: Philip Cranston
: Tones/Countertones: English Translations, Adaptations, Imitations and Transformations of Short Poetic Texts from the Latin, Italian, French, Spanish, and German. A Bilingual Editio
: Digitalia
: 9781882528394
: 1
: CHF 62.90
:
: Kunst, Literatur
: English
: 174
: DRM
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: 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: 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.
Contents10
10
10
2010
Translator's Note22
Vergil (c. 70-19 BC) From the Aeneid I37
'Cithara crinitus lopas'37
lopas38
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 I43
Ad Pyrrham43
To Pyrrha44
'Persicos odi, puer, apparatus'45
Simple Myrtle46
New Testament From the Acts of the Apostles47
'. . .et factus est repente de caelo sonus'47
The Gift of Tongues48
Chrétien de Troyes (c. 1135-c. 1183) From Le Chevalier au lion49
49
49
4949
Conjuncture/Coupling50
Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) From La Vita nuova51
'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 V55
'Siede la terra dove nata fui'55
Francesca da Rimini56
Francesco Petrarca (1304-1374) From Le Rime59
'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 Rime73
'O glorioso Re, che'l ciel governi'73
'O King of glory governing the skies'74
Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) From Le Rime75
'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 Casandra77
'Dicen que me case yo'77
Cassandra's Song78
Mellin de Saint-Gelais (1491-1558) From Voltaire's Leningrad Notebooks79
'Tandis que madame dormait'79
'Madame in the arms of sleep'80
Clément Marot (1496-1544) From Œuvres diverses81
De Frère Lubin81
Concerning Good Brother Lubin82
Joachim du Bellay (1522-1560) From L'Olive83
'Si notre vie est moins qu'une journée'83
'And if our life is less than one short day'84
From Les Regrets85
'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 Marie87
'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 Hélène89
'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 I91
Le Corbeau et le Renard91
The Crow and the Fox92
Charles Dusfresny (1654-1724) From Voltaire's Leningrad Notebooks93
Phyllis et Lisandre93
Phyllis and Lysander94
Voltaire (1694-1778) From Les Lettres philosophiques95
'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 I97
Der König in Thule97
The King in Thule98
'Erhabner Geist, du gabst mir, gabst mir alles'99
'Spirit sublime, you gave me, gave me all'100
From Iphigenie auf Tauris101
'Heraus in eure Schatten, rege Wipfel'101
'Out beneath your shadows, quivering tree-tops'102
From Die Lieder103
Wandrers Nachtlied103
Wanderer's Nightsong104
Ugo Foscolo (1778-1827) From Poesie105
Forse perché della fatal quiete105
Perhaps because you are the image of that peace106
Joseph von Eichendorff (1788-1857) From Geistliche Gedichte107
Mondnacht107
Moonlit Night108
Giacomo Leopardi (1798-1837) From / Canti109
L'Infinito109
The Infinite110
Alla Luna111
To the Moon112
Alfred de Musset (1810-1857) From Poésie Nouvelles113
'Qu'il est doux d'être au monde . . .'113
'How sweet the earth, and life—how great a good!'114
Rappelle-toi115