Baudelaire’s Assemblage

Song is a combination of elements, of which the outcome is not always stable. This chapter examines the nature of the bonds formed between poem and music by proposing a new ‘‘assemblage’’ model, which focuses on five key parameters: (a) metre/prosody; (b) form/structure; (c) sound properties/repetition; (d) semantics/word painting; (e) live performance options. This approach bridges methodological gaps exposed through an examination of existing models used in translation theory, adaptation theory, and word/music theory. The two stages in the assemblage model examine: (1) adhesion strength (how closely poem and music stick together); (2) accretion/dilution (how successful the song setting is). The phases of analysis factor in how song is a non-permanent form which goes through multiple iterations of repackaging, including different performances of the same song and different settings of the same poem.