5 CONCLUSION (Part 22)
5 CONCLUSION (Part 22 – end of chapter)
By analyzing all the books and poems we have translated and the samples provided above, for some of which we have supplied a second translation for comparison, we believe that we have met our own expectations of the re-creation of Whitman’s poetry into our language. Even though it is very difficult to criticize our own work, for we may fall prey to self-praise, by comparing our re-created poetic texts to other existing translations, it becomes clear that our approach to this task is at least different from the usual literal or almost literal translations, especially in regard to rhythm, as we have emphasized at the beginning of this chapter. We have been able to maintain the flow of the poems and we feel that their reading aloud shall show this, because we are constantly testing how they sound. What we mean by this is that we have always tried to find the best possible combination of sounds in each verse or parts of verse. Our purpose in this, it is not to make the verses sound beautiful, but to set the best phonic combination to transmit the sense of the verse in English. There are cases in which the effect might be exactly the opposite, that is, to describe scenes where evil thoughts and diseases are present. Besides, we have performed a careful work on vocabulary, so that the passages or words in the original that convey a sense of strangeness could be transmitted in Portuguese that way. However, there is more than just strangeness: Whitman liked to use words borrowed from other languages, such as French, Spanish and native American languages (ex.: savant, Libertad, Paumanok), he liked to write words with “k” (Kanadian, kosmos), and he sometimes changed the spelling of words (he wrote “carlacue” in section 20 of “Song of Myself,” but the correct spelling is “curlicue” or “curlicue”). Together with his extensive vocabulary in Leaves of Grass, more than 13,000 words, the task of researching and checking every single word is tremendous. In this case, the Norton Critical Edition (WHITMAN, 2002) has been of great help with its incredible number of notes to poems and vocabulary. We have done the same thorough action regarding grammatical structures and punctuation, as well as Whitman’s way of using certain collocations, particularly with adjectives, which he tends to use where they do not fit in correct English (he likes to use adjectives after the nouns, which is not considered syntactically acceptable in the English language). As in Portuguese the adjectives can go before or after the nouns, we have always tried to arrange them in the best way possible, that is, to maintain the original atmosphere of the poems. Another aspect that we have re-created with utmost care is the use of the –ing forms, whether they are verbs or nouns, since they are an essential part of Whitman’s verse.
5 CONCLUSION (Part 21)
5 CONCLUSION (Part 21)
From “The Sleepers” we bring the passage that is mentioned in section 2.5.2, which depicts a swimmer’s death by sea water. As we have explained in that section, Whitman was a swimmer himself, and this scene portrays the death of a swimmer that is similar to the death of Carpus in the myth when competing with his friend Calamus, who died shortly after this event (2.5.1). As Whitman saw himself in everyone, it could be argued that the swimmer described in the scene is also a manifestation or projection of his own self, since the swimmer in the passage below is big, like him, and middle-aged. Although Whitman was thirty-seven years old at that time (“The Sleepers” was part of the 1855 edition, in which the poet sings in part 1 of “Song of Myself”: “I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin”), he was prematurely aged enough to look forty-five. As for the poem, it describes Whitman’s vision in his dream, in which he can see the dreams of the other dreamers. However, he also wanders during the day in the light. He is conscious of light and dark, life and death, and is content with both. He always accepts everything and everybody and excludes nothing.
5 CONCLUSION (Part 20)
5 CONCLUSION (Part 20)
From “Passage to India,” published in 1871, we bring two excerpts to illustrate what the true son of God, the poet, is singing: God’s purpose. This means that in this poem he is not singing the materials of his America or the earth, he is going beyond geography and culture since he has seen that the earth is to be all linked together, towards what is universal and eternal: the soul, and its divinity and connection with the Creator. He includes the great achievements of his time; however, he is sailing much farther than that, he is asking his soul to sail “the seas of God.” As we have stated at the comment on “Salut au Monde!,” we have the feeling that this poem is a continuation of that one, but at another degree of awareness, passing from material, from what is seen and physical, to the immaterial, to the unseen and spiritual. I would not dare to say metaphysical because the poet himself wrote in a note that there is nothing philosophical about “Passage to India,” because it is focused on “evolution” (WHITMAN, 2002, p.345).
