Hymn to Beauty
O Beauty! dost thou generate from Heaven or from Hell?Within thy glance, so diabolic and divine,Confusedly both wickedness and goodness dwell,And hence one might compare thee unto sparkling wine.
Thy look containeth both the dawn and sunset stars,Thy perfumes, as upon a sultry night exhale,Thy kiss a philter, and thy mouth a Grecian vase,That renders heroes cowardly and infants hale.
Yea, art thou from the planets, or the fiery womb?The demon follows in thy train, with magic fraught,Thou scatter'st seeds haphazardly of joy and doom,Thou govern'st everything, but answer'st unto nought.
O Loveliness! thou spurnest corpses with delight,Among thy jewels, Horror hath such charms for thee,And Murder 'mid thy mostly cherished trinklets bright,Upon thy massive bosom dances amorously.
The blinded, fluttering moth towards the candle flies,Then frizzles, falls, and falters--"Blessings unto thee"--The panting swain that o'er his beauteous mistress sighs,Seems like the Sick, that stroke their gravestones lovingly.
What matter, if thou comest from the Heavens or Hell,O Beauty, frightful ghoul, ingenuous and obscure!So long thine eyes, thy smile, to me the way can tellTowards that Infinite I love, but never saw.
From God or Satan? Angel, Mermaid, Proserpine?What matter if thou makest--blithe, voluptuous sprite--With rhythms, perfumes, visions--O mine only queen!--The universe less hideous and the hours less trite.
Words in this poem
- diabolic a.
- Pertaining to the devil; resembling, or appropriate, or appropriate to, the devil; devilish; infernal; impious; atrocious; nefarious; outrageously wicked; as, a diabolic or diabolical temper or act. [L. diabolicus, Gr. diabolique. See Devil.]
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- philter n.
- A potion or charm intended to excite the passion of love.
- womb n.
- The belly; the abdomen. [OE. wombe, wambe, AS. wamb, womb; akin to D. wam belly, OS. & OHG. wamba, G. wamme, wampe, Icel. vömb, Sw. v&mb, Dan. vom, Goth. wamba.]
- fraught n.
- A freight; a cargo. [OE.fraight, fraght; akin to Dan. fragt, Sw. frakt, D. vracht, G. fracht, cf. OHG. fr merit, reward; perh. from corresponding to E. for + The root of E. own. Cf.]
- loveliness n.
- The state or quality of being lovely. [From Lovely.]
- amorously adv.
- In an amorous manner; fondly.
- beauteous a.
- Full of beauty; beautiful; very handsome. [Mostly poetic] -- Beau"te*ous*ly, adv. --
- lovingly adv.
- With love; affectionately.
- frightful a.
- Full of fright; affrighted; frightened.
- ghoul n.
- An imaginary evil being among Eastern nations, which was supposed to feed upon human bodies. Moore. [Per. gh an imaginary sylvan demon, supposed to devour men and animals: cf. Ar. gh, F. goule.]
- ingenuous a.
- Of honorable extraction; freeborn; noble; as, ingenuous blood of birth. [L. ingenuus inborn, innate, freeborn, noble, frank; pref. in- in + the root of gignere to beget. See Genius, and cf. Ingenious.]
- mermaid n.
- A fabled marine creature, typically represented as having the upper part like that of a woman, and the lower like a fish; a sea nymph, sea woman, or woman fish. [AS. mere lake, sea. See Mere lake, and maid.]
- sprite n.
- A spirit; a soul; a shade; also, an apparition. See Spright. [OE. sprit, F. esprit, fr. L. spiritus. See Spirit, and cf. Sprightly.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Hymn to Beauty 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, Hymn to Beauty, in The Flowers of Evil (1909), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36098, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/baudelaire-flowers-of-evil/hymn-to-beauty.html, id L25406.
Form and metre
Hymn to Beauty is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABAB, in 2 of the 7 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is alexandrines, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
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 hellA · divineB · dwellA · wineB
- 2 -A-A stars · exhaleA · vase · haleA
- 3 ABAB wombA · fraughtB · doomA · noughtB
- 4 A-A- delightA · thee · brightA · amorously
- 5 A-A- fliesA · thee · sighsA · lovingly
- 6 A-A- hellA · obscure · tellA · saw
- 7 -A-A proserpine · spriteA · queen · triteA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| O Beauty! dost thou generate from Heaven or from Hell? | 13 | ·/˘··/˘··/··· |
| Within thy glance, so diabolic and divine, | 11 | ·········˘/ |
| Confusedly both wickedness and goodness dwell, | 12 | ˘/˘˘·/˘˘·/˘· |
| And hence one might compare thee unto sparkling wine. | 12 | ····˘/···/˘· |
| Thy look containeth both the dawn and sunset stars, | 12 | ··˘/˘····/·· |
| Thy perfumes, as upon a sultry night exhale, | 12 | ·˘/····/˘·˘/ |
| Thy kiss a philter, and thy mouth a Grecian vase, | 12 | ···/˘····/˘· |
| That renders heroes cowardly and infants hale. | 12 | ·/˘/˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| Yea, art thou from the planets, or the fiery womb? | 12 | ·····/˘··/˘· |
| The demon follows in thy train, with magic fraught, | 12 | ·/˘/˘····/˘· |
| Thou scatter'st seeds haphazardly of joy and doom, | 12 | ····/˘˘˘···· |
| Thou govern'st everything, but answer'st unto nought. | 12 | ···/˘······· |
| O Loveliness! thou spurnest corpses with delight, | 12 | ·/˘˘·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Among thy jewels, Horror hath such charms for thee, | 12 | ···/˘/˘····· |
| And Murder 'mid thy mostly cherished trinklets bright, | 12 | ·/˘··/˘/˘··· |
| Upon thy massive bosom dances amorously. | 13 | ···/˘/˘/˘/˘˘˘ |
| The blinded, fluttering moth towards the candle flies, | 12 | ·/˘/˘˘···/˘· |
| Then frizzles, falls, and falters--"Blessings unto thee"-- | 11 | ····/˘/˘··· |
| The panting swain that o'er his beauteous mistress sighs, | 13 | ·/˘····/˘˘/˘· |
| Seems like the Sick, that stroke their gravestones lovingly. | 12 | ·······/·/˘˘ |
| What matter, if thou comest from the Heavens or Hell, | 13 | ·/˘······/˘·· |
| O Beauty, frightful ghoul, ingenuous and obscure! | 12 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘·˘/ |
| So long thine eyes, thy smile, to me the way can tell | 12 | ············ |
| Towards that Infinite I love, but never saw. | 12 | ···/˘˘···/˘· |
| From God or Satan? Angel, Mermaid, Proserpine? | 12 | ···/˘/˘/···· |
| What matter if thou makest--blithe, voluptuous sprite-- | 12 | ·/˘·····˘/˘· |
| With rhythms, perfumes, visions--O mine only queen!-- | 12 | ·/˘˘//˘··/˘· |
| The universe less hideous and the hours less trite. | 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.