# The Book of Jade — Chapters explained

> Chapter companions for The Book of Jade by David Park Barnitz.

- [Dedication](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/dedication.md): The chapter is a brief dedication to the memory of Charles Baudelaire, setting a tone of homage and literary connection.
- [The Book of Jade](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/the-book-of-jade.md): A collection of poems exploring themes of weariness, exotic escapism, and the vanity of human endeavor, featuring invocations to ancient deities and reflections on death and decay.
- [Prelude](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/prelude.md): The speaker expresses profound weariness with all mortal things, love, beauty, and even sin, having exhausted every experience life offers. He rejects philosophy, religion, and virtue, declaring a desire for a luxurious,
- [Ashtoreth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-ashtoreth.md): The speaker addresses Ashtoreth, a pale and divine figure standing in moonlight, likening her to a dead goddess of the night. He prostrates before her, offering solemn praise with a golden censer.
- [Parfait Amour](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-parfait-amour.md): The speaker addresses a beloved whose physical beauty is overshadowed by a profound sadness and sinfulness, which paradoxically deepens the speaker's devotion. The beloved is described with imagery of death and decay, an

> 76 more chapter companions — [open a free preview](https://www.betterreads.dev/reader?bookId=the_book_of_jade_se_455kb&preview=1) to unlock the rest.

- [Opium](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-opium.md)
- [Sombre Sonnet](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-sombre-sonnet.md)
- [Languor](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-languor.md)
- [Ennui](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-ennui.md)
- [Litany](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-litany.md)
- [Harvard](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-harvard.md)
- [Pride](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-pride.md)
- [Song of Golden Youth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-song-of-golden-youth.md)
- [Mais Moi Je Vis La Vie en Rouge](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-mais-moi-je-vis-la-vie-en-rouge.md)
- [Louanges d’Elle](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-louanges-d-elle.md)
- [Hélas](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-h-las.md)
- [Sonnet: When I Contemplate How My State Is Low](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-sonnet-when-i-contemplate-how-my-state-is-low.md)
- [Sonnet: Be Not Cast Down My Heart, and Be Not Sad](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-sonnet-be-not-cast-down-my-heart-and-be-not-sad.md)
- [Rondeau](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-rondeau.md)
- [Autumn Song](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-autumn-song.md)
- [Ballad](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-ballad.md)
- [Changelessness](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-changelessness.md)
- [Madonna](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-madonna.md)
- [Poppy Song](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-poppy-song.md)
- [Consolation](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-consolation.md)
- [Liebes-Tod](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-liebes-tod.md)
- [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-i.md)
- [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-ii.md)
- [Evening Song](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-evening-song.md)
- [Song of the Stars in Praise of Her](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-song-of-the-stars-in-praise-of-her.md)
- [Aubade](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-aubade.md)
- [Remember](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-remember.md)
- [Song: She Hath Liv’d the Life of a Rose](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-song-she-hath-liv-d-the-life-of-a-rose.md)
- [Song: Cometh a Day and a Night](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-song-cometh-a-day-and-a-night.md)
- [Constancy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-constancy.md)
- [Requiem](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-requiem.md)
- [Autumn Burial](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-autumn-burial.md)
- [Sonnet of Burial](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-sonnet-of-burial.md)
- [Nocturne](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-nocturne.md)
- [Mad Sonnet](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-mad-sonnet.md)
- [The House of Youth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-the-house-of-youth.md)
- [De Profundis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-de-profundis.md)
- [Prayer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-prayer.md)
- [Sestettes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-sestettes.md)
- [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-i.md)
- [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-ii.md)
- [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-iii.md)
- [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-iv.md)
- [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-v.md)
- [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-vi.md)
- [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-vii.md)
- [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-viii.md)
- [Sonnet of the Instruments of Death](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-sonnet-of-the-instruments-of-death.md)
- [Truth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-truth.md)
- [Hegel](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-hegel.md)
- [Monotony](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-monotony.md)
- [Sepulture](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-sepulture.md)
- [Miserrimus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-miserrimus.md)
- [Scorn](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-scorn.md)
- [The Grave](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-the-grave.md)
- [Mummy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-mummy.md)
- [Sepulchral Life](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-sepulchral-life.md)
- [Corpse](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-corpse.md)
- [Mankind](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-mankind.md)
- [The Defilers](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-the-defilers.md)
- [The Grotesques](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-the-grotesques.md)
- [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-i.md)
- [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-ii.md)
- [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-iii.md)
- [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-iv.md)
- [Dead Dialogue](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-dead-dialogue.md)
- [Fragments](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-fragments.md)
- [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-i.md)
- [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-ii.md)
- [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-iii.md)
- [Envoi](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-envoi.md)
- [Postlude](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-postlude.md)
- [Song of India](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-song-of-india.md)
- [Dedication](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-dedication.md)
- [After-Life](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-after-life.md)
- [Endnotes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/endnotes.md)

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters