The Evil Monk
The cloisters old, expounded on their wallsWith paintings, the Beatic Verity,The which--adorning their religious halls,Enriched the frigidness of their Austerity.
In days when Christian seeds bloomed o'er the land,Full many a noble monk unknown to-day,Upon the field of tombs would take his stand,Exalting Death in rude and simple way.
My soul is a tomb where--bad monk that I be--I dwell and search its depths from all eternity,And nought bedecks the walls of the odious spot.
Oh sluggard monk! when shall I glean arightFrom the living spectacle of my bitter lot,To mold my handywork and mine eyes' Delight?
Words in this poem
- verity n.
- The quality or state of being true, or real; consonance of a statement, proposition, or other thing, with fact; truth; reality. [F. vérité, L. veritas, fr. verus true. See Very.]
- frigidness n.
- The state of being frigid; want of heat, vigor, or affection; coldness; dullness.
- austerity n.
- Sourness and harshness to the taste. Horsley. [F. austérité, L. austerias, fr. austerus. See Austere.]
- 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]
- sluggard n.
- A person habitually lazy, idle, and inactive; a drone. [Slug + -ard.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- glean n.
- Cleaning; afterbirth. Holland.
- aright adv.
- Rightly; correctly; in a right way or form; without mistake or crime; as, to worship God aright. [Pref. a- + right.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Evil Monk 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, The Evil Monk, in The Flowers of Evil (1909), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36098, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/baudelaire-flowers-of-evil/the-evil-monk.html, id L25398.
Form and metre
The Evil Monk 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 84%).
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 wallsA · verityB · hallsA · austerityB
- 2 ABAB landA · dayB · standA · wayB
- 4 A-A arightA · lot · delightA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The cloisters old, expounded on their walls | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| With paintings, the Beatic Verity, | 9 | ·/˘···/˘˘ |
| The which--adorning their religious halls, | 10 | ··˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| Enriched the frigidness of their Austerity. | 11 | ˘/·/˘˘···/˘ |
| In days when Christian seeds bloomed o'er the land, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Full many a noble monk unknown to-day, | 10 | ·/·/˘·˘/·· |
| Upon the field of tombs would take his stand, | 10 | ·········· |
| Exalting Death in rude and simple way. | 10 | ˘/˘····/˘· |
| My soul is a tomb where--bad monk that I be-- | 11 | ··········· |
| I dwell and search its depths from all eternity, | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| And nought bedecks the walls of the odious spot. | 11 | ··˘/····/˘· |
| Oh sluggard monk! when shall I glean aright | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| From the living spectacle of my bitter lot, | 11 | ··/˘/˘··/˘· |
| To mold my handywork and mine eyes' Delight? | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
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