Tuesday, January 11, 2022

Translation of Poem by Fyodor Tyutchev, Федор Тютчев, "Как хорошо ты, о море ночное," "O sea of night, how fine you are!"

 


Федор Тютчев

(1803-1873)

 

Как хорошо ты, о море ночное,
Здесь лучезарно, там сизо-темно…
В лунном сиянии, словно живое,
Ходит, и дышит, и блещет оно…

На бесконечном, на вольном просторе
Блеск и движение, грохот и гром…
Тусклым сияньем облитое море,
Как хорошо, ты в безлюдье ночном!

Зыбь ты великая, зыбь ты морская,
Чей это праздник так празднуешь ты?
Волны несутся, гремя и сверкая,
Чуткие звёзды глядят с высоты.

В этом волнении, в этом сиянье,
Весь, как во сне, я потерян стою —
О, как охотно бы в их обаянье
Всю потопил бы я душу свою…

January 2, 1865

 

d

Literal Translation

How fine you are, o sea of night,

Here radiant, there dove-blue-dark. . .

In the glow of the moon, as if alive,

It moves, and breathes, and glitters . . .

 

On the endless, on the free open spaces

There is glitter and movement, din and thunder . . .

The sea is enveloped in a faint glow,

How fine you are in the night without people around!

 

You great surge of rippling water, you sea surge,

Whose holiday are you so celebrating?

The billows race along, roaring and sparkling,

Sensitive stars gaze on from on high.

 

In that agitation, in that scintillation,

I stand totally lost, as in a dream—

O, how willing I’d be to immerse 

My soul altogether in their charm . . .

 

 

d

 

Literary Translation/Adaptation by U.R. Bowie

 

O sea of night, how fine you are!

By turns you are radiant, then dark dove-blue . . .

As if you’re alive, under moonglow and star,

You heave and you breathe, luminosity strew . . .

 

On free open spaces, infinitude-flow,

Your glistening movements, your thunder, starlight . . .

The whole sea is bathed in a faint hazy glow,

And with no one about you’re so fine in the night!

 

You great surge of water, you rippling sea-swell,

What makes you so celebrate someone’s nameday?

The billows roar on, tolling gleam-foam’s death knell,

While sensitive stars dare not tumult gainsay. 


In that agitation, in that noctilucence,

As if in a dream I stand spellbound, impure—

O how I’d love to just drown in impuissance,

Immerse my whole soul in your sea-swell’s allure . . .

 



Declamation of the poem in Russian. On the website Nina Pavlovna:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5ldFIl-ehU


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