Elle est retrouvée.
Quoi?—L’Éternité.
C’est la mer allée
Avec le soleil
Âme sentinelle,
Murmurons l’aveu
De la nuit si nulle
Et du jour en feu.
[…]
Translator’s Glossary
|
WORD
|
DEFINITION
|
POSSIBLE SYNONYMS
|
|---|---|---|
| allée (adj.) | having left; no longer present | gone, gone away, run off, departed |
| âme (n.) | the spiritual or immaterial part of a human being or animal | soul, spirit, psyche, life force |
| avec (prep.) | accompanied by | with, along with |
| c’est (pron. + v.) | subject combined with the third person singular form of the verb to be | it is, it’s |
| de (prep.) | belonging to, relating to, or connected with | of |
| du (prep. + art.) | belonging to, relating to, or connected with a person or thing that has already been mentioned or is known | of the |
| elle (pron.) | used to refer to a person or inanimate object recently mentioned | it, she |
| en feu (phrase) | emitting flames, bright light, heat, and smoke | on fire, aflame, in flames, burning, ablaze, ignited, alight |
| est (v.) | from the verb être—to exist | is, has been |
| et (conj.) | used to join words or groups of words; additionally; plus | and |
| jour (n.) | the time between sunrise and sunset | day, daytime, daylight, waking hours |
| la (art.) | a person or thing already mentioned or well known | the |
| l’aveu (n.) | the act of acknowledging one’s sins or formally stating one’s beliefs | the confession, the vow, the admission, the creed |
| le (art.) | a person or thing already mentioned or well known | the |
| l’éternité (n.) | infinite or unending time | eternity, all time, perpetuity, forever, afterlife, time without end |
| mer (n.) | the expanse of salt water that covers most of the earth’s surface | sea, ocean, swell, waves, brine, waters |
| murmurons (v.) | from the verb murmurer—to speak very softly | let’s whisper, let’s murmur, let’s mutter, let’s mumble |
| nuit (n.) | the period of darkness between sunset and sunrise | night, nighttime, darkness, nightfall, sunset |
| nulle (adj.) | containing nothing or nobody | void, null, empty, vacant, blank, desolate, deserted |
| quoi (pron.) | asking for repetition of something not heard or explanation of something not understood | what, huh, sorry, what’s that, who |
| retrouvée (adj.) | encountered for the second time after a period of being lost | found again, rediscovered, recovered, revealed, reclaimed, retrieved, salvaged |
| sentinelle (adj.) | carefully observant or attentive | watchful, on guard, sentinel, protector |
| si (adv.) | used for emphasis; very much | so, so very, extremely, remarkably, unusually, infinitely |
| soleil (n.) | the star around which the earth orbits | sun, sunshine, sunlight, daylight, sunbeams |
Background
I. About Quatrains
A quatrain is a four-line stanza, rhyming with various forms for example:
- ABAC or ABCB (known as unbounded or ballad quatrain), as in Samuel Taylor
Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.”
It is an ancient Mariner,
And he stoppeth one of three.
Now wherefore stopp’st thou me?
The Bridegroom’s doors are opened wide
And I am next of kin
The guests are met, the feast is set:
May’st hear the merry din.
- AABB (a double couplet); see A.E. Housman’s “To an Athlete Dying Young.”
The time you won your town the race
We chaired you through the market-place;
Man and boy stood cheering by.
And home we brought you shoulder-high
Today the road all runner come,
Shoulder-high we bring you home.
And set you at your threshold down,
Townsman of a stiller town.
Bio
Considered one of France’s most influential poets, Arthur Rimbaud wrote most of his poetry during his teenage years. His father, an army captain, abandoned the family when Rimbaud was six years old. When his school shut down at the start of the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871), Rimbaud ran away, wandering the countryside until he arrived in Paris. There, he met the poet Paul Verlaine, and the two had a brief relationship that ended in a passionate and violent argument. Rimbaud gave up writing poetry but traveled the world, eventually settling in Ethiopia. After Rimbaud’s death, Verlaine published his complete works, which continue to be celebrated today.