1.3 Baudelaire: "The Ghost"

The poem that i chose was " The ghost" by Charles Baudelaire. Charles was a French poet and art critic in the 1840's who died after being in a paralyzed state for 2 years, after suffering from a stroke. The poem starts off with the word " softly", meaning a gentle or tender motion, setting the mood and tone for the beginning of the poem. The next symbolic phrase is "brown-eyed angels", it means something dark because usually when we, or I, think of angels, usually they're bright figures probably with light colored eyes. The thought of a "brown-eyed" angel gives it a darker sense of feeling. Other symbolic words in the rest of the poem are "glide/gliding", "night"(repeated twice), "treading", "silently", "kisses", "icy/cold/chilly"(same concept repeated also) " moon", "caresses", "snake","thorny", "livid", "forlorn", "falling", "tenderness", "life", "youthfulness", "conquer" &" fright". In order these words represent something moving around in a swift manner(glide/gliding) at night(representing the dark, or things of evil nature) quietly, silently, meaning sneaky, "kisses as icy as the moon". Normally a kiss would represent affection or love but in this case an icy kiss is obviously cold, representing death. The words cold & chilly mean the same thing, further emphasizing the theme of death in the poem. The moon, being the next word, can also represent the night since that's the time we relate it to. The rest of the symbols in the poem all somehow relate in some way to the theme of evil and or darkness and basically sums up the interpretation of the poem and makes it pretty easy to decipher. He's talking about creeping upon some girl, a past love,(or person) in the night and gracing them with his "cold" presence( because he's a "ghost") and frightening the person. Other ghosts would "rule by tenderness..life and youthfulness", but not him, he would "conquer thee by fright!"...I just used wikipedia to briefly read on Charles Baudelaire and Google to look up some words that i didn't understand or to search its "meaning".


"SOFTLY as brown-eyed Angels rove
I will return to thy alcove,
And glide upon the night to thee,
Treading the shadows silently.

And I will give to thee, my own,
Kisses as icy as the moon,
And the caresses of a snake
Cold gliding in the thorny brake.

And when returns the livid morn
Thou shalt find all my place forlorn
And chilly, till the falling night.

Others would rule by tenderness
Over thy life and youthfulness,
But I would conquer thee by fright! "