Analysis of Poetic Structure and Moral Vision in 'The Reader'

Poem Analysis: Moral Vision and Structure

"The Reader", the book's foreword, functions as an introductory poem, offering insight into the work's trajectory. It presents a poem centered on man's moral vision.

Initial Enumeration of Vice

The poem commences by enumerating attitudes, behaviors, and sins. This section employs asyndeton, listing separate elements without connecting conjunctions, emphasizing their distinct nature.

Comparative Elements and Lost Consciousness

The third and fourth verses establish a comparison. The comparative element is our soft, comparant remorse, contrasted with the element of beggars. The author materializes remorse, linking it with the soft texture of worms. Gradually, throughout the poem, we observe the loss of consciousness and property.

Stanzaic Features and Caesura

In the second stanza, another caesura is present. The most significant characteristic of sins is identified as stubbornness, while regret is characterized by weakness.

The Devil's Elevation

The third and fourth stanzas share the figure of the devil. The line, "In the pillow of evil Satan Trismegistus," suggests that Satan is portrayed as three times greater than the Trinity (God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). This implies that Satan rises to a level above God, asserting that the devil, not God, dominates man.

Man as a Puppet and Descent to Hell

In the fourth stanza, man appears as a puppet whose strings are pulled by vices: "It is the devil who holds the strings that move us!" This exclamation emphasizes the idea that hell is imminent. The phrase, "Every day we descend a step to hell," suggests man is on a downhill path. This creates a climate of oppression and darkness, further shown by the description, "a through the dark, stinking," indicating the influence of Dante on Baudelaire.

Extended Simile and Depravity

The fifth stanza features an extended simile with two aspects:

• The lustful, sensual, and erotic.
• The maternal, enclosing tenderness associated with food.

The depraved heart devours what reveals its anguish, perhaps stemming from a desire to seek something maternal in the "old whore," looking back toward the essence—purity, the state existing before sin.

Illegal Actions and Degradation

The line, "We stole the pass" (an illegal action), illustrates man acting routinely, dominated by evil, seeking immoral and illegal pleasure. He squeezes "as old orange" without results, reaching such a low level of degradation that pleasure is unattainable. Romanticism, which previously showed sympathy for misfits, here portrays a depraved character. The speaker notes he is a poor unfortunate because he will not find the treat he seeks.

Metaphor of Sin and Death

In the sixth stanza, sin appears through metaphor, seizing what is right. Death is capitalized by the author. The descent to hell replaces breathing life with breathing death.

Lists of Sin

The seventh stanza is dark, containing a list of sins or elements that facilitate crime.

Symbolic Beasts

In the eighth stanza, beasts symbolize sins:

Concluding Theme

The common theme among the last three stanzas is tedium, which Baudelaire reveals fully only in the final stanza. This tedium is the sin that afflicts man after falling into all others.