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ESL forum >
Message board > poetry translator
poetry translator
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Mariethe House
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poetry translator
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I want to translate a French poem into English. Does anyone know a link to a good poetry translator? Thanks a lot! Promise I will share the poem with you!
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28 Jun 2011
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Lancillotta:
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Try here:
Translation of poetry is one of the most difficult and challenging tasks for every translator.
So you can use that site to have an idea of the new text, but then you have to work on it .
I hope it helps,
Sabrina |
28 Jun 2011
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Mariethe House
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Merci Sophia et Sabrina ! I found what I was looking for!
Here is the poem in English
Sweetheart, let us see if the rose
that only this morning unfolded
its scarlet dress in the sun
has lost, at vesper-time,
the folds of its scarlet dress
and its colour, so like yours. Alas! See how rapidly,
Sweetheart, she has let
her beauty fall all over the place!
Nature is truly a cruel stepmother
when such a flower only lasts
from dawn to dusk! So if you hear me, Sweetheart,
while your age flowers
in its greenest newness,
gather, gather your youth.
Age will tarnish your beauty
as it has faded this flower. As you both speak good French  here is the original version: http://poesie.webnet.fr/lesgrandsclassiques/poemes/pierre_de_ronsard/mignonne_allons_voir_si_la_rose.html
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28 Jun 2011
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yanogator
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Mariethe, It is so beautiful and sad. I find it interesting that the translation changes the order of the last two lines. It does make it sound more natural in English, but poetic license allows unusual word order. The main reason I �m writing, though, is to ask if the word "faded" in the last line is in the original. I don �t know French at all, but I could follow the words fairly well until I got to the end, and there seems to be only one verb (plus the auxilliary, of course) in the French. It looks to me like it says, "Like this flower, age will tarnish your beauty". Again, this is just the logical mathematician "figuring it out", rather that someone who knows anything, so I could be totally wrong. Thanks, Bruce |
28 Jun 2011
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I am glad you liked it!