Chapter Fourteen Translation

[Emma]

I noticed after re-reading The End last night that under the copyright for Chapter Fourteen, there is four lines of a French poem. It is:
Ô Mort, vieux capitaine, il est lemps! levons l'ancre!
Ce pays nous ennuie, ô Mort! Appareillons!
Si le ciel et la mer sont noirs comme de l'encre,
nos coeurs que tu connais sont replis de rayons!

I went to Google Translator, and it gave me this:
O Died, old captain, it is lemps! let us weigh the anchor!
This country annoys us, O Mort! Let us install!
If the sky and the sea are black like ink,
our hearts which you know are folds of rays!

It is obviously refering to a sea captain, and the sea. Possibly a reference to the Great Unknown. Could someone please help me with a better translation, and some ideas?

[Dante]

The poem is actually an excerpt form Le Voyage, by Charles Baudelaire (appropriately enough). You can find a number of translations here (it's the eighth (VIII) part):

fleursdumal.org/poem/231

The first translation is as follows:
O Death, old captain, it is time! let's weigh anchor!
This country wearies us, O Death! Let us set sail!
Though the sea and the sky are black as ink,
Our hearts which you know well are filled with rays of light

I interpret it as part of quite an old commentary also seen in Swinburne in TSS - That no life lives forever / That dead men rise up never / That even the weariest river / Winds somewhere safe to sea - although of course, it's hard to tell the meaning without the preceding quatrain: From too much love of living, / From hope and fear set free, / We thank with brief thanksgiving / Whatever gods may be... Basically, the message is that the end - usually death, although in the case of Chapter Fourteen, it refers to the literal end of the story - isn't necessarily a bad thing, or even a true ending, and that there's always something else to move onto. You may recognise it from Harry Potter: "Death is but the next great adventure." Setting sail, away from one's dull life and land and into a dangerous future, is of course what occurs in Chapter Fourteen. If we so choose, we may also see the Incredibly Deadly Viper's nickname, Ink, as a reference to the third line, Though the sea and the sky are black as ink.

There's a little more if we look at the final part of Baudelaire's poem:

Pour out your poison that it may refresh us!
This fire burns our brains so fiercely, we wish to plunge
To the abyss' depths, Heaven or Hell, does it matter?
To the depths of the Unknown to find something new!

The references to fire, and to taking one's chances in the depths of the Unknown, are also quite familiar to aSoUE (consider the fate of the Quagmires, Widdershins and his stepchildren); Handler's choice of poem here is very appropriate, and I dare say some of his ideas for The End may have been strongly influenced by it.

[Very Fond Devotee]

i also came apon that and i found the whole poem and i cant say for fact but i couldnt help but think of the books when i read the whole poem. it is alittle bit more adult but it does have a few of the same aspects as the books so i cant totally dismiss the thought that this poem help inspire the books at least alittle bit. Personally after reading the english version of the bit of the poem it really gave a whole new feeling to the end of the book. Here is the poem talking about a captain moving on cause hes bored with where hes at and now he is leaving into the dark unknown sea with a ray of light inside him modavating him to find what he is looking for. isn't that what the Baudelaires are doing as they leave the island knowing full well that they are going back into the world of evil and bad thing but they know they will be alright and thats all they need to keep them going. it such a little thing but i think it is really interesting. its a nice finishing thought to end the books with.

Very Fond Devotee.

[violet]

woah,that's really ironic.And I think I know what the poison is:the poison is the misfortune and unluckiness,and when they say that it might refresh them,they mean they the misfortunate might prepare them,because they lived in comort,peace,and relaxation on the island for a year.

[fordxprefect]

Pour out your poison that it may refresh us!
This fire burns our brains so fiercely, we wish to plunge
To the abyss' depths, Heaven or Hell, does it matter?
To the depths of the Unknown to find something new!

Hmm. . .this stanza reminds me of Edgar A. Poe's poem "For Annie." The first stanza of it goes thus:

Thank Heaven! the crisis-
The danger is past,
And the lingering illness
Is over at last-
And the fever called "Living"
Is conquered at last.

It calls Death a quick and easy way to gain respite from the toils of Life.