Sonnet XXVIII
With pearly robes that wave within the wind,Even when she walks, she seems to dance,Like swaying serpents round those wands entwinedWhich fakirs ware in rhythmic elegance.
So like the desert's Blue, and the sands remote,Both, deaf to mortal suffering and to strife,Or like the sea-weeds 'neath the waves that float,Indifferently she moulds her budding life.
Her polished eyes are made of minerals bright,And in her mien, symbolical and cold,Wherein an angel mingles with a sphinx of old,
Where all is gold, and steel, and gems, and light,There shines, just like a useless star eternally,The sterile woman's frigid majesty.
Words in this poem
- rhythmic a.
- Pertaining to, or of the nature of, rhythm DAy and night I worked my rhythmic thought. Mrs. Browning. [Gr. rhythmicus, F. rhythmique.]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- indifferently adv.
- In an indifferent manner; without distinction or preference; impartially; without concern, wish, affection, or aversion; tolerably; passably.
- eternally adv.
- In an eternal manner.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet XXVIII 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, Sonnet XXVIII, in The Flowers of Evil (1909), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36098, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/baudelaire-flowers-of-evil/sonnet-xxviii.html, id L25409.
Form and metre
Sonnet XXVIII is 14 lines in 4 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 windA · danceB · entwinedA · eleganceB
- 2 ABAB remoteA · strifeB · floatA · lifeB
- 3 -AA bright · coldA · oldA
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 iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| With pearly robes that wave within the wind, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Even when she walks, she seems to dance, | 9 | /˘······· |
| Like swaying serpents round those wands entwined | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| Which fakirs ware in rhythmic elegance. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| So like the desert's Blue, and the sands remote, | 11 | ···˘/····˘/ |
| Both, deaf to mortal suffering and to strife, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Or like the sea-weeds 'neath the waves that float, | 10 | ·········· |
| Indifferently she moulds her budding life. | 11 | ˘/˘˘˘···/˘· |
| Her polished eyes are made of minerals bright, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And in her mien, symbolical and cold, | 10 | ·········· |
| Wherein an angel mingles with a sphinx of old, | 12 | ···/˘/˘····· |
| Where all is gold, and steel, and gems, and light, | 10 | ·········· |
| There shines, just like a useless star eternally, | 11 | ·····/˘·˘/˘ |
| The sterile woman's frigid majesty. | 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.