GR translation: Though thy Glass today be run

János Széky miksaapja at gmail.com
Fri May 13 06:19:26 CDT 2016


1. Yes, it's the Hand of God Almighty.
2. Although God is Almighty, you, personally, may (and surely will) die
before He can turn the time.
I don't remember where I read an analysis that said the logic derails from
the third line. A recommend translating the poem literally.

And congratulations!

2016-05-13 12:04 GMT+02:00 Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>:

>
>    - 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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