Tones/Countertones: English Translations, Adaptations, Imitations and Transformations of Short Poetic Texts from the Latin, Italian, French, Spanish, and German. A Bilingual Edition (eBook)

Philip Cranston (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2002 | 1. Auflage
174 Seiten
Digitalia (Verlag)
978-1-882528-39-4 (ISBN)

Infos

Tones/Countertones proposes formal verse translations of a large selection of well-known (and less well-known) poetry, drawn from ten centuries and five languages: Latin, Italian, French, Spanish, and German. Included are short poems and excerpts from long poems by, among others, Vergil, Horace, Dante, Petrarch, Gil Vicente, Marot, Du Bellay, Ronsard, La Fontaine, Voltaire, Goethe, Foscolo, Leopardi, Musset, Baudelaire, Bécquer, Mallarmé, Rimbaud, Rilke, Apollinaire, Supervielle, and Char. A thirteen-page introduction lays out, in some detail, the translator’s methods and procedures, referring specifically to texts found in this volume and arguing that (despite reservations or even strong objections by critics -and poets – like Yves Bonnefoy) a poem’s form is as essential as its content – and is, in fact, essential to its content. In an “Afterword,” Roger Asselineau, a published poet and professor emeritus of the Sorbonne, writes: “Tones/Countertones, offering a broad sampling of Western literatures of diverse periods, is . . . in every respect remarkable: at once translation and poetry.”

Inhalt

Contents 10
"When it alteration finds": A Foreword 20
Translator's Note 22
Vergil (c. 70-19 BC) From the Aeneid I 37
'Cithara crinitus lopas' 37
lopas 38
Forsan et haec olim . . . 39
'Comrades, before this time' 40
Pergo modo . . . 41
'See twice six swans rejoicing in their flight' 42
Horace (65-8 BC) From the Odes I 43
Ad Pyrrham 43
To Pyrrha 44
'Persicos odi, puer, apparatus' 45
Simple Myrtle 46
New Testament From the Acts of the Apostles 47
'. . .et factus est repente de caelo sonus' 47
The Gift of Tongues 48
Chrétien de Troyes (c. 1135-c. 1183) From Le Chevalier au lion 49
"Bele Conjointure" 49
Conjuncture/Coupling 50
Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) From La Vita nuova 51
'Tanto gentile e tanto onesta pare' 51
'So gentle and so modest now appears' 52
'Gentil pensier che parla di vui' 53
'A gentle thought that ever speaks of you' 54
From Inferno V 55
'Siede la terra dove nata fui' 55
Francesca da Rimini 56
Francesco Petrarca (1304-1374) From Le Rime 59
'Voi ch'ascoltate in rime sparse il suono' 59
'O you that hear in scattered rhymes the sound' 60
'Quando fra l'altre donne ad ora ad ora' 61
'When midst the other maidens, as before' 62
'Piovonmi amare lagrime dal viso' 63
'There rain down bitter tears from my dark face' 64
'lo non fu' d'amar voi lassato unquanco' 65
'I wearied never in my love for you' 66
'Pien di quella ineffabile dolcezza' 67
'Filled with that gentleness ineffable' 68
'Ove porge ombra un pino alto od un colle' 69
'Where falls the shade of lofty pine or hill' 70
'Se lamentar augelli, o verdi fronde' 71
'If birds lament or green leaves gently rise' 72
Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) From Le Rime 73
'O glorioso Re, che'l ciel governi' 73
'O King of glory governing the skies' 74
Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) From Le Rime 75
'Vorrei voler, Signor, quel ch'io non voglio' 75
'I would will, Lord, what I do not will' 76
Gil Vicente (c. 1465-c. 1536) From Auto de la sibila Casandra 77
'Dicen que me case yo' 77
Cassandra's Song 78
Mellin de Saint-Gelais (1491-1558) From Voltaire's Leningrad Notebooks 79
'Tandis que madame dormait' 79
'Madame in the arms of sleep' 80
Clément Marot (1496-1544) From Œuvres diverses 81
De Frère Lubin 81
Concerning Good Brother Lubin 82
Joachim du Bellay (1522-1560) From L'Olive 83
'Si notre vie est moins qu'une journée' 83
'And if our life is less than one short day' 84
From Les Regrets 85
'Heureux qui, comme Ulysse, a fait un beau voyage' 85
'Happy are they who like Ulysses roam' 86
Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585) From Les Amours de Marie 87
'Comme on voit sur la branche, au mois de mai . . .' 87
'As on the branch, in May, we see the rose' 88
From Les Sonnets pour Hélène 89
'Quand vous serez bien vieille, au soir . . .' 89
'When you are old, by candlelight and fire' 90
Jean de La Fontaine (1621-1695) From Les Fables I 91
Le Corbeau et le Renard 91
The Crow and the Fox 92
Charles Dusfresny (1654-1724) From Voltaire's Leningrad Notebooks 93
Phyllis et Lisandre 93
Phyllis and Lysander 94
Voltaire (1694-1778) From Les Lettres philosophiques 95
'Demeure il faut choisir, et passer à l'instant'
'But stay: a man must choose, and onward press' 96
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) From Faust I 97
Der König in Thule 97
The King in Thule 98
'Erhabner Geist, du gabst mir, gabst mir alles' 99
'Spirit sublime, you gave me, gave me all' 100
From Iphigenie auf Tauris 101
'Heraus in eure Schatten, rege Wipfel' 101
'Out beneath your shadows, quivering tree-tops' 102
From Die Lieder 103
Wandrers Nachtlied 103
Wanderer's Nightsong 104
Ugo Foscolo (1778-1827) From Poesie 105
Forse perché della fatal quiete 105
Perhaps because you are the image of that peace 106
Joseph von Eichendorff (1788-1857) From Geistliche Gedichte 107
Mondnacht 107
Moonlit Night 108
Giacomo Leopardi (1798-1837) From / Canti 109
L'Infinito 109
The Infinite 110
Alla Luna 111
To the Moon 112
Alfred de Musset (1810-1857) From Poésie Nouvelles 113
'Qu'il est doux d'être au monde . . .' 113
'How sweet the earth, and life—how great a good!' 114
Rappelle-toi 115
Remember 116
Impromptu 117
Impromptu 118
Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867) From Les Fleurs du mal 119
Correspondances 119
Correspondences 120
Obsession 121
Obsession 122
L'Invitation au voyage 123
The Invitation to the Voyage 124
Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (1836-1870) From Rimas del libro de los Gorriones 127
Las Golondrinas 127
The Swallows 128
Stéphane Mallarmé (1842-1898) From Poésies 129
Brise Marine 129
Sea Breeze 130
'Le vierge, le vivace et le bel aujourd'hui' 131
Swan Song 132
Paul Bourget (1852-1935) From La Vie intime 133
Beau Soir 133
Beauteous Evening 134
Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891) From Poésies 135
Rêvé pour l'hiver 135
Winter Dream 136
Ma Bohême 137
On the Road 138
Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) From Das Buch der Bilder 139
Herbst 139
Fall 140
From Neue Gedichte 141
Der Panther 141
The Panther 142
Léon-Paul Fargue (1876-1947) From Poésies 143
Postface 143
Postface 144
Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) From Alcools 145
Automne 145
Autumn 146
Cors de chasse 147
Hunting Horns 148
A la Santé (VI) 149
At the Santé Prison (VI) 150
Umberto Saba (1883-1957) From II Canzoniere 151
'La casa della mia nutrice posa' 151
'My nurse's house stands quietly' 152
Jules Supervielle (1884-1960) From Gravitations 153
Vivre 153
Alive 154
From Le Forçat innocent 155
'Dans la forêt sans heures' 155
'In the timeless forest' 156
From La Fable du monde 157
Dieu se souvient de son premier arbre 157
God Remembers his First Tree 158
La Mer secrète 161
The Secret Sea 162
From Le Forçat innocent 163
Whisper in Agony 163
Whisper in Agony 164
'Vivante ou morte, ô toi qui me connais si bien' 165
'Living or dead, O you who know me well' 166
From Les Amis inconnus 167
Le Désir 167
Desire 168
René Char (1907-1988) From Commune Présence 169
Le Bois de l'Epte 169
Clearing 170
Translating/Retranslating: An Afterword 171
Acknowledgments 172

