"Poems... Poems everyone- the lad reckons he's a poet!"

2011-11-23T21:45:31Z

So one of the classes I found myself greatly enjoying - to my almost even greater surprise - was the one about modern German poetry. It helps that the teacher is very good and methodical, but we've also been workind with a (so far) quite nice selection of poetry.

One of my favorite poems that we've looked at, is Himbeerranken (Raspberry Tendrils) by Günter Eich. Can't find a good English translation online, alas, and I'm not really feeling up to translating poetry at this time of night...

Himbeerranken

Der Wald hinter den Gedanken,
die Regentropfen an ihnen
und der Herbst, der sie vergilben läßt –

ach, Himbeerranken aussprechen,
dir Beeren ins Ohr flüstern,
die roten, die ins Moos fielen.

Dein Ohr versteht sie nicht,
mein Mund spricht sie nicht aus,
Worte halten ihren Verfall nicht auf.

Hand in Hand zwischen undenkbaren Gedanken.
Im Dickicht verliert sich die Spur.
Der Mond schlägt sein Auge auf,
gelb und für immer.

Unfortunately, to next week we're reading another set of poems for the "Photography and Literature" class which I had a look at yesterday. And, alas, my newly sharpened skill at poetry interpretation fell apart more or less the moment I looked at the lines. Oh well, maybe once someone else has said something smart in class, I'll get an idea or two myself

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Pieces of text

2010-10-31T19:58:48Z

Some little quotes and tidbits I've saved from my class reading, so far. Most of it in Swedish, though there are English translations out there for all the classics.

JASON
Du plågas själv och delar samma kval.

MEDEA
Men smärtan lindras av att du ej ler.

- Medea

!!! That line of hers? Yes -That is the point of revenge.

Though it doesn't have quite the same ring in either of the English translations I checked online ( In non-Swedish here )

I'll cut the rest, to spare your flists

( Agamemnon )

I like the image it paints of Ares, the God of war. Chilling.

( Stabat mater dolorosa / Stod i sorg Guds moder )

I just really liked the sound of the Latin in that piece. In English at Wiki.

( Lagercrantz on Dante )

Well. I liked it?

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The Garden of Discordia

"Poems... Poems everyone- the lad reckons he's a poet!"

Pieces of text