{"id":4094,"date":"2018-07-25T09:58:08","date_gmt":"2018-07-25T13:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/?p=4094"},"modified":"2018-07-25T10:12:54","modified_gmt":"2018-07-25T14:12:54","slug":"undergrad-wednesdays-analysis-of-original-and-translated-pearl-lines-121-144-elizabeth-orem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/2018\/07\/25\/undergrad-wednesdays-analysis-of-original-and-translated-pearl-lines-121-144-elizabeth-orem\/","title":{"rendered":"Undergrad Wednesdays \u2013 Analysis of original and translated Pearl lines 121-144"},"content":{"rendered":"
[This post, part of an effort to merge our undergraduate and graduate blogs, was written in response to an essay prompt for Kathryn Kerby-Fulton's undergraduate course on \"Chaucer's Biggest Rivals: The Alliterative Poets.\" It comes from the former \"Medieval Undergraduate Research\" website.]<\/em><\/pre>\n
Marie Borroff is widely considered to be the best American poetic translator of Middle English. I was skeptical of her translation abilities when I first read her modern English versions of Pearl <\/em>and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight<\/em>\u00a0because she did not maintain the rhyme scheme as perfectly as the original, nor the alliteration. However, having attempted my own \u201cmodern English\u201d poetic translation of Pearl, <\/em>I now recognize Borroff\u2019s tremendous skill. I attempted to translate the first two stanzas of section III (lines 121-144) of Pearl<\/em>. I began by reading over the original text, provided on pages 60-61 of The Poems of the Pearl Manuscript, <\/em>and translated word by word \u2013 with help from the glossary in the back of the book. When the glossary failed to illuminate the meaning of the verses, I consulted Andrew and Waldron\u2019s prose translation. I chose to keep the twelve line stanzas and the grammar of the original, but lost the rhyme, alliteration and rhythm. Here is my translation:<\/p>\n
In the beloved splendor of hill and valleys,
\nOf wood and water and fine plains,
\nWhere I dwelled in bliss, my sorrow abated,
\nMy stress quelled, my pains destroyed.
\nDown along a stream that continually flows
\nI went blissfully, my heart brimming with joy*;
\nThe farther I followed those stream-filled valleys,
\nThe greater my joy strained my heart.
\nAs Fortune goes where she tests a person,
\nWhether she sends someone solace or sorrow,
\nThe person who receives Fortune\u2019s will
\nAlways seeks to have more and more of the same.<\/p>\n
There was more of prosperity in that scene
\nThan I could describe even if I had the time,
\nFor a mortal\u2019s heart could not handle
\nRejoicing in just one-tenth of such joys.
\nTherefore I thought that paradise
\nWas there over the wide bank nearby;
\nI believed the water was a divide
\nBetween the joy beyond the boundary and myself\u2719<\/sup>;
\nBeyond the brook, somewhere or other,
\nI believed that paradise was situated.
\nBut the water was deep, I dared not wade across it,
\nAnd I longed more and more than ever.<\/p>\n
*The Andrew and Waldron prose translation writes this as \u201cmy brains brimful [with joy]\u201d (3), but I feel the sentiment is better demonstrated by the narrator\u2019s \u201cheart brimming,\u201d rather than his brain.<\/p>\n
\u2719<\/sup>The Andrew and Waldron prose translation writes this as \u201cI supposed that the water was a division between pleasure-gardens laid out beside pools\u201d (4), but I simply cannot find evidence for the word \u201cpleasure-gardens\u201d and therefore stick to my own version.<\/p>\n
Here is the original version of the poem, edited by Andrew and Waldron:<\/p>\n
The dubbement dere of doun and dalez,
\nOf wod and water and wlonk playnez,
\nBylde in me blys, abated my balez,
\nFordidden my stresse, dystryed my paynez.
