‘Be Drunk’ is an impactful prose poem that attempts to light a fire in the belly by imploring the reader to find something in life to be utterly consumed with. Over the course of three brief paragraphs, Baudelaire uses “drunk” as a symbol for whatever might give one passion and joy for life — thus distracting them from the oppressive nature of time.
The use of metaphor creates compelling images of time’s effect on humans, while its surreal imagery elevates its romantic advocations into a loftier realm. As if it’s not just the poem’s authoritative voice that demands us to find something to be drunk on — all the world around us similarly demands it.
Be Drunk Charles BaudelaireYou have to be always drunk. That's all there is to it—it's the only way. So as not to feel the horrible burden of time that breaks your back and bends you to the earth, you have to be continually drunk.But on what? Wine, poetry or virtue, as you wish. But be drunk.And if sometimes, on the steps of a palace or the green grass of a ditch, in the mournful solitude of your room, you wake again, drunkenness already diminishing or gone, ask the wind, the wave, the star, the bird, the clock, everything that is flying, everything that is groaning, everything that is rolling, everything that is singing, everything that is speaking. . .ask what time it is and wind, wave, star, bird, clock will answer you: "It is time to be drunk! So as not to be the martyred slaves of time, be drunk, be continually drunk! On wine, on poetry or on virtue as you wish."
Summary
‘Be Drunk’ by Charles Baudelaire is an invigorating poem that affirms the only way to live life unburdened by its brevity is to engage it with unabashed passion.
‘Be Drunk’ is a short prose poem that attempts to advise the reader on how to either numb themselves or escape time’s oppressive hold on themselves. In the first paragraph, the speaker asserts that the only way to do this is to be drunk. The second paragraph makes it clear they don’t just mean that in the literal sense: instead, they use it as a general metaphor for anything that gives you life or meaning.
Likening it to everything from poetry to morality. In the final paragraph, the speaker offers advice on what to do if you find yourself waking from this drunken self. Pointing to seemingly all existence, they tell us that everywhere and from everything, you’ll get the same answer: be drunk!
Structure and Form
‘Be Drunk’ is a prose poem and, as such, is separated into paragraphs — not stanzas. As a result, it emulates prose and therefore lacks any conventional rhyme scheme or meter. But that doesn’t mean the poem has no rhythm, as its syntactical structure creates a brisk cadence that echoes its uplifting voice and repeats its rallying cry: Be drunk!
Literary Devices
‘Be Drunk’ mainly revolves around the symbolism behind being “drunk,” which the speaker likens to any activity that gives your life joy. There are also examples of metaphor which is used to describe the effects of time: “the horrible burden of time that breaks your back and bends you to the earth”; “the martyred slaves of time.”
Baudelaire also uses visual imagery: “on the steps of a palace or the green grass of a ditch, in the mournful solitude of your room”; “ask the wind, the wave, the star, the bird, the clock.” And kinesthetic/auditory imagery: “everything that is flying, everything that is groaning, everything that is rolling, everything that is singing, everything that is speaking.” As well as personification: “ask what time it is and wind, wave, star, bird, clock will answer you.”
Detailed Analysis
Paragraph One
You have to be always drunk. That’s all there is to it—it’s the only way. So as not to feel the horrible burden of time that breaks your back and bends you to the earth, you have to be continually drunk.
The first paragraph of ‘Be Drunk’ consists of just three sentences, but what a powerful introduction it is. The speaker begins with a statement that is delivered as both an earnest plea and an assertion of fact: “You have to be always drunk.”
In this first paragraph, it’s not immediately clear that the speaker isn’t just referring to drinking alcohol for the purpose of enjoying a heavy buzz. As a result, the encouragement to get drunk as a means of escaping life sounds pretty bleak — not to mention a dubious piece of advice from a less-than-reliable speaker.
But the speaker is using a more metaphorical definition of the word “drunk” — although it becomes clear later, they do endorse the use of wine to get the job done. What the speaker is actually advocating for is a certain vivaciousness; an ability to be wholly excited by life that will overpower the “horrible burden of time that breaks your back and bends you to the earth.”
