"Half of Life"Hung with yellow pears and full of wild roses the earth bows into the lake, O blessed swans, inebriated with kisses you dip your heads into the holy, sobering waters. Pity me, for where will I find, when it is winter, the flowers and where the sunshine and the shadows on the earth? The walls remain mute and cold, the weathervanes rattle in the wind.
better: "you dip the head (=das haupt, this is just ONE head) into the holy-sober water". (=heilignuechternes wasser, not "ernuechternd", the water is sober, not sobering - it is a very distinct use of this adjective.)
and
"shadows of the earth" (=schatten der erde)
and
"the walls stand (=stehen) speechless and cold" ("sprachlos" is not "taub".)
Guter Versuch dem Genie Hölderlins gerecht zu werden
HyperionAnBellarmin 1 year ago
"Half of Life"Hung with yellow pears and full of wild roses the earth bows into the lake, O blessed swans, inebriated with kisses you dip your heads into the holy, sobering waters. Pity me, for where will I find, when it is winter, the flowers and where the sunshine and the shadows on the earth? The walls remain mute and cold, the weathervanes rattle in the wind.
(translation J. Mueter)
Hallbergrussy 2 years ago
this translation is partly totally wrong.
better: "you dip the head (=das haupt, this is just ONE head) into the holy-sober water". (=heilignuechternes wasser, not "ernuechternd", the water is sober, not sobering - it is a very distinct use of this adjective.)
and
"shadows of the earth" (=schatten der erde)
and
"the walls stand (=stehen) speechless and cold" ("sprachlos" is not "taub".)
sminthurus 2 years ago
Comment removed
Hallbergrussy 2 years ago