Blog Entry 3: The Ghost Interpretation

Charles Baudelaire, the earliest and finest poet of modernism in French. Although Baudelaire was the finest poet in the 18 centuries, he was not a great influence. As a student, he was addicted to opium and contracted syphilis which got him expelled from law school. Then his spending on exquisite clothing and furnishings led to his lifelong debt that followed him to his grave. He fell in love with a woman of mixed race who became his mistress and inspiration of poem such as "Black Venus" and this poem "The Ghost" as well.  His poem, “The Ghost” was the one that stand out to me in contrast of other supernatural poems. When I first read the poem, I felt a cold breeze in the room. The poem was not very easy to understand because after only reading it once, I felt like it was about an image and actions of a ghost. But after reading the poem multiple times, words started standing out to describe the thought of the poet. Not a lot of poems can give you the whole image of the story and “The Ghost” is one poem that not only gives you the image but the sensation as well.

Baudelaire’s poem describes the actions of himself being the ghost trying to haunt someone beloved but hates at the same time. The first stanza, Baudelaire starts with “Softly as brown-eyed Angels rove” as if the poet is trying to be as quiet as possible using the word “softly”. When a person wants to be "soft" or "gentle" to someone, it must be a person of importance, and in this case someone Baudelaire was loving. Again, Baudelaire uses "Angels" instead of something else to represent himself is because of the appearance or actions of an angel. Often times, we imagine angels with a very gentle yet elegant look with light eyes. In this poem their eyes are replaced with the color brown which is much darker and gives us a stressful feeling; almost like looking at a beast. Angels symbolizes holy beings, which can cast away evil, giving protection to the mortal. What the poet is trying to express is his love towards the person he cannot love, but yet protects. Baudelaire continues the poem as “the ghost” itself, I assume that he is returning somewhere and maybe stalking his mistress. “Alcove” meaning a bedchamber or compartment, and when we think about a bedroom, the first thought would be sleep. When Baudelaire puts a bedroom into the poem where the ghost would return, he suggest to the reader that the only time he can meet with his mistress is at night. When I think of night while reading this poem, it seems to be very cold, dark, and dangerous. My interpretation of Baudelaire meeting his mistress at night is not for the romance but for the protection that he is giving her. The third line, “Treading the shadows silently” meant walking with the shadows silently. When we think of shadows, it’s always going to be dark and scary as well as our own reflection, but the define meaning also contains protection. My thoughts on this line is that Baudelaire is not there by his lover's side and cannot be there in person but in a shadow that follows her through the dangerous night.

The second stanza consist the words “my own”, “kisses”, “icy as the moon”, “caresses of a snake”, and “thorny brake”. These words all reflect two things, love and hate. The words “my own” meaning part of him, and part of a ghost normally resembles cold, dark, even death. When he wanted to give part of him to the person, then that person must meant a lot to him because he wanted to drag the person into the cold dark world he’s in. When you kiss someone, it normally meant passion and love, but in Baudelaire’s poem a kiss is as icy as the moon. He compares it to the moon because it is usually used in love stories where romantic scenes happen with lovers. Again we see another aspect of loving and protection with “caresses of a snake”. When we think of snake, we think of its venom as well as its strength to strangle someone, but that's only to protect itself from getting hurt. Baudelaire uses the word “caresses” as if symbolizing how he wanted to love but cannot because of a certain boundary in his and her life. The words “thorny brake”, in my words means a painful stop which his love results in, but he cannot stop his pain from reoccurring by "haunting" his lover.

The third stanza might as well reflect how a lover is leaving another when the sun rises, but will always come back by night. In ancient times, ghost are normally scared away by the sun’s light and energy, so Baudelaire uses it in the third stanza “And when returns the livid morn” to symbolize his warmth and energy towards his mistress. Continuing with “Thou shalt find all my place forlorn” meaning his warmth is gone after the sun’s light and energy seize his place, which might be a third person (or lover). Then the sentence continues with “And chilly, till the falling night.” Meaning his place in the person’s heart is nothing until their time at night. What I think Baudelaire is doing with this poem is not just about ghost but about his love for someone that does not understand or accept his passion.

The last stanza is like the starting of the first stanza making the poem very repetitive. The last stanza I assume, describes how the lover of Baudelaire had fool many men into her trap and Baudelaire was one as well, so he decided to scare away other men who are after her. His first sentence of the last stanza, “Others would rule by tenderness” signifies the love others would have on his lover. The third sentence, “Over thy life and youthfulness” describes the lady’s look and beauty with the two words “life” and “youthfulness”. The last sentence “But I would conquer thee by fright!” express what Baudelaire would do after knowing what other men are after his mistress. Although Baudelaire want to stop loving the woman, but he cannot so he decided to protect her instead.

Sources:

http://www.biography.com/people/charles-baudelaire-39436

http://www.studiocleo.com/librarie/baudelaire/biography.html