posted
I know there a quite a few polyglots among us, so here's a place for your translations.
Here are a couple ("Alle fronde delle salici" and "Uomo del mio tempo") I did this spring from the Italian poet Salvatore Quasimodo.
Upon the Willow Boughs
And how could we sing with the foreign foot upon our heart, among the dead abandoned in the squares on the grass hard with ice, to the lamb-cry of the children, to the black scream of the mother approaching her son crucified on a telegraph pole? Upon the willow boughs, in a votive offering, even our lyres were hung, they swayed light in the sad wind.
Man of My Time
You are still that man of stone and sling, man of my time. You were in the fuselage, with the malicious wings, the sun-dials of death —I saw you—inside your chariot of flames, at the gallows, at the wheels of torture. I saw you: it was you, with your exact science guided toward extermination, without love, without Christ. You have killed again, like always, like your fathers killed, like the animals killed the first time they layed their eyes on you. And this blood smells just like it did that day when one brother said to the other: "Let us go into the fields." And that echo, cold, tenacious, has come down to you, into your own day. Forget, O children, the clouds of blood arisen from the earth, forget your fathers: their tombs sink down into ashes, the black birds, the wind, cover up their heart.
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posted
I love Housman's translations of Greek and Latin stuff. I would post them, but I think they're still in copyright.
Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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Huh. Maybe I overestimated the number of polyglots and poets here. Or the crossover between the two.
What if we expand the thread to include international poetry in general? I took an International 20th-Century Poetry course this last semester (taught by a prominent visiting Chinese poet) and found it very valuable, as I was only slightly familiar with both international and 20th-century poetry.
So, any favorites? I've always gotten a kick out of Constantine Cavafy and had read and enjoyed some Garcia Lorca, Rilke, Neruda, etc., but it was good to get some exposure to poets like Trakl, Mandelstam and some others about whom I had previously known little or nothing.
So, anyone have any suggestions on some good international poetry?
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posted
Wow. Translating poetry? Do I have to keep it in classical form?
Well, who cares. I translated the three parts of BWV 140, words written in 1599 by Philip Nicolai (sp?) and I translated them to fit the music Bach wrote for it. No, I can't speak German; that doesn't stop me from translating it (oldie of mine).
I: “Rise up, thou”, a voice to Zion calls From angels high above in Heaven’s halls, “Rise up, thou town, Jerusalem”. Now, in Dark’s deep midnight hour, You view those angels of pride and power – Who sing and wear a glitt’ring gem. “Rise up for God is near, Rise, and to Lord God cheer.” Hallelujah! The bells that ring, the angels sing! For the Lord God arrivéd here!
II: Zion hearth the angels singing, Her heart with joy hath stopped the weeping, Makes haste to rise and hear songs sung; “Lord God shall come down from Heaven, And circle the town’s walls times seven”, All cheer to the awakening sun. “Come here, O Worthy Crown! Descend to us, men, down! Hossianna! We follow, all, to the joyous hall! And on our knees we mercifully fall.”
III: Godly Lord, how glorious Thou art, With angels to escort Thee as Thou shalt depart, With music, cymbals, harps and chords. Past Thy City’s huge pearl gateways, No longer strangers, we then share Thy praise To glorify Thy Heavenly swords. No eye hath yet discerned, Nor man’s ear yet hath learned – How great joy be. So we are glad, hurray! Not sad! Forever in sweet Joy we’re clad.
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But I have many more variations, parodies and paraphrases than this...
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