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Philip Cranston
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Tones/Countertones: English Translations, Adaptations, Imitations and Transformations of Short Poetic Texts from the Latin, Italian, French, Spanish, and German. A Bilingual Editio
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Digitalia
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9781882528394
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1
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CHF 62.90
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174
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DRM
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PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
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PDF
Tones/Counterto es 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/Counterto es, offering a broad sampling of Western literatures of diverse periods, is . . . in every respect remarkable: at once translation and poetry.”
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: 5TO 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: 38SIMPLE 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: 1-4THE 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.
Contents 10 10 10 20 10 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 49 49 49 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