Baudelaire - La Musique

- The poet is possessed by the music, "me prend"; even though the title of the poem is music, the sense of hearing is absent. Sight is also taken away "me voile". 

- This experience of being possessed is common for the poet, like a habit; "souvent", "d'autres fois", present tense of habit

- Gradual and constant blurring of the boundaries between the 'comparé' and the 'comparant'. It becomes less and less clear who the "je" is; is it Baudelaire the poet? the boat?

- Alternation between alexandrines and pentasyllables: creates visual image of tumultuous seas with big waves as depicted in the content of the poem. Enjambements give the auditory effect of fluidity and illustrates the flow of the voyage. 

- Mariage between regularity and irregularity: alexandrines (rime pair) with 'rime masculin' (mer/éther) and 'rime impair' with 'rime féminin' (étoile/voile) = musicality in cadence and sonority.  

- The alternating rhythm and coming back at the end of each quatrain to the word "voile" (noun and verb) create a "bercement", an enchanting rhythm which puts the reader into a trance like the poet. 

- The structure of the poem itself is like a song; the whole poem is composed of 3 sentences which represent the different moments of a musical piece.

First sentence= short introduction of one line. Exclamation point: sense of opening with movement and passion 

second sentence= until line 13, passionate central development

third sentence=one sentence divided into two lines; brutal, clashing, chaotic finale. Sentence without a verb which embodies the silence of the audience at the end of the song. Also exclamation point: closing with force and impact

- Variating rhythm of…