The sonnet that opens the fourth section of Charles Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du Mal (1857 edition). The whole essay sets out to measure its plausibility.
Correspondances
Laissent parfois sortir de confuses paroles ;
L'homme y passe à travers des forêts de symboles
Qui l'observent avec des regards familiers.
Dans une ténébreuse et profonde unité,
Vaste comme la nuit et comme la clarté,
Les parfums, les couleurs et les sons se répondent.
Doux comme les hautbois, verts comme les prairies,
— Et d'autres, corrompus, riches et triomphants,
Comme l'ambre, le musc, le benjoin et l'encens,
Qui chantent les transports de l'esprit et des sens.
Correspondences
Let forth at times confused words;
There man passes through forests of symbols
Which observe him with familiar eyes.
In a dark and profound unity,
Vast as the night and as the light,
Perfumes, colours and sounds answer each other.
Sweet as oboes, green as meadows,
— And others, corrupt, rich and triumphant,
Like amber, musk, benzoin and incense,
Which sing of the transports of the mind and the senses.
Reading note
If access solely to the form of the argument is desired, reference should be made only to the Theory block of each paragraph — the one without coloured background. The remarks concerning Baudelaire, gathered in the Application to Baudelaire block (marked with an amber border), as also those concerning method, in the Method block (on a light cream background), explain and develop the initial paragraph.
The single square brackets [N] refer to Index I — Bibliography, and the double square brackets [[N]] to Index II — Poems of Baudelaire when they encompass a number. A click opens the corresponding entry.