Thesis
Charles Baudelaire’s poem, The Swan (1860), is a clash of emotions, from nostalgia to despondency, brought about by the destruction of the City of Paris and the memory creation on the events of the war.
The feelings of loss and nostalgia keep on bugging the persona’s mind, and he remembers Andromache, the widow of Hector, a Troy great warrior. When Greece defeated Trojan, the son of Achilles took Andromache as a trophy of war, taking her away from the familiarities of her entire life and surroundings to a new civilization and establishment where she became a wife to the man who had killed her husband. The imagination of a woman losing her husband and getting captured by the same people who killed him is bitter in the taste, and it captures the feelings of Baudelaire in the poem that he dedicated to another great French writer, Victor Hugo. He is sad that Old Paris is not there anymore, and compares it with a human heart, saying that the city changed faster (than a human heart). The human heart allegory imagines the way the human heart is susceptible to change leading to wonders about the emotional turmoil that the poet was going through (Kline).
The lack of hope and increasing despondency comes out in the hopelessness of the Swan, a caged animal that, normally, was locked in the cage. The swan is thirsty, and it sprints into the streets (streets filled with debris and ruins of war), searching for water. The swan laments to the skies; "Rain, when will you fall? Thunder, when will you roll?"/I see that hapless bird, that strange and fatal myth (Baudelaire). The desperation of the swan symbolizes nature of the loss that was in the minds and defendants of the old Paris. Also, the prayer of the Swan captures the fact that the people of Paris have given up on a human solution, calling up to God to come and rescue them, and help them overcome the changes caused by war. The idea of a Swan that is asking God when it will rain relates perfectly to the idea of ‘tears flowing down the Simons’ from the Andromache, further enforcing the feelings of despondency and hopelessness.
The concept of loss traverses the simple thoughts of alienation and abduction to a foreign land. Apart from the experiences of Andromache, the poet talks of a Negress in Africa; ‘I think of the negress, wasted and consumptive,/Trudging through muddy streets, seeking with a fixed gaze.’ (Baudelaire). In this verse, the poet thinks about people who have waste in slavery and hard labor and war, where they have lost everything they ever had, to their enemies. It also reflects the feelings of the main character in the poem, who feels lost in his home city because the Old Paris disappeared and replaced with new buildings and streets. It is also traumatizing to the persona that some people like the new look Paris because they think it is a better place. In this trail of thought, it is apparent that the persona would prefer the old order, and he is very saddened by the fact that he does not have a lot of company in that nostalgic sense of Paris.
Towards the end of the poem, Baudelaire gathers some sense of pride and courage, choosing to keep the memories of Paris instead of losing her completely in the melancholy that had engulfed him at the start of the poem. The new Paris can dampen his emotions and feelings, but it does not affect his memories. He says ‘Old quarters; all become for me an allegory,/And my dear memories are heavier than rocks,’ (Baudelaire). The comparison of the memories with rocks pulls in an idea of intensity, and the kind of dearness to something that cannot be affected by changes in the physical nature of the surroundings or the people around you. Baudelaire holds a refined concept of the old Paris, and, arguably, it succeeds as a subject of his poetry and prose, in his attempt and dedication to conserving the images of the old Paris. The decision to hold the memories of the old Paris can compare with the survival of the ancient Greece tales that kept the characters of people like Andromache for a very long time. Perhaps, Baudelaire thinks that he can grant the same favor to Paris, and hope that people will keep the memories for a very long time.
The conversation on change and the way it affects the status quo draws the way the poet mourns for the lost city. In eras donned by change and landscape change, poets, and writers take the responsibilities of keeping the memories of the old cities. The memorialization of places raises the social pride of historical privilege, helping scholars and historians to document the lifestyles of people in the old times. There is a great possibility that Baudelaire expected Victor Hugo to join him in refusing to forget the Old Paris, and it is clear that more people were not happy with the new architecture and urbanization. In the end, the poet prefers a way of doing things that promote Conservancy and respect for everyone’s rights, and notes ‘And suckle Pain as they would suck the good she-wolf!/Of the puny orphans withering like flowers’ (Baudelaire).
Lastly, the poem brings out the conscious need to preserve memories in a way that feeds the curiosity of future generations. Baudelaire succeeds in refusing to accept the changes that happened to the old Paris, and the alienation he feels in the disappearance of his beloved city. He does not want his melancholy to win in ensuring that the good memories of Paris disappear, and he likens such a turn of events to the misfortunes that happened to the Swan, Andromache and the black woman in Africa. The consciousness of these possibilities form a very disturbing picture in the poet’s mind, but at the end of it, he overcomes.
Works Cited
Baudelaire, Charles. “Le Cygne (the Swan).” (2016): n.pag. Web. 14 Aug. 2016.
Kline, A. S. Kline, A. S. - voyage to modernity: A study of the poetry of Charles Baudelaire. 2005. Web. 14 Aug. 2016.
