Autumn Song II
I love within your oblong eyes the verdant rays,My sweet! but bitter everything to-day meseems:And nought--your love, the boudoir, nor the flickering blaze,Can replace the sun that o'er the screen streams.
And yet bemother and caress me, tender heart!Even me the thankless and the worthless one;Beloved or sister--unto me the sweets impartOf a glorious autumn or a sinking sun.
Ephemeral task! the beckoning the beckoning empty tomb is set!Oh grant me--as upon your knees my head I lay,(Because the white and torrid summer I regret),To taste the parted season's mild and amber ray.
Words in this poem
- meseems v.
- It seems to me.
- boudoir n.
- A small room, esp. if pleasant, or elegantly furnished, to which a lady may retire to be alone, or to receive intimate friends; a lady's (or sometimes a gentleman's) private room.
- caress n.
- An act of endearment; any act or expression of affection; an embracing, or touching, with tenderness. [F. caresse, It. carezza, LL. caritia dearness, fr. L. carus dear. See Charity.]
- thankless a.
- Not acknowledging favors; not expressing thankfulness; unthankful; ungrateful.
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Autumn Song II is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Flowers of Evil, Project Gutenberg ebook #36098; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Charles Baudelaire, Autumn Song II, in The Flowers of Evil (1909), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36098, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/baudelaire-flowers-of-evil/autumn-song-ii.html, id L25422.
Form and metre
Autumn Song II is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is alexandrines, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%).
See other poems in alexandrines.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABAB raysA · meseemsB · blazeA · streamsB
- 2 ABAB heartA · oneB · impartA · sunB
- 3 ABAB setA · layB · regretA · rayB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against alexandrines. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I love within your oblong eyes the verdant rays, | 12 | ·····/˘··/˘· |
| My sweet! but bitter everything to-day meseems: | 12 | ···/˘/˘···˘/ |
| And nought--your love, the boudoir, nor the flickering blaze, | 12 | ·····/···/˘· |
| Can replace the sun that o'er the screen streams. | 10 | ··/······· |
| And yet bemother and caress me, tender heart! | 12 | ······˘/·/˘· |
| Even me the thankless and the worthless one; | 11 | /˘··/˘··/˘· |
| Beloved or sister--unto me the sweets impart | 12 | ˘/·/˘·····˘/ |
| Of a glorious autumn or a sinking sun. | 12 | ··/˘˘/˘··/˘· |
| Ephemeral task! the beckoning the beckoning empty tomb is set! | 15 | ˘/˘··/˘·/˘/˘··· |
| Oh grant me--as upon your knees my head I lay, | 12 | ············ |
| (Because the white and torrid summer I regret), | 12 | ·····/˘/˘·˘/ |
| To taste the parted season's mild and amber ray. | 12 | ···/˘/˘··/˘· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.