\nDoun after a strem that dry\u0292ly halez
\nI bowed in blys, bredful my braynez;
\n\u00fee fyrre I fol\u0292ed \u00feose floty valez,
\n\u00fehe more strengh\u00fee of joye myn herte straynez.
\nAs fortune fares \u00feeras ho fraynes,
\nWhe\u00feer solace ho sende o\u00feer ellez sore,
\n\u00fee wy\u0292 to wham her wylle ho waynez
\nHyttez to haue ay more and more.<\/p>\n
More of wele watz in \u00feat wyse
\n\u00feen I cow\u00fee telle \u00fea\u0292\u00a0I tom hade,
\nFor vr\u00feely\u00a0herte my\u0292t not suffyse
\nTo \u00fee tenthe dole of \u00feo gladnez glade.
\nFor\u00fey I \u00feo\u0292t \u00feat paradyse
\nWas \u00feer\u00a0over gayn \u00feo bonkez brade;
\nI hoped \u00fee water were a deuyse
\nBytwene myr\u00feez by merez made;
\nBy\u0292onde \u00fee broke, by slente o\u00feer slade,
\nI hoped \u00feat mote merked wore.
\nBot \u00fee water watz depe, I dorst not wade,
\nAnd euer me longed ay more and more.<\/p>\n
\"\"
British Library MS Cotton Nero A.x; f. 38v. The dreamer admiring the maiden in paradise.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
I chose to study these two stanzas largely because of the beauty of line 128: \u201c\u00dee more strengh\u00fee of joye muyn herte straynez.\u201d The dreamer, in these stanzas, experiences his first sense of relief from the overwhelming grief following his daughter\u2019s passing. He writes of the splendid hills and valleys that \u201cbylde in me blys, abated my balez\u201d (line 123), yet the reader never forgets the underlying tragedy of the loss of the dreamer\u2019s daughter. The paradoxical statement that his heart strains with joy captures the narrator\u2019s conflicting emotions \u2013 how his heart is torn between joy at the sight of paradise and sadness for his daughter\u2019s death. Describing his heart as \u201cstraining\u201d rather than \u201cfull\u201d or even \u201cbursting\u201d adds an element of distress to the stanza, and reveals the depth of emotions portrayed. Marie Borroff, however, does not preserve the imagery of the strained heart in her translation. Instead, she writes: \u201cThe greater strength did gladness gain\u201d (128). Her version lacks the distress of the original, and fails to present the dreamer\u2019s mixed emotions. Borroff\u2019s diction otherwise maintains the richness and sentiment of the original manuscript \u2013 though she translates \u201cbredful my braynez\u201d (line 126) to \u201cwith busy brain\u201d for the sake of continuing the rhyme scheme, whereas I think \u201cheart brimming with joy\u201d better captures the essence of the verse. Other than these two instances, however, I believe that Borroff translates the Middle English to modern English quite well in these two stanzas.<\/p>\n
Borroff preserves the linking words as well as the layout of the original poem, with twelve verse stanzas. She mostly maintains the same rhyme scheme as well. Every stanza in the original Pearl <\/em>rhymes according to the pattern ababababbcbc; Borroff\u2019s translation of the first stanza of part III maintains this pattern brilliantly. Her translation of the second stanza, however, breaks with the rhyme scheme twice, on lines 133 \u201cprize\u201d and 136 \u201cjoy\u201d. The rupture of the rhyme scheme is somewhat disorienting, but given the difficulty of updating the language and keeping the rhyme, I understand that Borroff could not make it impeccable. Many scholars argue that the original poem maintains such a tight rhyme scheme because the author used this meticulousness to cope with his grief; perhaps Borroff could not achieve the same level of perfection because of a lack of drama in her personal life.<\/p>\n
I argue, however, that Borroff\u2019s sudden break from the rhyme scheme actually preserves the tone of the original poem. Though the poet of the original Pearl <\/em>keeps the rhyme scheme throughout, there is a dramatic shift in alliteration between the first and second stanzas of part III: the first stanza contains several instances of three and even four alliterative stresses within a verse, whereas the second stanza contains only four verses with three alliterative stresses. This establishes a disconcerting effect to the rhythm: the first stanza skips along pleasantly, with verses like \u201cThe dubbement dere of doun and dalez\u201d (121) and \u201cI bowed in