The Possessed One
The sun is enveloped in crape! like it,O Moon of my Life! wrap thyself up in shade;At will, smoke or slumber, be silent, be staid,And dive deep down in Dispassion's dark pit.
I cherish thee thus! But if 'tis thy mood,Like a star that from out its penumbra appears,To float in the regions where madness careers,Fair dagger! burst forth from thy sheath! 'tis good.
Yea, light up thine eyes at the Fire of Renown!Or kindle desire by the looks of some clown!Thine All is my joy, whether dull or aflame!
Just be what thou wilt, black night, dawn divine,There is not a nerve in my trembling frameBut cries, "I adore thee, Beelzebub mine!"
Words in this poem
- penumbra n.
- An incomplete or partial shadow. [NL., fr. L. paene almost + umbra shade.]
- aflame adv.
- Inflames; glowing with light or passion; ablaze. G. Eliot. [Pref. a- + flame.]
- adore v. t.
- To worship with profound reverence; to pay divine honors to; to honor as deity or as divine. [OE. aouren, anouren, adoren, OF. aorer, adorer, F. adorer, fr. L. adorare; ad + orare to speak, pray, os, oris, mouth. In OE. confused with honor, the French pr]
- beelzebub n.
- The title of a heathen deity to whom the Jews ascribed the sovereignty of the evil spirits; hence, the Devil or a devil. See Baal.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Possessed One 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 Possessed One, in The Flowers of Evil (1909), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36098, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/baudelaire-flowers-of-evil/the-possessed-one.html, id L25412.
Form and metre
The Possessed One is 14 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).
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 ABBA itA · shadeB · staidB · pitA
- 2 -AA- mood · appearsA · careersA · good
- 3 AA- renownA · clownA · aflame
- 4 A-A divineA · frame · mineA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The sun is enveloped in crape! like it, | 11 | ···˘/˘˘···· |
| O Moon of my Life! wrap thyself up in shade; | 11 | ······˘/··· |
| At will, smoke or slumber, be silent, be staid, | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
| And dive deep down in Dispassion's dark pit. | 10 | ·········· |
| I cherish thee thus! But if 'tis thy mood, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Like a star that from out its penumbra appears, | 12 | ·······˘/˘˘/ |
| To float in the regions where madness careers, | 11 | ····/˘·/˘˘/ |
| Fair dagger! burst forth from thy sheath! 'tis good. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Yea, light up thine eyes at the Fire of Renown! | 11 | ·······/·˘/ |
| Or kindle desire by the looks of some clown! | 11 | ·/˘˘/······ |
| Thine All is my joy, whether dull or aflame! | 11 | ·········˘/ |
| Just be what thou wilt, black night, dawn divine, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| There is not a nerve in my trembling frame | 11 | ·······/˘˘· |
| But cries, "I adore thee, Beelzebub mine!" | 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.