La Vie Antérieure (my Earlier Life) Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AAAA ABBA AAA ACC D AABA BEAA FAG AHE C D IAIA AEEA FAA FJJ K D ALAL BEBE MAA NMN O B ABBA ABBA AFA FMM A D AAPA BABA FAA AJJ B A AABQ AKBA AAA AHJ B| J'ai longtemps habit sous de vastes portiques | A |
| Que les soleils marins teignaient de mille feux | A |
| Et que leurs grands piliers droits et majestueux | A |
| Rendaient pareils le soir aux grottes basaltiques | A |
| - | |
| Les houles en roulant les images des cieux | A |
| M laient d'une fa on solennelle et mystique | B |
| Les tout puissants accords de leur riche musique | B |
| Aux couleurs du couchant refl t par mes yeux | A |
| - | |
| C'est l que j'ai v cu dans les volupt s calmes | A |
| Au milieu de l'azur des vagues des splendeurs | A |
| Et des esclaves nus tout impr gn s d'odeurs | A |
| - | |
| Qui me rafra chissaient le front avec des palmes | A |
| Et dont l'unique soin tait d'approfondir | C |
| Le secret douloureux qui me faisait languir | C |
| - | |
| My Former Life | D |
| - | |
| For a long time I dwelt under vast porticos | A |
| Which the ocean suns lit with a thousand colors | A |
| The pillars of which tall straight and majestic | B |
| Made them in the evening like basaltic grottos | A |
| - | |
| The billows which cradled the image of the sky | B |
| Mingled in a solemn mystical way | E |
| The omnipotent chords of their rich harmonies | A |
| With the sunsets' colors reflected in my eyes | A |
| - | |
| It was there that I lived in voluptuous calm | F |
| In splendor between the azure and the sea | A |
| And I was attended by slaves naked perfumed | G |
| - | |
| Who fanned my brow with fronds of palms | A |
| And whose sole task it was to fathom | H |
| The dolorous secret that made me pine away | E |
| - | |
| - | |
| Translated by William Aggeler | C |
| - | |
| Former Life | D |
| - | |
| I've lived beneath huge portals where marine | I |
| Suns coloured with a myriad fires the waves | A |
| At eve majestic pillars made the scene | I |
| Resemble those of vast basaltic caves | A |
| - | |
| The breakers rolling the reflected skies | A |
| Mixed in a solemn enigmatic way | E |
| The powerful symphonies they seem to play | E |
| With colours of the sunset in my eyes | A |
| - | |
| There did I live in a voluptuous calm | F |
| Where breezes waves and splendours roved as vagrants | A |
| And naked slaves impregnated with fragrance | A |
| - | |
| Would fan my forehead with their fronds of palm | F |
| Their only charge was to increase the anguish | J |
| Of secret grief in which I loved to languish | J |
| - | |
| - | |
| Translated by Roy Campbell | K |
| - | |
| My Former Life | D |
| - | |
| I can remember a country of long high colonnades | A |
| Which mirrored in their pale marble the prismatic light | L |
| Cast from the bright sea billows in a thousand shades | A |
| And which resembled a cave of fluted basalt by night | L |
| - | |
| The ocean strewn with sliding images of the sky | B |
| Would mingle in a mysterious and solemn way | E |
| Under the wild brief sunsets its tremendous cry | B |
| With the reflected colors of the ruined day | E |
| - | |
| There did I dwell in quiet luxury apart | M |
| Amid the slowly changing hues of clouds and waves | A |
| And there I was attended by two naked slaves | A |
| - | |
| Who sometimes fanned me with great fronds on either side | N |
| And whose sole task was to let sink into my heart | M |
| The dolorous and beautiful secret of which I died | N |
| - | |
| - | |
| Translated by George Dillon | O |
| - | |
| La Vie ant rieure | B |
| - | |
| aeons I dwelt beneath vast porticoes | A |
| stained by the sun and sea with fiery dye | B |
| whose lordly pillars stark against the sky | B |
| like caverned cliffs in evening's gold arose | A |
| - | |
| the rolling surges and their mirror skies | A |
| blent in a grave mysterious organ air | B |
| the chords all powerful of their music rare | B |
| with sunset's colours in my glowing eyes | A |
| - | |
| 'twas there I lived before 'mid azure waves | A |
| blue skies and splendours in voluptuous calm | F |
| while steeped in every fragrance naked slaves | A |
| - | |
| made cool my brow with waving fronds of palm | F |
| their only care to drive the secret dart | M |
| of my dull sorrow deeper in my heart | M |
| - | |
| - | |
| Translated by Lewis Piaget Shanks | A |
| - | |
| My Earlier Life | D |
| - | |
| I've been home a long time among the vast porticos | A |
| Which the mariner sun has tinged with a million fires | A |
| Whose grandest pillars upright majestic and cold | P |
| Render them the same this evening as caves with basalt spires | A |
| - | |
| The swells' overwhelming accords of rich music | B |
| Heaving images of heaven to the skies | A |
| Mingle in a way solemn and mystic | B |
| With the colors of the horizon reflected by my eyes | A |
| - | |
| It was here I was true to the voluptuous calm | F |
| The milieu of azure the waves the splendors | A |
| And the nude slaves all impregnated with odors | A |
| - | |
| Who refreshed my brow with waving palms | A |
| My only care to bring to meaning from anguish | J |
| The sad secret in which I languish | J |
| - | |
| - | |
| Translated by William A Sigler | B |
| - | |
| Previous Existence | A |
| - | |
| For a long time I lived under vast colonnades | A |
| Stained with a thousand fires by ocean suns | A |
| Whose vast pillars straight and majestic | B |
| Made them seem in the evening like grottos of basalt | Q |
| - | |
| The sea swells in swaying the pictures of the skies | A |
| Mingled solemnly and mystically | K |
| The all powerful harmonies of their rich music | B |
| With the colors of the setting sun reflected by my eyes | A |
| - | |
| It is there that I have lived in calm voluptuousness | A |
| In the center of the blue amidst the waves and splendors | A |
| And the nude slaves heavy with perfumes | A |
| - | |
| Who refreshed my forehead with palm leaves | A |
| Their only care was to fathom | H |
| The dolorous secret that made me languish | J |
| - | |
| - | |
| Translated by Geoffrey Wagner | B |
Charles Baudelaire
(1)
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About La Vie Antérieure (my Earlier Life)
La Vie Antérieure (my Earlier Life) is a poem by Charles Baudelaire. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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