blys, bredful my braynez\u201d (126). In the second stanza this quick, lighthearted rhythm halts, becomes disjointed, with lines like \u201c\u00feen I cow\u00fee telle \u00feaz I tom hade\u201d (134) and \u201cI hoped \u00fee water were a deuyse\u201d (139). Though I found four verses with three alliterative stresses (133, 137, 140, and 143), these serve as a reminder of the poet\u2019s ability to alliterate, and reinforce the lack of alliteration within the other lines of the stanza. The alliteration \u2013 or lack thereof \u2013 reflects the tone of the stanzas. In the first stanza of part III, the poet describes the alleviation of his grief, and hence the alliteration mirrors the joyful scene. In the second stanza, the alliteration reduces significantly, in correspondence with the change in tone: the narrator realizes that he cannot explain paradise, because the mortal heart cannot handle the joy he saw. Furthermore, the narrator wants desperately \u2013 \u201cmore and more\u201d (144) \u2013 to cross the brook and enter paradise, but he cannot. The second stanza, therefore, discusses the narrator\u2019s dashed dreams and awareness of his incapacities \u2013 to enter paradise or even describe it \u2013 and the reduction of alliteration reflects this gloomy turn. Therefore, when Borroff misses two rhymes in her translation of the second stanza of part III, the rupture coincides with the tone of the original poem: it expresses the idea that something has gone wrong for the narrator, that he is no longer skipping along full of hope and optimism.<\/p>\n
Since the original Pearl <\/em>contains such dramatic four-stress lines, with three or four alliterative stressed syllables, I also decided to analyze Borroff\u2019s treatment of these alliterations in her translation. Like the original version, Borroff provides more alliteration in the first stanza than in the second. Sometimes Borroff maintains the same alliterative sound as the original \u2013 such as updating \u201cOf wod and water and wlonk playnez\u201d (122) to \u201cWere wood and water and shining plain\u201d \u2013 therefore preserving the alliterative \u201cw\u201d stress. In other instances, she changes the sound but maintains the strong alliteration \u2013 for instance, she takes \u201cBylde in me blys, abated my balez\u201d (123) and transforms it into \u201cMy pleasures multiplied apace\u201d with the alliterative \u201cp\u201d stress instead of \u201cb\u201d. Though Borroff provides a decent amount of alliterative stresses, she does not achieve the same amount of skillful alliteration as does the original poet. I\u2019m forced to conclude that, although Borroff\u2019s translation is indeed an accomplishment, her work still falls short of the original version; not because of Marie Borroff\u2019s own shortcomings, but rather because of the mastery exemplified by the original poet in Middle English. The original version of Pearl <\/em>simply cannot be beat.<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Orem
\nUniversity of Notre Dame<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[This post, part of an effort to merge our undergraduate and graduate blogs, was written in response to an essay prompt for Kathryn Kerby-Fulton’s undergraduate course on “Chaucer’s Biggest Rivals: The Alliterative Poets.” It comes from the former “Medieval Undergraduate Research” website.] Marie Borroff is widely considered to be the best American poetic translator of … <\/p>\n
Continue reading “Undergrad Wednesdays \u2013 Analysis of original and translated Pearl lines 121-144”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1846,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[264203,264335],"tags":[248551,249761,243945,244261,75951,17907],"class_list":["post-4094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-special-series","category-undergrad-wednesdays","tag-alliteration","tag-emotion","tag-gawain-author","tag-marie-borroff","tag-pearl","tag-translation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1846"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4094"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4094\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4161,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4094\/revisions\/4161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}