Author Topic: KR Poems  (Read 13523 times)

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Naslednik Norvezhskiy

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KR Poems
« on: January 30, 2010, 10:08:11 PM »
I was surprised to see that there was no thread devoted to KR's poetry!
I had managed a half-good translation of his beautiful "Колокола", Bells, but have since lost it. If anybody with good Russian skills wants to try their genius at translating some of his poems, they can be found here: http://www.litera.ru/stixiya/authors/kr.html

Here is my rough translation of one poem to cheer us up in the middle of winter. I also Romanized it (NB scientific transliteration), so those not so familar with the Cyrillic alphabet better can read the original Russian and appreciate the rhymes. Feel feel to improve the translation!

ВЕСНОЙ = VESNOJ = IN SPRING
Д. А. Муринову = D. A. Murinovu = To? D.A. Murinov?
 
Вешние воды бегут... Засиневшее
Небо пригрело поля.
Зимнее горе, давно наболевшее,
Выплакать хочет земля.
=
Veshnie vody begut... Zasinevshee
Nebo prigrelo polja.
Zimnee gore, davno nabolevshee,
Vyplakat' khochet zemlja.
=
Vernal waters are running... turning blue
The sky has lukewarmed the fields.
For the mountain, winter became pining long ago,
The ground wants to sob out.


Зори полночные, негою томною
Млея, гоните вы прочь
Тысячезвездную, холодно-темную,
Долгую зимнюю ночь.
=
Zori polnochnye, negoju tomnoju
Mleja, gonite vy proch'
Tysjachezvezdnuju, kholodno-temnuju,
Dolguju zimnjuju noch'.
=
Dawns of starry brilliance at midnight
Being thrilled, you drive away
The thousand-starred, cold-dark,
Long winter night.


Ласточки, жаждой свиданья влекомые,
Милые дети весны,
Нам вы, вернувшися в гнезда знакомые,
Счастья навеете сны.
=
Lastochki, zhazhdojj svidan'ja vlekomye,
Milye deti vesny,
Nam vy, vernuvshisja v gnezda znakomye,
Schast'ja naveete sny.
=
Swallows attracted by the thirst for meeting,
Lovely children of spring,
Having returned to familar nests,
You bring happyness to our dreams.


Яблоня, снег отряхнув, белоснежною
Ризой цветов убрана;
О, как пленительна свежестью нежною,
Как благовонна она!
=
Jablonja, sneg otrjakhnuv, belosnezhnoju
Rizojj cvetov ubrana;
O, kak plenitel'na svezhest'ju nezhnoju,
Kak blagovonna ona!
=
The apple-tree, having shaken off the snow, snow-white
With a shining coat it is adorned;
Oh, how bewitching is the tender freshness,
how pleasant does it smell!


Грей ты нас, солнце; сияй ослепительно
Стуже на смену и тьме;
Дай насладиться весной упоительной,
Дай позабыть о зиме.
=
Grejj ty nas, solnce; sijajj oslepitel'no
Stuzhe na smenu i t'me;
Dajj nasladit'sja vesnojj upoitel'nojj,
Dajj pozabyt' o zime.
=
Heat you us, sun; shine dazzlingly
On the icy frost on change and on the darkness;
Allow us to take pleasure in the spring delightful,
Allow us to forget about winter.


4 мая 1902, Мраморный дворец = 4 maja 1902, Mramornyjj dvorec = 4th of May 1902, the Marble Palace
« Last Edit: January 30, 2010, 10:11:51 PM by Tainyi Sovetnik »

Offline Svetabel

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Re: KR Poems
« Reply #1 on: February 02, 2010, 08:36:34 AM »
I was surprised to see that there was no thread devoted to KR's poetry!
I had managed a half-good translation of his beautiful "Колокола", Bells, but have since lost it. If anybody with good Russian skills wants to try their genius at translating some of his poems, they can be found here: http://www.litera.ru/stixiya/authors/kr.html



Poetry is such a difficult thing to translate. Even with my native Russian and more or less adequate English I probably shall  never risk to translate poetry : )

abbigail

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Re: KR Poems
« Reply #2 on: February 07, 2010, 08:14:56 AM »
Great poem! Have you translated others? That one was really beautiful.

Offline Ally Kumari

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Re: KR Poems
« Reply #3 on: February 07, 2010, 10:01:05 AM »
I read somewhere KR dedicated one of his poems to Grand Duchess Ella. Would love to read that one if possible...

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Re: KR Poems
« Reply #4 on: February 07, 2010, 01:23:44 PM »
Swallows attracted by the thirst for meeting,
Lovely children of spring,
Having returned to familiar nests,
You bring happiness to our dreams
.

Wonderful! Thank you for the translation!

"Give my love to all who remember me."

