viernes, 8 de marzo de 2013

QUEEN CHRISTINA - A TRANSLATION

Here is a beautiful translation from the Swedish of a nineteenth-century poem. 
I translated this little poem into English in August 2012,  Stenungsund Public Library, Västra Götaland Region, Sweden:


QUEEN CHRISTINA

A seventeenth-century tableau by Carl Snoilsky
Translated from the Swedish by Sandra Dermark

Through fully draped black velvet curtains,
the sun casts a fine ray of light.
In that sole note of light and colour,
dust-bunnies dance and move aright.

There’s, day and night, a mourning lady
by sorrow always torn apart.
A golden shrine holds her sole treasure:
her late beloved spouse’s heart.

A little girl of six is reading
kneeling before her skirt, below.
In those large steel-blue eyes resides
a strange, enchanting, eerie glow.

She turns, and turns, and turns the pages
of her book, but no fairy tales:
“The Great Gustavus killed at Lützen,
yet Protestant glory prevails”.

Rarely, precocious, clever glances
dart from the pages forth and back,
so coldly and curiously resting
upon the weeping one in black.

Knocks on the door are heard, it’s opened
quite carefully, and then our clan
of two is observed from the threshold
by an objective gentleman.

He wears black tights on legs developed,
collar and cuffs are lined with lace,
a goatee streaked, gray, white and worthy,
on his aged, venerable face.

He salutes them just like a courtier,
trying the lady to relieve,
but something tells that she’s his vassal:
appearances do not deceive.

Tears doth the dowager reply in,
then the blond child, on bended knee,
the serious gentleman approaches,
addressing her: “Your Majesty”.




4 comentarios:

  1. UTTAM
    At my first glance, I see:

    Contrast: Black velevet curtain, golden shrine... mayhaps suggesting that both the woman and girl, are not as they appear.

    Obvious historical contrast: “The Great Gustavus killed at Lützen,
    yet Protestant glory prevails”.
    To whom is the old man, Tilly or sth. Like that I assume, bowing? Is it to the young girl or the lady?
    Is it suggestive that one day, the girl learning as she appears, is to become as doleful as the lady, as both of them are Your Majesties, kind of subtle foreshadowing?

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    Respuestas
    1. Tilly was pushing up daisies he died in April 1632 the old man is Axel Oxenstierna.

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    2. No, that was the rhetorical lquestions I was raising. haha

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    3. Said Uttam
      My reply:
      The lady in black is Mary Eleanor Christina's mother Gustavus`s queen, Christina's mother Gustavus`s queen
      UTTAM: I know both of them, I just didn't want to go out of the poem.
      I: Remember that Oxenstierna tore mother and daughter apart because he worried that Christina would grow unstable in those mourning chambers?
      UTTAM: I just wanted to analyse the poem as one who has read for the first time might see it.

      Goodness, why won't I? I remember nearly everything.
      Just as I say, consider me as an English enthusiast who has read the poem fir the first time.
      UTTAM:
      Oblivious to the identities and historical background in it, just seeing the poetry of it, although my relative pverty when it comes to poem, might not make me an ideal critic.
      I: The poem depicts the very moment when the Regent tells Christina and Eleanor that he's going to separate them, because "it's best for both of them."
      UTTAM:
      ah yes, I have read the story in your blog a long long time ago. Ages ago.
      I: Eleanor would never forgive Axel for such a crushing blow. She needed her child for comfort.
      UTTAM: Ah yes, I can understand that.
      I: And, Uttam... "To whom is the old man, Like that I assume, bowing? Is it to the young girl or the lady?" To Christina. He thinks Eleanor is a madwoman... and even a traitor in league with Denmark and that she bangs her husband's corpse!
      UTTAM: So can one consider this salutaion as a foreshadowing of Christina's future?

      Since both are the queens he needs to address.

      Think of the larger picture.
      Yes

      The symbolism the poet might have used here.
      That the young queen might grow up to be just like her mother.

      And yet, both are his queens, howsoever different their attributes may be.

      But this is 1600s Sweden, not Dorne
      Eleanor is the Queen Mother, while Christina is the ruler of Sweden
      being an only child, there is no other heir
      And yes, Axel had sky-high hopes great expectations
      the only child of the Hero King of Lützen was raised like a bot
      *boy
      trained in the use of weapons and in statescraft instead of needlework
      like Arya, Brienne, and Oberyn's sand snakes

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