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By way of celebrating the International Women’s Day, here are recordings I made in English of Alexander Pushkin’s poem, Confession, and of Wystan Hugh Auden, As I Walked Out One Evening. Confession appeared earlier in Russian, recited by Innokenty Smoktunovsky; and for meanings and themes of Auden’s poem, check out these pages: Lavanet.no, Will Green’s blog, and English Department of Southeast University (this one analyses the poem by stanzas).
Previously on this blog you have found and read If I Could Tell You by W. H. Auden. It was a villanelle, a poetic form adopted by the English poetry in the 18th c. To England it came from Italy and Spain via France where it was known, respectively, as villanella, villancico, and villanelle. In all three countries it was a dance-song implying pastoral notes in the text. In the English-language literature, however, where it became one of the favourite genres, villanelle has practically abandoned its rustic roots. The poets, including Oscar Wilde, W. H. Auden, and Dylan Thomas pondered much more philosophical themes than their continental predecessors.
Below are two villanelles by Oscar Wilde. One is addressed to the ancient Greek Theocritus, celebrating the work of the great bucolic poet. Another is dedicated to Pan (Faun), a Greek mythological character, “the goat-foot God“.
Theocritus
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| William Holman Hunt, Amaryllis, 1884 |
O singer of Persephone!
In the dim meadows desolate
Dost thou remember Sicily?
Still through the ivy flits the bee
Where Amaryllis lies in state;
O Singer of Persephone!
Simaetha calls on Hecate
And hears the wild dogs at the gate;
Dost thou remember Sicily?
Still by the light and laughing sea
Poor Polypheme bemoans his fate;
O Singer of Persephone!
And still in boyish rivalry
Young Daphnis challenges his mate;
Dost thou remember Sicily?
Slim Lacon keeps a goat for thee,
For thee the jocund shepherds wait;
O Singer of Persephone!
Do thou remember Sicily?
Pan
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O goat-foot God of Arcady!
This modern world is grey and old,
And what remains to us of thee?
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| Mikhail Vrubel, Pan, 1899 |
No more the shepherds lads in glee
Throw apples at thy wattled fold,
O goat-foot God of Arcady!
Not through the laurels can one see
Thy soft brown limbs, thy beard of gold,
And what remains to us of thee?
And dull and dead our Thames would be,
For here the winds are chill and cold,
O goat-foot God of Arcady!
Then keep the tomb of Helice,
Thine olive-woods, thine vine-clad wold,
And what remains to us of thee?
Though many an unsung elegy
Sleeps in the reeds our rivers hold,
O goat-foot God of Arcady!
Ah, what remains to us of thee?
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Ah, leave the hills of Arcady,
Thy satys and their wanton play,
This modern world hath need of thee.
No nymph or Faun indeed have we,
For Faun and nymph are old and grey,
Ah, leave the hills of Arcady!
This is the land where liberty
Lit grave-browed Milton on his way,
This modern world hath need of thee!
A land of ancient chivalry
Where gentle Sidney saw the day,
Ah, leave the hills of Arcady.
This fierce sea-lion of the sea,
This England lacks some stronger lay,
This modern world hath need of thee!
Then blow some trumpet loud and free,
And give thine oaten pipe away,
Ah, leave the hills of Arcady!
This modern world hath need of thee!
“Time will say nothing, but I told you so/ Time only knows the price we have to pay“, soberly reflected Wystan Hugh Auden in his well-known poem. Diane Arbus, when working on a feature for November 1961 issue of Harper’s Bazaar, visited Prince Robert de Rohan Courtenay (left) and copied this from his corpus of writing:
(a quote and photo are from Diane Arbus: Magazine Work
One thing that I never did was visiting Moscow. Needless to say, this becomes my 2008 resolution #1. It must really be astonishing – and quite frustrating, too – that every time I say to myself “I must go to Moscow” something creeps up and I have to postpone the visit. I think the surest way to get me back to my native shores is by buying myself a ticket, as that way I’ll feel obliged to just drop everything and go.
So, in 2008 I resolve to continue with both blogs, hopefully by making the content more wide-ranging, since now I can produce short slide shows and animated stories. I’m planning to travel more. I don’t mention that I’m planning to write more, as this is what I’ve always been doing.
I’m looking forward to more inspiring meetings, trips, events. I hope that the inspiration I get from other people’s work, from nature etc. will be the inspiration for you. Which is where I want to thank once again all of you who have been leaving comments and emailing me to thank me for blogging and to encourage me to keep on with my enterprise. And I would like to thank everyone who wrote about and linked to me this year, this was a joy, a surprise, and always an honour to me.
Two things I can note about 2007. First concerns the travels: it’s all been about Wales. In June I went to South Wales; in December I went to North Wales. I don’t know what it tells (if it’s supposed to tell anything), but so it goes. The second thing concerns music. On a couple of my profiles elsewhere I noted my huge interest in music, since I love singing. 2007 has been entirely Italian in this respect. It started with me making great friends with an Italian colleague who began to send me YouTube links to such artists as Mia Martini, Mina Mazzini, Lucio Battisti. It continued with me going on my own for some time, when I discovered Patti Pravo. And it culminated in my making friends via LiveJournal with a few Russian aficionados of Italian music of the 1960-70s. I’m yet to see where it all takes me in 2008, but the start has been compelling enough to carry on in this direction.
As my circle of friends and acquaintances has grown considerably this year, I shall not repeat the last year’s personalised greetings. Instead I shall wish all of you, my friends, readers and occasional visitors, a very Happy New Year! Let all of you know that you are very dear to me for all your talent, wisdom, creativity, sense of humour and the simple fact that you are!
I should not forget to list the Top Ten posts in Los Cuadernos de Julia, as seen from Google Anaylitcs profile:
Barbra Streisand in Manchester
Lonely Shepherd (James Last and Georghe Zamfir)
Sonnet no. 3 (Edna St Vincent Millay)
If I Could Tell You (W. H. Auden)
Histoire de Melody Nelson (Serge Gainsbourg)
O Felici Occhi Miei, Arcadelt, and the Lute-Player
I should note that this is the stats for the entire year, and they don’t entirely correspond to the most recent interest.
Last but not least, to carry on with the last year’s tradition of uploading some Russian New Year postcards, here is something many of you will no doubt cherish. This postcard comes from my family archive, it says Happy New Year in Russian (which is “s nOvym gOdom”) and – wait for this – is 100 years old!
Although I didn’t write every single day in December, I managed to make it look like I spent entire December blogging about anything from James Last to shoe sizes. So, this is my post #31, and, naturally, it is about the New Year.
and talented people, the connection with some of whom, I hope, won’t disappear in 2007. I’ve been involved in many different projects, acquired tons of experience, and am looking forward to make it all ever more applicable after 1 January. I also began to publish my poems, and the reviews prove that I didn’t spend time in vain, trying to find my way of putting my thoughts and emotions across.
Hence here are some of my resolutions:
Happy New Year! С Новым Годом!I’ve been particularly fascinated by this poem by W. H. Auden, If I Could Tell You, which I happily share now.
Suppose the lions all get up and go,
And all the brooks and soldiers run away;
Will Time say nothing but I told you so?
If I could tell you I would let you know.