5 CONCLUSION (Part 19)
5 CONCLUSION (Part 19)
“Memories of President Lincoln” was composed in the weeks after Lincoln’s assassination on April 14, 1865, and was published together with Drum-Taps that same year. Everything that Whitman presents in the poem “When Lilacs…” actually took place: the “great star”, Venus, excessively low in the sky, the lilacs blooming at every dooryard, the bird singing, the processions throughout the United States, the coffin being taken to many cities, the cloud over the President after his second inauguration, as he appeared on the Capitol portico (seen or heard and recorded by Whitman), the atmosphere of fear. Everything was uncommonly strange during that month. In The Solitary Singer (1955, chapter VIII), Allen portrays this period in the life of Washington, Whitman and the Nation in great detail as well as Whitman does in the poem. As for our work in this section, we do not intend to present any passages from “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d;” we only want to stress the extreme difficulty to re-create its title, which in Portuguese became too long: “Da Última Vez Que Lilases Floriram no Pátio.” However, it is one that mirrors the original, which is also made up of two sound/sense units. In English they are divided or separated by “in,” and in Portuguese by “Que,” which also begins the second part. We tried many variables, but it was very hard to find one that carried all the meaning and at the same time sounded well. As it is a sad and sweet elegy, it must be read in a smooth and calm tone. In this way, we may feel the sounds echoing in each other through the line. In this way, the title can sound very well in Portuguese, because it carries in itself the tearing apart, the grieving and the tiredness of the nation portrayed in the poem. On the other hand, we shall present two stanzas from “Oh Captain! My Captain!,” which is a very rare piece in Whitman’s poetry, mostly written in iambs (verses with short/unstressed syllables followed by long/stressed syllables), and dedicated to the same person addressed in “When Lilacs…” Naturally, we did the best to maintain the beating pulse and rhymes of the original, and, in comparison to it, we may say that the result is fairly good:
5 CONCLUSION (Part 18)
5 CONCLUSION (Part 18)
Although the “Sea-Drift” cluster comprises wonderful poems, such as “Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking” and “As I Ebb’d with the Ocean of Life,” as well as other beautiful poems, we have chosen one short poem and a stanza from another to include in this discussion. It does not mean that these poems are better than the others, but because they are great expressions of the poet in a very dense way, which is not typical of Whitman, who usually prefers longer and freer lines. The first, “Tears”, echoes the poet’s anxiety and loneliness at night. It is similar in tone and rhythm to another poem, “Trickle Drops”, from “Calamus,” included in section 3.5. Two Brazilian poets have inspired us in the re-creation of these poems: (João da) Cruz e Souza (1861-1898) and Augusto (de Carvalho Rodrigues) dos Anjos (1884-1914). The inspiration came from their well marked rhythm that has lingered in our memory, as well as their capacity for interweaving sounds in their poetry. The re-creation of the other poem quoted further on, “To the Man-of-War-Bird,” imposed itself by its strong and marked rhythm, a mix of decasyllables and alexandrines. The passage selected below has been translated in alexandrines, even the last line, which is a combination of a short verse of four syllables plus an alexandrine.
5 CONCLUSION (Part 17)
5 CONCLUSION (Part 17)
Now we give a quotation from part 1 of “A Broadway Pageant,” which is a poem to celebrate the parade down Broadway of the Japanese embassy in 1860, and to sing freedom and democracy in America. We have chosen this passage to show the beauty of these long lines (from part 1) that beat like a long and free percussion of the drums in a parade, and its mixing with the beating of the feet on the street and the voices from the crowds:
Leaves of Grass translated into Portuguese
Dear readers,
I have finally decided to publish my translation of Leaves of Grass into Portuguese on the Internet.
Therefore, I have created a blog called Poesia de Whitman (Whitman’s Poetry), where I have been posting the poems in the order that they appear in the Deathbed edition of Leaves of Grass.
