Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Portuguese term or phrase:
no curso leve do tempo pesado
English translation:
in the smooth course of turbulent time
Added to glossary by
Oliver Simões
This question was closed without grading. Reason: No acceptable answer
Jan 11, 2019 02:44
5 yrs ago
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Portuguese term
no curso leve do tempo pesado
Portuguese to English
Art/Literary
Poetry & Literature
Fernando Pessoa
It seems like "curso" refers to the course / running / passing of time. My difficulty here is how to translate the antonyms (leve, pesado) as related to the time and the passing of time.
It seems like the translation will be more effective if the opposing ideas are kept. Thank you in advance!
"Ah, sempre no curso leve do tempo pesado
A mesma forma de viver!
O mesmo modo inútil de estar enganado
Por crer ou por descrer!
Sempre, na fuga ligeira da hora que morre,
A mesma desilusão
Do mesmo olhar lançado do alto da torre
Sobre o plaino vão!
Saudade, esperança — muda o nome, fica
Só a alma vã
Na pobreza de hoje a consciência de ser rica
Ontem ou amanhã.
Sempre, sempre, no lapso indeciso e constante
Do tempo sem fim
O mesmo momento voltando improfícuo e distante
Do que quero em mim!
Sempre, ou no dia ou na noite, sempre — seja
Diverso — o mesmo olhar de desilusão
Lançado do alto da torre da ruína da igreja
Sobre o plaino vão!"
-- Fernando Pessoa
It seems like the translation will be more effective if the opposing ideas are kept. Thank you in advance!
"Ah, sempre no curso leve do tempo pesado
A mesma forma de viver!
O mesmo modo inútil de estar enganado
Por crer ou por descrer!
Sempre, na fuga ligeira da hora que morre,
A mesma desilusão
Do mesmo olhar lançado do alto da torre
Sobre o plaino vão!
Saudade, esperança — muda o nome, fica
Só a alma vã
Na pobreza de hoje a consciência de ser rica
Ontem ou amanhã.
Sempre, sempre, no lapso indeciso e constante
Do tempo sem fim
O mesmo momento voltando improfícuo e distante
Do que quero em mim!
Sempre, ou no dia ou na noite, sempre — seja
Diverso — o mesmo olhar de desilusão
Lançado do alto da torre da ruína da igreja
Sobre o plaino vão!"
-- Fernando Pessoa
Proposed translations
(English)
4 | in the slight course of onerous times | Katarina Peters |
3 | the weightless course of weighty time | Domini Lucas |
Change log
Jan 13, 2019 17:32: Oliver Simões Created KOG entry
Proposed translations
32 mins
in the slight course of onerous times
suggestion
2 hrs
the weightless course of weighty time
another suggestion
It seems balanced, providing you are happy with the repetitive weight. It also allows for the use of light further down if you decide to incorporate it into fuga ligeira.
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Note added at 2 hrs (2019-01-11 05:01:28 GMT)
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Sorry. I forgot the no. Partly because I think it depends on how you translate the rest of the first two sentences (and beyond). I am as yet unsure, but toying with amidst or within depending on how the rest flows.
It seems balanced, providing you are happy with the repetitive weight. It also allows for the use of light further down if you decide to incorporate it into fuga ligeira.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2019-01-11 05:01:28 GMT)
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Sorry. I forgot the no. Partly because I think it depends on how you translate the rest of the first two sentences (and beyond). I am as yet unsure, but toying with amidst or within depending on how the rest flows.
Discussion
My first reaction to your stormy-tempestuous translation is to ask whether, in terms of your comments elsewhere, it might be more creative translating than you usually prefer? I'm not definitively saying it does (I don't have your overview of the poems, in depth knowledge of Pessoa, etc), just posing the question in case it changes your thoughts. Purely because any value I can add is that if I came to the Portuguese poem cold, without any extra knowledge or conversation with you, it wouldn't be my first reaction to the Portuguese. But Katarina is probably more use to you on that front. My input is that of an outsider to the poems reading them for the first time.
a hora que morre: the dying hour; the fading hour
pobreza de hoje: poverty of the today (the present is poor)
consciência de ser rica ontem e amanhã: awareness of being rich yesterday and tomorrow
tempo sem fim: endless time
momento improfícuo e distante: useless and distant moment/ time
sempre, sempre: always, always
"Always, by day or by night, always, — be it
Varied — the same gaze of disillusionment
From the top of the tower of the church in ruins
Upon the useless plain!"
In the next-to-the-last line there seems to be a subtle reference to religion, which is also useless from his standpoint.
Does this make sense?