Textauszug

AD PYRRHAM (p. 24)

Quis multa gracilis te puer in rosa

perfusus liquidis urget odoribus

grato, Pyrrha, sub antro?

cui flavam religas comam,

simplex munditiis? Heu quotiens fidem

mutatosque déos flebit et áspera

nigis aequora ventis

emirabitur insolens,

qui nunc te fruitur credulus áurea,

qui semper vacuam, semper amabilem

sperat, nescius aurae

fallacis. Miseri, quibus

intemptata nites. Me tabula sacer

votiva paries indicat uvida

suspendisse potenti

vestimenta maris deo.

Quintus Horatius Flaccus (65-8 BC)

Carminum I: 5

TO PYRRHA

What slender youth, besprinkled and perfumed,

Upon a bed of roses clasps you, Pyrrha,

Now in the pleasant grotto?

For whom is your golden hair

Bound artfully plain? How oft of faith

And the changeful gods will he complain, and waters

Rough with the darkening winds

Will gaze upon in wonder,

Who, credulous, enjoys you now—pure gold,

Who always free, always alluring dreams

You`ll stay, not guessing how light

Winds change. Unhappy they

For whom, untried, you glitter. As for me,

That sacred wall with my vowed tablet shows

IVe hung up dripping garments

To the great god of the sea.

Pérsicos odi, puer, apparatus,

displicent nexae philyra coronae,

mitte sectari rosa quo locorum

sera moretur.

Simplici myrto nihil allabores

sedulus, curo: ñeque te ministrum

dedecet myrtus ñeque me sub arta

vite bibentern.

Horace, Carminum I: 38

SIMPLE MYRTLE

Ho, lad!

Persian trappings I disdain!

Your linden crowns are twined in vain.

Why hunt late roses at such pain

(Their numbers shrinking)?

Simple myrtle suits me fine-

Adorns your head, so why not mine?

As here beneath the twisted vine

I`m sitting

drinking!

. . . et factus est repente de cáelo sonus

tanquam advenientis spiritus vehementis,

et replevit totam domum

ubi erant sedentes.

Et apparuerunt illis dispertitae linguae

tanquam ignis,

seditque supra singulos eorum:

et repleti sunt omnes Spiritu sancto,

et coeperunt loqui variis linguis,

prout Spiritus sanctus dabat eloqui illis.

Acîus Apostolorum II: 1-4

THE GIFT OF TONGUES

Of a sudden from the heavens

Like a mighty rush of wind

Came a sound that filled the dwelling

Where they sat in calm of mind.

There they saw bright tongues of fire,

And on each man sat a flame,

For the Holy Spirit, breathing,

Filled them till, each one the same,

They in different tongues were speaking

As the Spirit through them came.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 1.1.2002
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft
• ISBN-10: 1-882528-39-5 / 1882528395
• ISBN-13: 978-1-882528-39-4 / 9781882528394