Baudelaire’s use of personification and imagery in the final sentence of the first paragraph is perhaps the poem’s most stunning. One that envisions time as an immense weight or force that — like an oppressively strong gravity — crushes you into the ground. Life is brutal, the speaker seems to be saying, and their emphatic certainty is that being drunk is the “only way” to survive.
Paragraph Two
But on what? Wine, poetry or virtue, as you wish. But be drunk.
In the second paragraph of ‘Be Drunk,’ the speaker reveals the varying ways one might get drunk and thereby guard themselves against the brutalizing weight of life. Answering their rhetorical question, they catalog three: “Wine, poetry or virtue, as you wish.” So when the speaker refers to being drunk, they mean it literally as well as figuratively. The word “drunk” becomes a euphemism then for anything that might inspire zeal for life. Of course, drinking too much wine carries its own negative social connotations.
But given its juxtaposition with art like poetry and ideals of virtue, it can be assumed that Baudelaire is perhaps referring to the way alcohol might is a symbol of celebration or as a generator of positive (though not always the case) social interaction. The core message of this sentence is that however, one chooses to keep time from crushing them is up to that individual — all that matters is that they are consumed passionately by it.
Paragraph Three
And if sometimes, on the steps of a palace or the green grass of a ditch, in the mournful solitude of your room, you wake again, drunkenness already diminishing or gone, ask the wind, the wave, the star, the bird, the clock, everything that is flying, everything that is groaning, everything that is rolling, everything that is singing, everything that is speaking. . .ask what time it is and wind, wave, star, bird, clock will answer you: “It is time to be drunk! So as not to be the martyred slaves of time, be drunk, be continually drunk! On wine, on poetry or on virtue as you wish.”
In the final stanza of ‘Be Drunk,’ the speaker addresses what one should do if they find their “drunkenness already diminishing or gone.” They also give an assortment of locations — “the steps of a palace or the green grass of a ditch, in the mournful solitude of your room” — in which you might find yourself. The variety echoes the list of ways to be drunk from the second paragraph and underscores a certain multiplicity to life’s experiences.
The speaker then tells us, “ask what time it is,” to an equally varying catalog of objects, elements, and animals. Baudelaire provides both static images — “the wind, the wave, the star, the bird, the clock” — as well as kinesthetic and auditory ones: “everything that is flying, everything that is groaning, everything that is rolling, everything that is singing, everything that is speaking.” Implying the omnipresence of the wisdom to be eternally drunk that the speaker is offering. Everything in the world resounds with this reminder.
But the poem’s final sentence presents it as more of a shouted command. It’s a surreal bit of a personification that gives a voice to all these things as they answer your query about what time it is. “It is time to be drunk! So as not to be the martyred slaves of time, be drunk, be continually drunk! On wine, on poetry, or on virtue as you wish,” they implore you. Echoing much of the first two paragraphs in the process almost word for word. Instead of being crushed by time, the metaphor this time warns we are in danger of being its “martyred slaves.”
FAQs
The poem advocates for the reader to find something in life that gives them passion. As it’s discovered, this unknown would allow them to guard themselves against the ambiguous but all-encroaching threat of time’s dominance over life. In a lot of ways, the poem’s theme is a kind of call to seize the day and not waste a moment of it.
The prose form that Baudelaire helped forward offered an alternative to the more restrictive and concrete structures of poetry that came before. One that appeared in the familiar form was popularized by novels while retaining much of the poetic devices that make poetry so unique and impactful.
Similar Poems
- ‘Carpe Diem’ by Robert Frost – is a poem that encourages people to focus on the present and make the most of it.
- ‘To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time’ by Robert Herrick – is a poem directed at women that expresses flawed views of the period about youthfulness and beauty.
- ‘O Me! O Life!’ by Walt Whitman – a poem that juxtaposes life’s ups and downs alongside one another.
