Fragrance Quote
In “Le Flacon,” Charles Baudelaire writes of perfumes so strong they seem to pass through glass, and of an old flask that “remembers.”
In the Poet’s Words
“Il est de forts parfums pour qui toute matière
Est poreuse. On dirait qu’ils pénètrent le verre.
[…] Parfois on trouve un vieux flacon qui se souvient,
D’où jaillit toute vive une âme qui revient.”
Translation by Fragrance Help: There are strong perfumes for which all matter is porous. One would say they pass through glass. […] Sometimes one finds an old flask that remembers, from which a living soul comes rushing back.
— Charles Baudelaire, “Le Flacon,” Les Fleurs du Mal (1857 first edition; text per the 1868 edition), lines 1–2 and 7–8
Essential Details
Baudelaire on the Perfume Flask at a Glance
- Speaker: Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867)
- Source: “Le Flacon,” Les Fleurs du Mal
- Status: Public domain
- Theme: Vintage bottles and remembered scent
Why the Quote Resonates
The poem opens with perfumes strong enough that “all matter is porous” to them, then turns an antique flask into a container for a returning soul. Anyone who has opened an old bottle will recognize the feeling: the liquid has changed, but something of the original still comes through.
Old Bottles, Changed Perfume
Perfume ages. Top notes fade first, and what remains in a vintage flask can smell quite different from the original. Collectors value that change as part of the object’s history. For more on how scent and memory have been written about, read Proust on Scent and Memory and Kipling on Smell and Memory, or start at The History of Perfume.
Why it matters
Baudelaire gave perfume collecting its most quoted image: a bottle that remembers.