âLa Chevelureâ is an extremely sensual poem typical of Baudelaireâs style.
1 â French Poem Reading âLa Chevelureâ by Charles Baudelaire â Audio Recording
Please press play to hear my readings of French Poem â âLa Chevelureâ by Charles Baudelaire.
2 â Classical French Poem Reading âLa Chevelureâ by Charles Baudelaire
La Chevelure
Ă toison, moutonnant jusque sur lâencolure!
à boucles! à parfum chargé de nonchaloir!
Extase! Pour peupler ce soir lâalcĂŽve obscure
Des souvenirs dormant dans cette chevelure,
Je la veux agiter dans lâair comme un mouchoir!
La langoureuse Asie et la brûlante Afrique,
Tout un monde lointain, absent, presque défunt,
Vit dans tes profondeurs, forĂȘt aromatique!
Comme dâautres esprits voguent sur la musique,
Le mien, ĂŽ mon amour! nage sur ton parfum.
Jâirai lĂ -bas oĂč lâarbre et lâhomme, pleins de sĂšve,
Se pĂąment longuement sous lâardeur des climats;
Fortes tresses, soyez la houle qui mâenlĂšve!
Tu contiens, mer dâĂ©bĂšne, un Ă©blouissant rĂȘve
De voiles, de rameurs, de flammes et de mĂąts:
Un port retentissant oĂč mon Ăąme peut boire
Ă grands flots le parfum, le son et la couleur
OĂč les vaisseaux, glissant dans lâor et dans la moire
Ouvrent leurs vastes bras pour embrasser la gloire
Dâun ciel pur oĂč frĂ©mit lâĂ©ternelle chaleur.
Je plongerai ma tĂȘte amoureuse dâivresse
Dans ce noir ocĂ©an oĂč lâautre est enfermĂ©;
Et mon esprit subtil que le roulis caresse
Saura vous retrouver, Î féconde paresse,
Infinis bercements du loisir embaumé!
Cheveux bleus, pavillon de ténÚbres tendues
Vous me rendez lâazur du ciel immense et rond;
Sur les bords duvetés de vos mÚches tordues
Je mâenivre ardemment des senteurs confondues
De lâhuile de coco, du musc et du goudron.
Longtemps! toujours! ma main dans ta criniĂšre lourde
SĂšmera le rubis, la perle et le saphir,
Afin quâĂ mon dĂ©sir tu ne sois jamais sourde!
Nâes-tu pas lâoasis oĂč je rĂȘve, et la gourde
OĂč je hume Ă longs traits le vin du souvenir?

Most famous and classic French poems read and analysed in everyday French.
3 â English Translation of the French Poem Reading âLa Chevelureâ by Charles Baudelaire
Here is my own translation of the French poem. I went for a literal translation so you could understand the vocabulary.
Head of Hair
O fleecy hair, falling in curls to the shoulders!
O curls! O perfume laden with nonchalance!
Ecstasy! To fill the dark alcove tonight
With memories sleeping in that thick head of hair.
I want to shake it in the air like a handkerchief!
Languorous Asia and burning Africa,
A whole far away world, absent, almost extinct,
Dwells in your depths, aromatic forest!
While other spirits sail along on music,
Mine, O my love! floats upon your perfume.
I shall go there, where trees and men, full of vigor,
Faint of pleasure in the heat of the climate;
Heady tresses be the billows that carry me away!
You hold, ebony sea, a dazzling dream
Of rigging, of rowers, of flames and masts:
A resounding harbor where my soul can drink
In great draughts the perfume, the sound and the color;
Where the vessels gliding through the gold and the moire
Open their vast arms to embrace the glory
Of a clear sky shimmering with everlasting heat.
I shall bury my head enamored with rapture
In this black ocean where the other is imprisoned;
And my subtle spirit caressed by the sway
Will know how to find you, O fruitful laziness,
Endless lulling of scented leisure!
Blue hair, pavilion hung with shadows,
You give back to me the blue of the vast round sky;
In the downy edges of your twisted locks
I ardently get drunk with the mingled odors
Of oil of coconut, of musk and tar.
For a long time! Forever! my hand in your heavy mane
Will scatter the ruby, the pearl and the sapphire
So that to my desire you will never be deaf!
Arenât you the oasis where I dream, the gourd
where I inhale in great draughts the wine of memory?
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