  Olga Nikolaevna

Naslednik Norvezhskiy

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Re: KR Poems
« Reply #5 on: February 07, 2010, 07:02:35 PM »
Poetry is such a difficult thing to translate. Even with my native Russian and more or less adequate English I probably shall  never risk to translate poetry : )
I know, it takes a poet to translate poetry. So I don't consider these feeble attempts at KR's poems real translations, as they are totally unmetric, but just summaries or glimpses into the content.

I read somewhere KR dedicated one of his poems to Grand Duchess Ella. Would love to read that one if possible...
Here it is:

* * *
Великой княгине Елисавете Феодоровне = Velikoj knjagine Elisavete Feodorovne = To Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna

Я на тебя гляжу, любуясь ежечасно:
Ты так невыразимо хороша!
О, верно под такой наружностью прекрасной
Такая же прекрасная душа!
=
Ja na tebja gljazhu, ljubujas' ezhechasno:
Ty tak nevyrazimo horosha!
O, verno pod takoj naruzhnost'ju prekrasnoj
Takaja zhe prekrasnaja dusha!
=
I look at you, admiring you every hour:
You are so indescribably beautiful!
Oh, right under such a beautiful appearance
The same beautiful soul!



Какой-то кротости и грусти сокровенной
В твоих очах таится глубина;
Как ангел, ты тиха, чиста и совершенна;
Как женщина, стыдлива и нежна.
=
Kakoj-to krotosti i grusti sokrovennoj
V tvoih ochah taitsja glubina;
Kak angel, ty tiha, chista i sovershenna;
Kak zhenshhina, stydliva i nezhna.
=
Some inner gentleness and sadness
In your eyes is a hidden depth;
Like an angel you are quiet, pure and perfect;
As a woman, tender and demure.



Пусть на земле ничто средь зол и скорби многой
Твою не запятнает чистоту,
И всякий, увидав тебя, прославит Бога,
Создавшего такую красоту!
=
Pust' na zemle nichto sred' zol i skorbi mnogoj
Tvoju ne zapjatnaet chistotu,
I vsjakij, uvidav tebja, proslavit Boga,
Sozdavshego takuju krasotu!
=
Let nothing on the earth amid the many evils and sorrows
Stain your purity,
And anyone seeing you, should glorify God,
Who gave such beauty!


24 сентября 1884, село Ильинское = 24 sentjabrja 1884, selo Il'inskoe = 24th of September 1884, Illinskoe village.

Quite fitting and clairvoyant of KR, I must say. Unfortunately the perhaps most interesting verse, the second one, is also the one which is most problematic to translate. I can't quite figure out the syntactic connection between the first and second line, so native Russian speakers please help! Is the gentleness and sadness also hidden in her eyes?
Also is it correct to translate "как" both as "like" and "as" in the third and fourth lines of that verse? It's a bit feministically charged as there is a difference between "tender and demure like a woman" and "as (a) woman, tender and demure"! :-)
« Last Edit: February 07, 2010, 07:11:50 PM by Rœrik »

abbigail

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Re: KR Poems
« Reply #6 on: February 07, 2010, 07:17:41 PM »
That's sooo beautiful...I like how elegant the words used are. It's an interesting style.

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Re: KR Poems
« Reply #7 on: February 07, 2010, 10:24:55 PM »
I look at you, admiring you every hour

Rœrik, you speak of the difficulty, but between KR and yourself,
GREAT beauty  and feeling shines though these lines ! Marvelous!
  Thank you for these"glimpses" !
 


"Give my love to all who remember me."

  Olga Nikolaevna

Nicola De Valeron

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Re: KR Poems
« Reply #8 on: February 08, 2010, 02:22:34 AM »
Rœrik, not bad. For the person, for whom English and Russian are not native languages - even good!

I have a question to more trained experts of K.R. Does anybody know about his professional poetry translations to English? Are there any serious books about K.R. poetry in English in the U.S.A? In Britain?

I'm asking, because I have a tempting idea (thanks to Rœrik) about these translations. I love to write sometimes amateur poetry and to translate, just for myself (not on professional level). Then, if K.R. has no translations and publications, I have a challenge to try these translations and to raise my level.

Naslednik Norvezhskiy

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Re: KR Poems
« Reply #9 on: February 08, 2010, 02:45:37 AM »
Rœrik, not bad. For the person, for whom English and Russian are not native languages - even good!
Thanks! Though I hope everybody realizes that I used Google Translate and dictionaries. I can identify words and phrases in Russian, but I don't know the language.

Quote
I'm asking, because I have a tempting idea (thanks to Rœrik) about these translations. I love to write sometimes amateur poetry and to translate, just for myself (not on professional level). Then, if K.R. has no translations and publications, I have a challenge to try these translations and to raise my level.
That would be great! Hope you post them here!

