Invitation to a Journey
My sister, my dearConsider how fair,Together to live it would be!Down yonder to flyTo love, till we die,In the land which resembles thee.Those suns that rise'Neath erratic skies,--No charm could be like unto theirs--So strange and divine,Like those eyes of thineWhich glow in the midst of their tears.
There, all is order and loveliness,Luxury, calm and voluptuousness.
The tables and chairs,Polished bright by the years,Would decorate sweetly our rooms,And the rarest of flowersWould twine round our bowersAnd mingle their amber perfumes:The ceilings arrayed,And the mirrors inlaid,This Eastern splendour among,Would furtively stealO'er our souls, and appealWith its tranquillous native tongue.
There, all is order and loveliness,Luxury, calm and voluptuousness.
In the harbours, peep,At the vessels asleep(Their humour is always to roam),Yet it is but to grantThy smallest wantFrom the ends of the earth that they come,The sunsets beamUpon meadow and stream,And upon the city entire'Neath a violet crest,The world sinks to rest,Illumed by a golden fire.
There, all is order and loveliness,Luxury, calm and voluptuousness.
You are a roseate autumn-sky, that glows!Yet sadness rises in me like the flood,And leaves in ebbing on my lips morose,The poignant memory of its bitter mind.
In vain your hands my swooning breast embrace,Oh, friend! alone remains the plundered spot,Where woman's biting grip has left its trace:My heart, the beasts devoured--seek it not!
My heart is a palace pillaged by the herd;They kill and take each other by the throat!A perfume glides around your bosom bared--
O loveliness, thou scourge of souls--devoteThine eyes of fire--luminous-like feasts,To burn these rags--rejected by the beasts!
Words in this poem
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
- erratic a.
- Having no certain course; roving about without a fixed destination; wandering; moving; -- hence, applied to the planets as distinguished from the fixed stars. [L. erraticus, fr. errare to wander: cf. F. erratique. See Err.]
- loveliness n.
- The state or quality of being lovely. [From Lovely.]
- splendour n.
- Great brightness; brilliant luster; brilliancy; as, the splendor ot the sun. B. Jonson. [L. fr. splendere to shine: cf. F. splendeur.]
- furtively adv.
- Stealthily by theft. Lover.
- humour n.
- Moisture, especially, the moisture or fluid of animal bodies, as the chyle, lymph, etc.; as, the humors of the eye, etc. [OE. humour, OF. humor, umor, F. humeur, L. humor, umor, moisture, fluid, fr. humere, umere, to be moist. See Humid.]
- roseate a.
- Full of roses; rosy; as, roseate bowers. [Cf. L. roseus, rosatus, prepared from roses. See Roseal, Rose.]
- sadness n.
- Heaviness; firmness.
- poignant a.
- Pricking; piercing; sharp; pungent. [F., p. pr. of poindre to sting, fr. L. pungere to prick, sting. See Pungent.]
- scourge n.
- A lash; a strap or cord; especially, a lash used to inflict pain or punishment; an instrument of punishment or discipline; a whip. [F. escourgée, fr. L. excoriata (sc. scutica) a stripped off (lash or whip), fr. excoriate to strip, to skin. See Excoriate.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Invitation to a Journey 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, Invitation to a Journey, in The Flowers of Evil (1909), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36098, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/baudelaire-flowers-of-evil/invitation-to-a-journey.html, id L25420.
Form and metre
Invitation to a Journey is 56 lines in 10 stanzas.
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 AABCCBDDEFFE dearA · fairA · beB · flyC · dieC · theeB · riseD · skiesD · theirsE · divineF · thineF · tearsE
- 2 AA lovelinessA · voluptuousnessA
- 3 --ABBACCDEED chairs · years · roomsA · flowersB · bowersB · perfumesA · arrayedC · inlaidC · amongD · stealE · appealE · tongueD
- 4 AA lovelinessA · voluptuousnessA
- 5 AAB--BCCDEED peepA · asleepA · roamB · grant · want · comeB · beamC · streamC · entireD · crestE · restE · fireD
- 6 AA lovelinessA · voluptuousnessA
- 8 ABAB embraceA · spotB · traceA · notB
- 10 -AA devote · feastsA · beastsA
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| My sister, my dear | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Consider how fair, | 5 | ˘/˘·· |
| Together to live it would be! | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| Down yonder to fly | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| To love, till we die, | 5 | ····· |
| In the land which resembles thee. | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Those suns that rise | 4 | ···· |
| 'Neath erratic skies, | 5 | ·˘/˘· |
| --No charm could be like unto theirs-- | 8 | ········ |
| So strange and divine, | 5 | ···˘/ |
| Like those eyes of thine | 5 | ····· |
| Which glow in the midst of their tears. | 8 | ········ |
| There, all is order and loveliness, | 9 | ···/˘·/˘˘ |
| Luxury, calm and voluptuousness. | 9 | /˘˘······ |
| The tables and chairs, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Polished bright by the years, | 6 | /˘···· |
| Would decorate sweetly our rooms, | 9 | ·/˘·/˘/˘· |
| And the rarest of flowers | 7 | ··/˘·/˘ |
| Would twine round our bowers | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| And mingle their amber perfumes: | 8 | ·/˘·/˘˘/ |
| The ceilings arrayed, | 5 | ·/˘˘/ |
| And the mirrors inlaid, | 6 | ··/˘/· |
| This Eastern splendour among, | 7 | ·/˘/˘·· |
| Would furtively steal | 5 | ·/˘˘· |
| O'er our souls, and appeal | 7 | ·/˘··˘/ |
| With its tranquillous native tongue. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| There, all is order and loveliness, | 9 | ···/˘·/˘˘ |
| Luxury, calm and voluptuousness. | 9 | /˘˘······ |
| In the harbours, peep, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| At the vessels asleep | 6 | ··/˘˘/ |
| (Their humour is always to roam), | 8 | ·/˘·/··· |
| Yet it is but to grant | 6 | ······ |
| Thy smallest want | 4 | ·/˘· |
| From the ends of the earth that they come, | 9 | ········· |
| The sunsets beam | 4 | ·/·· |
| Upon meadow and stream, | 6 | ··/··· |
| And upon the city entire | 9 | ····/˘˘/˘ |
| 'Neath a violet crest, | 6 | ··/˘˘· |
| The world sinks to rest, | 5 | ····· |
| Illumed by a golden fire. | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| There, all is order and loveliness, | 9 | ···/˘·/˘˘ |
| Luxury, calm and voluptuousness. | 9 | /˘˘······ |
| You are a roseate autumn-sky, that glows! | 11 | ···/˘˘/˘··· |
| Yet sadness rises in me like the flood, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| And leaves in ebbing on my lips morose, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| The poignant memory of its bitter mind. | 11 | ·/˘/˘˘··/˘· |
| In vain your hands my swooning breast embrace, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Oh, friend! alone remains the plundered spot, | 10 | ··˘/˘/·/˘· |
| Where woman's biting grip has left its trace: | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| My heart, the beasts devoured--seek it not! | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| My heart is a palace pillaged by the herd; | 11 | ····/˘/˘··· |
| They kill and take each other by the throat! | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| A perfume glides around your bosom bared-- | 10 | ·˘/····/˘· |
| O loveliness, thou scourge of souls--devote | 10 | ·/˘˘····˘/ |
| Thine eyes of fire--luminous-like feasts, | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘·· |
| To burn these rags--rejected by the beasts! | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
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.