The Fire and Ice of Love, from French Poet Ronsard
It is moments like this when I wish I was an expert in French. But? I’m learning through the translation of poetry (and writing it).
With a Ronsard poem from the 1500s, which puts the verse around the early modern French period, I’m guessing that some of what I’m seeing is, well, older in character. No matter. The exercise is still worthy. And I am getting some fire and ice far before Robert Frost offered his.
If you want a full translation of the poem by a native French speaker, feel free to travel elsewhere. Mine is a personal exercise. I make no promises of perfection.
First, Ronsard’s French Fire & Ice
Qui voudra voir comme Amour me surmonte
Comme il m’assaut, comme il se fait vainquer,
Comme il r’enflamme et r’englace mon coeur,
Comme il reçoit un honneur de ma honte;
Qui voudra voir une jeunesse pronte
À suivre en vain l’objet de son malheur,
Me vienne lire: il verra la douleur
Dont ma Déesse et mon Dieu ne font conte.
Il connaîtra qu’Amour est sans raison,
Un doux abus, une belle prison,
Un vain espoir qui de vent nous vient paître;
Et connaîtra que l’homme se deçoit
Quand plein d’erreur un aveugle il reçoit
Pour sa conduite, un enfant pour son maître.
Second, Some Key Words I Learned
It is always a surprise to me when I already know some words I’m encountering in a foreign text. It’s a relief and an encouragement to realize that the years have given me some French I never lost. Like comme and voir and lire and pour and more.
The following words were new to me. Poetry, because it rhymes, and because it offers context, helped me learn these words quite quickly. I love learning through poetry!
surmonte-overcome, surmount
assaut-assault
vainquer-victor
honte-shame
jeunesse-youth
Déesse-goddess
conte-tale
doux-sweet, soft
abus-excess, overindulgence
espoir-hope
paître-graze
aveugle-blind
maître-master
I am still looking for the meaning of pronte, which I am going to hazard a guess for based on my Spanish: pronto, which can mean readily or swiftly. Neither my dictionary nor any online translators otherwise had a clue.
Third, My Ronsard Amour Attempt
Whoever wants to see how Love surmounts me
How it assaults me, how it is a victor over me
How it inflames and ices my heart
How it receives the honor of my shame;
Whoever wants to see a youth readily
Follow, in vain, the object of his misfortune
Come read me: he will see the pain
that neither my goddess nor my god will tell of
He will know that Love is without reason,
a sweet excess, a beautiful prison,
a vain hope of the wind we come to graze upon
And he will know that man deceives himself
When, full of blind error he receives
For his doings, a spoiled child for his master.
—l.l.b. translation of pierre de ronsard
See all Words to Travel By posts…
Photo by Gerald Berliner, Creative Commons, via Unsplash.
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Katie Spivey Brewster says
Laura,
This paragraph resonated: “It is always a surprise to me when I already know some words I’m encountering in a foreign text. It’s a relief to realize that the years have given me some French I never lost.”
While I certainly cannot claim any degree of fluency in French, I am happy to have retained a bit from three years of it in high school;)
L.L. Barkat says
Yay, Katie! 🙂
And you may know more French than you think. Now that I’m spending more time with it, it’s been fun to discover how many English and French words are either exactly alike or very close. Examples:
gratitude: la gratitude
indecision: l’indécision
incredible: incroyable
scintillating: le scintillant
It’s fascinating to compare.
Katie Spivey Brewster says
Yes, so cool:)