The Giantess
Translation of Charles Baudelaire
Inspired by Charlotte Balladine’s recent translation of a poem by Charles Baudelaire, I decided to unearth my copy of Les Fleurs du Mal. The following is an original translation of one of my favorite poems, “La Géante” (The Giantess), which marries the romantic appreciation for sensuous landscapes with a modern passion for seductive and transgressive imagery. You can judge for yourselves whether my licentious translation does it justice.
The Giantess
Back when Nature conceived each day a monstrous child via her powerful verve, I’d have dwelled nearby a young giantess like a voluptuous cat at the feet of a queen. I’d love her body flowering forth a soul, the liberal swelling in her terrible jests; to divine if flames smoldered in her heart amidst moist mists that swam in her eyes; to saunter along her magnificent form; to crawl up the slope of enormous knees, and, often in summer, when sickly suns retired, spreading her across a countryside, sleep nonchalant in the shade of her breasts a peaceful hamlet at the foot of a mountain. -
Le Géante
Du temps que la Nature en sa verve puissante
Concevait chaque jour des enfants monstrueux,
J'eusse aimé vivre auprès d'une jeune géante,
Comme aux pieds d'une reine un chat voluptueux.
J'eusse aimé voir son corps fleurir avec son âme
Et grandir librement dans ses terribles jeux;
Deviner si son coeur couve une sombre flamme
Aux humides brouillards qui nagent dans ses yeux;
Parcourir à loisir ses magnifiques formes;
Ramper sur le versant de ses genoux énormes,
Et parfois en été, quand les soleils malsains,
Lasse, la font s'étendre à travers la campagne,
Dormir nonchalamment à l'ombre de ses seins,
Comme un hameau paisible au pied d'une montagne.
–Charles Baudelaire




I don't know french so I can’t say but do love the english.
Beautiful! Baudelaire really did possess a unique poetic voice which you capture here.