Sadness of the Moon-Goddess
To-night the Moon dreams with increased weariness,Like a beauty stretched forth on a downy heapOf rugs, while her languorous fingers caressThe contour of her breasts, before falling to sleep.
On the satin back of the avalanche soft,She falls into lingering swoons, as she dies,While she lifteth her eyes to white visions aloft,Which like efflorescence float up to the skies.
When at times, in her languor, down on to this sphere,She slyly lets trickle a furtive tear,A poet, desiring slumber to shun,
Takes up this pale tear in the palm of his hand(The colours of which like an opal blend),And buries it far from the eyes of the sun.
Words in this poem
- languorous a.
- Producing, or tending to produce, languor; characterized by languor. [From Languor: cf. F. langoureux.]
- 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.]
- avalanche n.
- A large mass or body of snow and ice sliding swiftly down a mountain side, or falling down a precipice. [F. avalanche, fr. avaler to descend, to let down, from aval down, downward; ad) + val, L. vallis, valley. See Valley.]
- furtive a.
- Stolen; obtained or characterized by stealth; sly; secret; stealthy; as, a furtive look. Prior. [L. furtivus, fr. furtum theft, fr. fur thief, akin to ferre to bear: cf. F. furtif. See Fertile.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sadness of the Moon-Goddess 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, Sadness of the Moon-Goddess, in The Flowers of Evil (1909), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36098, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/baudelaire-flowers-of-evil/sadness-of-the-moon-goddess.html, id L25427.
Form and metre
Sadness of the Moon-Goddess is 14 lines in 4 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in anapaestic tetrameter.
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 wearinessA · heapB · caressA · sleepB
- 2 ABAB softA · diesB · aloftA · skiesB
- 3 AA- sphereA · tearA · shun
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 anapaestic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| To-night the Moon dreams with increased weariness, | 11 | ······/·/˘˘ |
| Like a beauty stretched forth on a downy heap | 11 | ··/˘····/˘· |
| Of rugs, while her languorous fingers caress | 11 | ····/˘˘/˘˘/ |
| The contour of her breasts, before falling to sleep. | 12 | ·/······/˘·· |
| On the satin back of the avalanche soft, | 11 | ··/˘···/˘·· |
| She falls into lingering swoons, as she dies, | 11 | ····/˘˘···· |
| While she lifteth her eyes to white visions aloft, | 12 | ··/˘····/˘˘/ |
| Which like efflorescence float up to the skies. | 11 | ··········· |
| When at times, in her languor, down on to this sphere, | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| She slyly lets trickle a furtive tear, | 10 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘· |
| A poet, desiring slumber to shun, | 11 | ·/˘˘/˘˘/˘·· |
| Takes up this pale tear in the palm of his hand | 11 | ··········· |
| (The colours of which like an opal blend), | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And buries it far from the eyes of the sun. | 11 | ·/˘········ |
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.