GR translation: Though thy Glass today be run

Fri May 13 12:47:48 CDT 2016

You're a killjoy, Mark! 40 years ago I needed half a day and a night before
I realized that it was composed only of monosyllables – talk about laconism
in the face of death.

Not adequately translatable into any language I know ...

And, Mike, if I had been sure that you're definitely through I would have
congratulated as well!

Jochen

2016-05-13 18:49 GMT+02:00 kelber at mindspring.com <kelber at mindspring.com>:

> Yes, congratulations, Mike! What an accomplishment!
>
> Laura
>
> *Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE DROID*
>
>
> János Széky <miksaapja at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> 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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