GR translation: Though thy Glass today be run

[Mark Kohut]

   - Elegy

Tichborne's *Elegy* (his rhyming, final soliloquy
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soliloquy> poem [10]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chidiock_Tichborne#cite_note-10> ), uses two
favorite Renaissance figures of speech - antithesis
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antithesis> and paradox
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox> - to crystallize the tragedy of the
poet's situation.Antithesis <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antithesis> means
setting opposites against each other: prime of youth / frost of cares (from
the first line). This is typical of Renaissance poetry, as for example in
Wyatt's "I find no peace, and all my war is done", with the lover
freezing/burning. We also see it in the poem by Elizabeth I, "I grieve and
dare not show my discontent", e.g., "I am and not, I freeze and yet am
burned."A paradox <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox> is a statement
which seems self-contradictory, yet is true, e.g., "My tale is heard, and
yet it was not told", or "My glass is full, and now my glass is run."Often
a Renaissance poem will begin with antithesis to establish circumstances
and reveal its themes through paradox..

The *Elegy* is remarkable for being written almost entirely in monosyllables
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syllables> (every word in the poem is of one
syllable, with ten words in each line
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_(poetry)>, Monostich
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monostich> style), with the possible
exception of the word "fallen". However, in early editions it was written
as "fall'n" which is monosyllabic <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syllables>.
[11] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chidiock_Tichborne#cite_note-11>

The *Elegy* has inspired many *homages* and 'answers' including those by
Jonathon Robin at allpoetry.com ; a rap version by David A More at
www.marlovian.com ; *After Reading Tichborne's Elegy* by Dick Allen
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Allen_(poet)> (2003) and an affecting
reworking by Nick Montfort <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Montfort> called
Tichborne's Lexicon, which is an alphabetical list of the words in the
Elegy (http://nickm.com/poems/#riddles). The *Elegy* has also been set to
music many times from the Elizabethan era to the present day by, among
others, Michael East, Richard Alison (fl1580-1610, in *An Hour's Recreation
in musicke*, 1606), John Mundy
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Mundy_(composer)> (1592) and
Charles-François
Gounod <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles-Fran%C3%A7ois_Gounod> (1873)
and more recently Norman Dello Joio (1949) and Jim Clark (see [1]
<http://wn.com/Tichborne's_Elegy_Poem_animation>).

On Fri, May 13, 2016 at 5:02 AM, Jochen Stremmel <jstremmel at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I'm surely not the only one on the list to know this great poem:
>
> My prime of youth, is but a frost of Cares,
> My feast of joy, is but a dish of pain,
> My Crop of Corn is but a field of tares,
> And all my good is but vain hope of gain:
>     The day is past, and yet I saw no Sun,
>     And now I live, and now my life is done.
>
> The Spring is past, and yet it hath not sprung;
> The fruit is dead, and yet the leaves are green:
> My youth is gone, and yet I am but young:
> I saw the world, and yet I was not seen.
>     My thread is cut, and yet it is not spun:
>     And now I live, and now my life is done.
>
> I sought my death, and found it in my womb,
> I look'd for life, and saw it was a shade:
> I trod the earth, and knew it was my tomb,
> And now I die, and now I am but made.
>     The glass is full, and now my glass is run,
>     And now I live, and now my life is done.
>
> I wonder if you have to be not a native speaker to recognize what it makes
> so special.
>
> 2016-05-13 9:22 GMT+02:00 Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>:
>
>> V760.28-35, P776.1-8
>> There is a Hand to turn the time,
>> Though thy Glass today be run,
>> Till the Light that hath brought the Towers low
>> Find the last poor Pret’rite one . . .
>> Till the Riders sleep by ev’ry road,
>> All through our crippl’d Zone,
>> With a face on ev’ry mountainside,
>> And a Soul in ev’ry stone. . . .
>>
>> I assume the "Glass" means hourglass, is that correct?
>>
>> Also, is the "Hand" the Hand of God?  And what exactly is the sense of
>> "Though" here?
>>
>
>
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