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Kaelin Mackintire
3/7/14
3B
Devices and Techniques Convey Meaning
Poetry is a deal of joy and pain and wonder, with a dash of the dictionary, stated Khalil
Gibran. In poetry, writers use certain techniques to show what they want the reader to figure out
through their word choice and other poetry devices. Charles Baudelaire uses many different
devices and techniques to convey the meaning and milieu in his poems, "Invitation to the
Voyage" and "Hymn to Beauty".
The rhythm, meter, rhyme, and ambiguity of Charles Baudelaires poem Invitation to
the Voyage allows the reader to have a clearer understanding of the meaning of the poem.
According to Skeen, Baudelaire is able to build up the whole world of his poem from love. It is
also interesting, from this viewpoint, that the object of the poet's love is unclear and the reader
cannot tell whether it is his sister, his daughter, his lover, or his own self. Baudelaires
mysterious, yet structured word choice and rhyme, before the poem is translated from French, is
able to convey his love. However, there is still the mysterious factor of who the love of the
poem is directed towards. Also, the ambiguity of the word beauty in his poems shows that there
is no longer mournful meditation in picturesque settingsthe infinite is no longer the divine
perceived in stars; it is found in the expansiveness of scents, in the imagination, in poetry, in
cold-hearted Beauty, in the desire to escape (Charles Baudelaire). His use of the word beauty
throughout the poem could mean his beauty from within, actual physical attractiveness, or even
the beauty that he finds in other people. Baudelaire uses this ambiguity to represent his
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uncertainness with himself or his lack of self-confidence because he could be afraid of what
critiques he would receive for his poetry. Lastly, "Baudelaire's ambiguous relationship with the
material world and his desire for another world could also be a factor in his usage of ambiguity.
This could also show a lack of self-confidence because he wants another world in which he
would be able to show who he really is (Charles Baudelaire). The meaning of Invitation to the
Voyage is conveyed through the ambiguity of the word beauty along with the rhyme and
Baudelaires word choice.
Hymn to Beauty is another poem in which the meaning is conveyed through
Baudelaires usage of ambiguity, a dichotomy, the structure of the written poem. This poem is
iambic pentameter which allows the reader to better understand the meaning because it follows
the natural rhythm of the way that English is spoken (Hymn). The natural flow gives the
reader a chance to better comprehend what they are reading. Also, the power of this inhuman
beauty is terrible and shows that this poem too uses beauty as an ambiguous term. Beauty is
normally something that everyone wants and strives for, yet in this poem he uses inhuman
beauty which allows for further interpretation from the reader. Whether Baudelaire uses is as a
good characteristic or one that is just trying to be attained gives the poem another depth of
meaning interpreted by the reader. Lastly, the dichotomy that Baudelaire shows is beauty versus
redemption. In the twenty-seventh line of Hymn to Beauty, he states, rhythm, perfume,
glimmer; my one and only queen which refers to beauty and that he believes she is as beautiful
as a queen, yet in the very next line he says the world less hideous, the minutes less leaden.
This question can refer to the topic of redemption because he is saying that she rescued the world
from hideousness and made it more beautiful. Overall, this poem allows the reader to interpret
the meaning through the structure, ambiguity, and dichotomy presented by Baudelaire.
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In addition, tropes and romanticism add to the meaning of Charles Baudelaires poems.
In the poem Invitation to the Voyage Baudelaire uses symbolism help represent the meaning
without just stating it. According to Skeen, it would be a difficult task to discover every
possible meaning that is contained in the poems symbols, and not necessarily useful, since there
is a reason to read in its own allusive form rather than an essay explaining the poem. This
quotation shows how much symbolism is used throughout Baudelaires poem. One of the
symbols that he uses in this poem is using flowers to represent how his girlfriend or wife smells
good. Lastly, along with symbolism, Baudelaire also uses imagery which allows the reader to
picture what he is writing. From traditional forms to traditional themes, Baudelaire brought
imagery and situations that had never before existed in French poetry which shows how
Baudelaire uses his own style and his own method of imagery to elaborate on the meaning of the
poems. In Invitation to the Voyage he uses imagery when he says the world falls asleep/in a
warm glow of light, which allows the reader to picture this event. Throughout his poems
Baudelaire has a clear understanding of how to add tropes in order to convey meaning.
However, there are some instances in which the poets add tropes and use certain
techniques just to fit a pattern, not to add meaning. For example, Kelly states that Baudelaire
was neither a romantic poet nor a symbolist. This proves that Baudelaire would sometimes use
symbolism just a way to express what he is feeling but not adding meaning to the overall
message of his poems. However, most of the time Baudelaires symbolism, romanticism, and
imagery added meaning to the poems he wrote.
Charles Baudelaires usage of literary devices and techniques conveys his meaning of
beauty and the dichotomy of beauty versus redemption. Through imagery and symbolism,
Baudelaire is able to show how beauty can be interpreted in many different ways.