Translator's Notes

Any poetic translation is typically a compromise. In translating these works of Baudelaire, I have tried to preserve as much as possible the mood and the language of the originals, at the expense of rhyme and usually metre as well. The intention is not to try to reproduce the poem in English, but rather to provide an interpretation of it for readers who are not familiar with French. They should probably be considered as glosses, rather than true translations. At the same time, I have sometimes deviated from a strict word-for-word translation in order to make the result read more easily in English, or to recapture some rhyme or metre where I could do so without hurting the sense of the poem.

These are thus far from being authoritative translations. You may prefer some of the other translations available on the Internet.

Notes

Erebus

In Greek mythology, Erebus was the mysterious darkness encountered by the dead on their way down into Hades. Erebus was also personified as the son of Chaos, whose incestuous mating with his sister Nyx (Night) gave rise to Air (Aether) and Day.

Trismegistus

As Hermes Trismegistus ("thrice-great"), the Greek god Hermes (identified also with the Egyptian god of Wisdom, Thoth) was a central figure for mediaeval alchemists. The Hermetic writings attributed to Hermes formed the basis for many of the alchemists' practices and beliefs. In "Au lecteur", Baudelaire transfers the attribute 'thrice-great' and the association with alchemy from Hermes to the Devil, Satan.

Lethe

One of the five rivers of Hades (Hell) - the others were Acheron, Styx, Cocytus and Phlegethon - Lethe was the river of forgetting where dead souls drank to forget their earthly sorrows.

Jeanne Duval

Baudelaire's 'Black Venus', Jeanne Duval was a mulatto actress who was Baudelaire's lover and his inspiration for much of his life.

Faust

A scientist or magician who, in Marlowe's play "Dr Faustus", Goethe's poem "Faust" and Gounod's opera "Faust", sells his soul to the Devil in exchange for knowledge and power.

Styx

A river in Hades (see also Lethe) across which the dead were carried by the ferryman Charon.

Megaera

One of the Erinnyes or Furies (the others were Alecto and Tisiphone). The Furies were ugly, bat-winged goddesses of vengeance, whose role was to punish evil-doers whose crimes had escaped detection.

Persephone

Daughter of the corn goddess Demeter (or Ceres), Persephone (also Kore, Proserpina) was abducted by the god Hades, ruler of the underworld. She was rescued by her mother, but because she had eaten one pomegranate seed while in the underworld, she was obliged to return for four months of every year.