Campbell | C |
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The Albatross | B |
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Sometimes to entertain themselves the men of the crew | F |
Lure upon deck an unlucky albatross one of those vast | D |
Birds of the sea that follow unwearied the voyage through | F |
Flying in slow and elegant circles above the mast | D |
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No sooner have they disentangled him from their nets | B |
Than this aerial colossus shorn of his pride | D |
Goes hobbling pitiably across the planks and lets | B |
His great wings hang like heavy useless oars at his side | D |
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How droll is the poor floundering creature how limp and weak | N |
He but a moment past so lordly flying in state | D |
They tease him One of them tries to stick a pipe in his beak | N |
Another mimics with laughter his odd lurching gait | D |
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The Poet is like that wild inheritor of the cloud | D |
A rider of storms above the range of arrows and slings | B |
Exiled on earth at bay amid the jeering crowd | D |
He cannot walk for his unmanageable wings | B |
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Translated by George Dillon | K |
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Albatrosses | B |
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Often our sailors for an hour of fun | K |
Catch albatrosses on the after breeze | B |
Through which these trail the ship from sun to sun | K |
As it skims down the deep and briny seas | B |
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Scarce have these birds been set upon the poop | O |
Than awkward now they the sky's emperors | B |
Piteous and shamed let their great white wings droop | O |
Beside them like a pair of idle oars | B |
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These wing d voyagers how gauche their gait | D |
Once noble now how ludicrous to view | F |
One sailor bums them with his pipe his mate | D |
Limps mimicking these cripples who once flew | F |
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Poets are like these lords of sky and cloud | D |
Who ride the storm and mock the bow's taut strings | B |
Exiled on earth amid a jeering crowd | D |
Prisoned and palsied by their giant wings | B |
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Translated by Jacques LeClercq | P |
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The Albatross | B |
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Often to amuse themselves the men of the crew | F |
Catch those great birds of the seas the albatrosses | B |
lazy companions of the voyage who follow | C |
The ship that slips through bitter gulfs | B |
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Hardly have they put them on the deck | H |
Than these kings of the skies awkward and ashamed | D |
Piteously let their great white wings | B |
Draggle like oars beside them | Q |
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This winged traveler how weak he becomes and slack | R |
He who of late was so beautiful how comical and ugly | B |
Someone teases his beak with a branding iron | S |
Another mimics limping the crippled flyer | F |
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The Poet is like the prince of the clouds | B |
Haunting the tempest and laughing at the archer | F |
Exiled on earth amongst the shouting people | C |
His giant's wings hinder him from walking | L |
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Translated by Geoffrey Wagner | F |
Charles Baudelaire
(1)
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