Quote
I have a question to more trained experts of K.R. Does anybody know about his professional poetry translations to English? Are there any serious books about K.R. poetry in English in the U.S.A? In Britain?
I'm no expert, but I've never seen any. I think the reason is that KR actually wasn't such a great poet. Yes, a good rhymer or "rhyme smith" and we enjoy his poems because we know who he was and the people and places he wrote about, but his poetry is of course nothing like Pushkin and his likes. KR depends too much upon abstract words and ideas and nouns instead of verbs and partially therefore his poetry is lacking in striking and imaginative poetic images.

(Good poetry is nearly always concrete. I hope the creative people who write poems about the Romanovs in the Having Fun section will be inspired both by KR and his shortcomings. It's very tempting to just throw in a lot of abstract adjectives and nouns, when in fact the best poetry is very concrete and shows instead of telling: "Do you still play on the swing or has it already broken?" (which is melancholic in the context of captivity and Siberian exile) was the only lyrical line I remembered after having read the NAOTMAA fan poems and that line was written by one of the Grand Duchesses!)

Of course, KR's poems might be very linguistically creative to a Russian ear, but that I can't judge.

« Last Edit: February 08, 2010, 02:53:51 AM by Rœrik »

Nicola De Valeron

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Re: KR Poems
« Reply #10 on: February 08, 2010, 03:09:37 AM »
Thanks for the answer, Rœrik. I promise you, that I'll try to post here some of his best poems in the near future. The problem is that I'm not a personal fan of his poetry.;) But, anyway, I like to try.

By the way, of course he was not a great poet!;) He wrote in a typical later romanticism/classical Russian academical key (Pushkin, Lermontov, and so on...). Nothing from difficult for an unprepared ear/strong man like poetry: from my favourite greatest Russian poet Brodsky, to Blok, Mayakovsky, Mandelstam, and others.. Typical beautiful/"straight in rhythm" poetry for his times.

Offline Ally Kumari

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Re: KR Poems
« Reply #11 on: February 08, 2010, 03:14:03 AM »
Thank you so much for that poem! It really seems Ella charmed the Grand Duke. That has to be one fo the most beautiful poems I´ve read.

Naslednik Norvezhskiy

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Re: KR Poems
« Reply #12 on: February 08, 2010, 05:17:29 AM »
By the way, of course he was not a great poet!;) He wrote in a typical later romanticism/classical Russian academical key
Exactly, academical is the right word! Only conventional topics like the beauty of spring and women etc. How interesting wouldn't it be to see a poem about his male lovers!

Anekezout

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Re: KR Poems
« Reply #13 on: March 13, 2010, 05:54:45 AM »
Do you know the six poems(romances) with music of Tchaikovsky op 63 published in 1888?  The most famous is Serenada

The most beautiful voice is:
Zara Dolukhanova
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3U9ZcOZxa90&feature=related
other
Galina Vishnevskaya
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e72EnuxlCzw&feature=related
other
Anna Kazakova
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyZfrSyj39Q&feature=related
The only CD I have found and buy
Ljuba Kazarnoskaya
http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.555371


Nicola De Valeron

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Re: KR Poems
« Reply #14 on: April 20, 2010, 07:35:35 PM »
Here is the beautiful little K.R. poem, which I translated. It was rather hard to translate, because of the K.R's straight common academical style. But, anyway, I think that this is rather beautiful both in Russian and English. Of course I translated it not just as a "copy", but closer to original with some little changes. The original poem is the property of it's/their respective owners. This is only my free translation.

"To S. A. Philosofova.

Do you remember it? One time, in days gone by,
We both together wandered to the pond,
A goldfish played in water nearby
And water lilies were beautifully blow.
We took a seat on bench just side by side,
Distractedly watching with the tired look
The playful distant flight of butterfly...
Above us skys were turning into blue,
And covering us with linden tint,
With tangled net he drawn
The traceries in the sand; being smelling sweet,
A bush of roses near us were opening just in a row...
And how the warm and sunny day it was!
Without words we just enjoyed the peace,
But heart was even ached and almost lost,
As like before impending grief.
And being anticipated with the future sorrow
Soul, timidly, was in a rush to life,
To closeness of the separation follow
Just for a moment to delay it with it's arrive.

Athens
March 30, 1883"


"С. А. Философовой

Вы помните ль? Однажды, в дни былые,
К пруду мы с вами в полдень забрели,
В воде играли рыбки золотые
И белые кувшинчики цвели.
Мы на скамью уселись с вами рядом,
Рассеянно следя усталым взглядом
Игривый пестрых бабочек полет...
Над нами зеленел тенистый свод
И, липовым нас цветом осыпая,
Затейливою сетью рисовал
Узоры по песку; благоухая,
Куст алых роз вблизи нас расцветал...
И так тепло, и солнечно так было!
Без слов мы наслаждались тишиной,
Но сердце все ж сжималося и ныло,
Как бы перед грозящею бедой.
И предвкушая будущие муки,
Душа, робея, торопилась жить,
Чтоб близость неминуемой разлуки,
Хоть на одно мгновенье, отдалить."

Афины
30 марта 1883"