The Set of the Romantic Sun
How beauteous the sun as it rises supreme,Like an explosion that greets us from above,Oh, happy is he that can hail with love,Its decline, more glorious far, than a dream.
I saw flower, furrow, and brook.... I recallHow they swooned like a tremulous heart 'neath the sun,Let us haste to the sky-line, 'tis late, let us run,At least to catch one slanting ray ere it fall.
But the god, who eludes me, I chase all in vain,The night, irresistible, plants its domain,Black mists and vague shivers of death it forbodes;
While an odour of graves through the darkness spreads,And on the swamp's margin, my timid foot treadsUpon slimy snails, and on unseen toads.
Words in this poem
- beauteous a.
- Full of beauty; beautiful; very handsome. [Mostly poetic] -- Beau"te*ous*ly, adv. --
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
- odour n.
- Any smell, whether fragrant or offensive; scent; perfume. [OE. odor, odour, OF. odor, odour, F. odeur, fr. L. odor; akin to olere to smell, Gr. Olfactory, Osmium, Ozone, Redolent.]
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Set of the Romantic Sun 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 Set of the Romantic Sun, in The Flowers of Evil (1909), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36098, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/baudelaire-flowers-of-evil/the-set-of-the-romantic-sun.html, id L25438.
Form and metre
The Set of the Romantic Sun is 14 lines in 4 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABBA, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%).
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 supremeA · aboveB · loveB · dreamA
- 2 ABBA recallA · sunB · runB · fallA
- 3 AA- vainA · domainA · forbodes
- 4 AA- spreadsA · treadsA · toads
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 |
|---|---|---|
| How beauteous the sun as it rises supreme, | 12 | ·/˘˘····/˘˘/ |
| Like an explosion that greets us from above, | 11 | ··˘/˘······ |
| Oh, happy is he that can hail with love, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Its decline, more glorious far, than a dream. | 11 | ·˘/·/˘˘···· |
| I saw flower, furrow, and brook.... I recall | 11 | ··/˘/˘···˘/ |
| How they swooned like a tremulous heart 'neath the sun, | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| Let us haste to the sky-line, 'tis late, let us run, | 12 | ············ |
| At least to catch one slanting ray ere it fall. | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| But the god, who eludes me, I chase all in vain, | 12 | ····˘/······ |
| The night, irresistible, plants its domain, | 11 | ···˘/˘˘··˘/ |
| Black mists and vague shivers of death it forbodes; | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| While an odour of graves through the darkness spreads, | 11 | ··/˘····/˘· |
| And on the swamp's margin, my timid foot treads | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
| Upon slimy snails, and on unseen toads. | 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.