The Ransom

Charles Baudelaire 1821 (Paris) – 1867 (Paris)



Man, with which to pay his ransom,
has two fields of deep rich earth,
which he must dig and bring to birth,
with the iron blade of reason.
To obtain the smallest rose,
to garner a few ears of wheat,
he must wet them without cease,
with briny tears from his grey brow.
One is Art: Love is the other.
- To render his propitiation,
on the day of conflagration,
when the last strict reckoning’s here,
full of crops’ and flowers’ displays
he will have to show his barns,
with those colours and those forms
that gain the Angels’ praise.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

30 sec read
108

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBCDEFGHCCIJKLJ
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 531
Words 102
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 16

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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