Analysis of The Jewels
Charles Baudelaire 1821 (Paris) – 1867 (Paris)
My well-beloved was stripped. Knowing my whim,
She wore her tinkling gems, but naught besides:
And showed such pride as, while her luck betides,
A sultan's favoured slave may show to him.
When it lets off its lively, crackling sound,
This blazing blend of metal crossed with stone,
Gives me an ecstasy I've only known
Where league of sound and luster can be found.
She let herself be loved: then, drowsy-eyed,
Smiled down from her high couch in languid ease.
My love was deep and gentle as the seas
And rose to her as to a cliff the tide.
My own approval of each dreamy pose,
Like a tamed tiger, cunningly she sighted:
And candour, with lubricity united,
Gave piquancy to every one she chose.
Her limbs and hips, burnished with changing lustres,
Before my eyes clairvoyant and serene,
Swanned themselves, undulating in their sheen;
Her breasts and belly, of my vine and clusters,
Like evil angels rose, my fancy twitting,
To kill the peace which over me she'd thrown,
And to disturb her from the crystal throne
Where, calm and solitary, she was sitting.
So swerved her pelvis that, in one design,
Antiope's white rump it seemed to graft
To a boy's torso, merging fore and aft.
The talc on her brown tan seemed half-divine.
The lamp resigned its dying flame. Within,
The hearth alone lit up the darkened air,
And every time it sighed a crimson flare
It drowned in blood that amber-coloured skin.
Scheme | ABBA CDDC EFFE GHHG BIIX JDDJ KLLK MNNM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 1101111011 11010011101 011111011 010111111 1111110101 1101110111 1111001101 1111010111 1101111101 1110110101 1111010101 0110110101 1101011101 101101110 0111010 111100111 0101101101 0111010001 101100011 01010111010 1101011101 1101110111 0101010101 1101001110 1101010101 1111111 101110101 0110111101 0101110101 0101110101 01001110101 1101110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,371 |
Words | 248 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 137 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 31 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 27, 2023
- 1:15 min read
- 103 Views
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"The Jewels" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/5023/the-jewels>.
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