'L'Ennemi': Convergence and Divergence in the Obstacles to the Poet's Creative Output

Baudelaire's "L'Ennemi" is based on two different metaphors depicting the poet's increasing difficulties in producing poetry. The garden metaphor and the enemy metaphor have common components: soil, a nutritional element, and a growing product. This parallel, which suggests a convergence, brings out also the opposition between depleting and non-depleting growth. Other motifs provide elements of convergence and divergence: a darkness-light opposition, the pervasive liquid run-off imagery, and the problematic "mystique aliment." These motifs suggest finally an equilibrium between suffering and creativity that accounts for this poem being written even as a consequence of the difficulty of writing. (GB)