The role of death in the poem of Baudelaire

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to emphasis in this poem. Furthermore, behind the charming description of place with the presence of the “odeurs” and “fleurs”, the poet gives a sense of death by giving them strange qualities, like “étranges fleurs” implying through the description an image of the funeral flowers, giving impression to readers of the death of two lovers. The poet also compares “les divans”, the bed of lovers with “tombeaux” that denotes the bed of dead. The representation of the amalgamated images of death and love illustrates the objective of poet that love and death are inseparable because it is an ideal death that can only perpetuate the signification of love. The presence of two “tombeaux” at the same place and time implies their desire to die together and liberate from the world together in order to reunite again in the new heavenly life after death.

However, Baudelaire envisaged the tragedy of human existence by the presence of Spleen and Ideal, acknowledging the conception of faith that christianisme is the religion of “universal suffering”. He never relinquished this fundamental truth of Christianity. But, through the double thematic of love and death, Baudelaire explains his desire to refuse to live the life of suffering and introduces the conception of the Neoplatonism. Neoplatonism brings a reconceptualisation of religious beliefs. Baudelaire adheres to the belief that in the shadow of the ideal world one cannot sin. Therefore, through the idea of the Neoplatonism and also with the idea of Platon, Baudelaire seeks for transforming his state of bliss and that of his lover into a state of enjoyment. The quest of infinity that he wants to discover can be conceived by only Neoplatonism because it influences one to preaches for detaching from the world and wish to have communion with god and the world of god.

In the first tercet,

Un soir fait de rose et de bleu mystique,

Nous échangerons un éclair unique,

Un soir fait de rose et de bleu mystique, le poet uses the fusion of colour “red” and “blue” to explain the interconnection of true love and death. Baudelaire espouses colorism not just it is more natural and faithful to empirical observation and dramatic, but because its effect is to universalize the subject-matter. Baudelaire choose the colours to universalize his thought. The usage of colours, like “rose” that signifies love and bleu that signifies “mystical death” creates an impression of déjà vu that allows the readers also to experience the creative and imaginary world created by poet. Thus, mysticisme gives a sensation of spirituality. Lovers choose death as a medium to get access of infinity where their love will be pure, eternal, spiritual. Therefore, death has been envisaged as an ideal path which will take the lovers on the way towards the paradise.

Nous aurons des lits…..verse 1

Un soir fait de rose……. verse 9

Et plus tard un ange entrouvrant les portes verse 12

In the last tercet, As per the progression of temporality employed by the poet, using future tenses, the reader remark the evolution in the vision of poet towards the infinity where angel is opening the door for the lovers to enter into the heavenly world. Poet paints the beauty of celestial world by introducing the presence of the divine figure ‘Ange’ and giving the sense along with it the eternal liberty of lovers after their death. This surnatural image evokes the ideal existence and the idea of resurrection that the lovers will discover in heaven after quitting their existence on earth.

Finally, one can conceptualize the vision of Baudelaire through the picture of death. Baudelaire quests finally the sublime beauty of death which is perceived generally as an horror but he attempts to represent it as a path of liberation for two lovers, by uniting them in paradise as spiritual and virtuous souls and never separating them ever.

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