Poems by Rilke- Poems Found in Translation- Translated by A Z Foreman

Poems Found in Translation: “Rilke: Archaic Torso of Apollo (From German)” plus 1 more

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Rilke: Archaic Torso of Apollo (From German) Posted: 13 Apr 2016 01:35 PM PDT The interpretation of this poem is complex, to say the least. I have decided to follow my own sense of how it relates to vision, to the inversion of observed and observer, to oracularity and much else, in my translation. My notes are mostly just philological in nature, intended only to give an understanding of how I read the German at the lexical level in a few cases which may not be especially obvious.  Archaic Torso of Apollo By Rainer Maria Rilke Translated by A.Z. Foreman We never knew the epic head of sight wherein the round eyes ripened. Even so his torso still glows like a gas streetlight in which his gaze has merely been turned low and persists, gleaming. If not, the chest's bare curve could not dazzle you, nor could the loin swerve a smile down into that center where begetting was begotten in the groin. If not, this stone would stand cut short with strife   and maimed beneath the shoulders’ clear, cut case, and would not shimmer like a wild beast's fur, and would not burst forth like a blazing star from all its boundaries: for there is no place that does not see you. You must change your life. Archaïscher Torso Apollos Rainer Maria Rilke Click here to hear me recite the original Wir kannten nicht sein unerhörtes Haupt, darin die Augenäpfel reiften. Aber sein Torso glüht noch wie ein Kandelaber, in dem sein Schauen, nur zurückgeschraubt, sich hält und glänzt. Sonst könnte nicht der Bug der Brust dich blenden, und im leisen Drehen der Lenden könnte nicht ein Lächeln gehen zu jener Mitte, die die Zeugung trug. Sonst stünde dieser Stein entstellt und kurz unter der Schultern durchsichtigem Sturz und flimmerte nicht so wie Raubtierfelle; und brächte nicht aus allen seinen Rändern aus wie ein Stern: denn da ist keine Stelle, die dich nicht sieht. Du mußt dein Leben ändern. Notes: L1: Unerhört translated literally lexeme by lexeme means "unheard-of", and has a whiff of "legendary." Other translators of this sonnet have chosen things of this kind: unheard-of, legendary, fabled etc. However, the word also suggests something excessive, tremendous, beyond precedent, above and beyond. In some contexts it might mean "outrageous" as when describing a high price. For some reason, the English term "epic" comes to mind. I'm not entirely sure why, but I like what it does in the English. L2: Augenäpfel literally means "eye-apples" and many translators have rendered it thus, but it is in fact a normal and unremarkable way of saying "eyeball" in German. Rilke is capitalizing on the dead metaphor by introducing reiften "ripened." L3: Kandelaber can mean candelabrum, and most translators have taken it to mean that. But here, it refers to a gaslit streetlight, of the sort that dotted cities in the early 20th century, so named in German because they were commonly shaped in a way reminiscent of candelabra. The gaze is thus zurückgeschraubt "turned/dialed down" as a gaslight's flame would be turned down, but not necessarily off, during the day. L10: Sturz is normally "fall, plunge, drop" and has, without exception I believe, been so translated. It has two further meanings, however. Sturz was a common synonym for "torso" in sculpture. In common usage it also referred, as it still does in Austria, to a glass cover, or belljar, which would be transparent and reveal its contents even as it covers them.

Rilke: The Panther (From German) Posted: 13 Apr 2016 03:16 AM PDT The Panther By Rainer Maria Rilke Translated by A.Z. Foreman Click to here me recite the original German His gaze has been so worn from the procession of bars, that there is nothing it can hold. There are a thousand bars in his impression; and there behind a thousand bars, no world. The powerful soft footsteps' supple movement turned in the tightest circle of them all is like a dance of strength about a center wherein a mighty will stands stunned in stall. Only at times the pupil's soundless curtain is reeled away, letting an image start inward through the taut silence of his sinews and come to nothing in the heart. The Original: Der Panther Sein Blick ist vom Vorübergehen der Stäbe so müd geworden, daß er nichts mehr hält. Ihm ist, als ob es tausend Stäbe gäbe und hinter tausend Stäben keine Welt. Der weiche Gang geschmeidig starker Schritte, der sich im allerkleinsten Kreise dreht, ist wie ein Tanz von Kraft um eine Mitte, in der betäubt ein großer Wille steht. Nur manchmal schiebt der Vorhang der Pupille sich lautlos auf—. Dann geht ein Bild hinein, geht durch der Glieder angespannte Stille— und hört im Herzen auf zu sein.