The Living Torch

Charles Baudelaire 1821 (Paris) – 1867 (Paris)



Those lit eyes go before me, in full view,
(Some cunning angel magnetised their light) -
Heavenly twins, yet my own brothers too,
Shaking their diamond blaze into my sight.

My steps from every trap or sin to save,
In the strait road of Beauty they conduct me,
They are my servants, and I am their slave,
Obedient in whatever they instruct me.

Delightful eyes, you burn with mystic rays
Like candles in broad day; red suns may blaze,
But cannot quench their still, fantastic light.

Those candles burn for death, but you for waking :
You sing the dawn that in my soul is breaking,
Stars which no sun could ever put to flight!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

34 sec read
61

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAB CDCD EEB FFB
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 620
Words 116
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 3, 3

Charles Baudelaire

Charles Pierre Baudelaire was a French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist, art critic, and pioneering translator of Edgar Allan Poe. more…

All Charles Baudelaire poems | Charles Baudelaire Books

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    How many syllables an Iambic Pentameter line must have?
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