Monday, July 25, 2011

MY FAVORITE POEM

Greetingth, Poetry Loverth! I thought I'd post my new favorite poem...if you can call it a poem...."The Rose of Sharon" from Song of Solomon 2:1, in The King James Bible. I'd have preferred a good dramatic reading on film, but I couldn't find any...nothing first-rate anyway.

I couldn't find any masterpieces of painting to illustrate the subject, either. It's odd that one of the world's greatest love poems inspired no great art. I put up some only vaguely relevant pictures of Solomon above and below, and I guess they'll have to suffice.

Oh, well...we have the text, and that's the important thing:



<< Song of Solomon 2 >>
King James Version

1am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.2As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.
3As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.
4He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.



[Note: The rose of Sharon? The lily of the valleys? Boy, this author has a knack for words that stick in the mind. "So is my love among the daughters" is so much better than the merely factual "So is my love among the young women." The metaphor of the apple tree is terrific, and so is "his banner over me was love."


A couple of random points: some of the words in the body of the poem are italicized...I don't know why, since emphasizing them buggers up the sound. And if you're reading the poem out loud, I would emphasize the second syllable in "Sharon" because it sounds better that way.]


5Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love.
6His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me.
7I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.



[Note: "Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples" is pure word music. I assume that "sick of love" means something like "dizzy with love," which is a good thing. Charging by the roes and hinds is a brilliant formulation. It seems to acknowledge the magical  power and beauty of nature. Her command to the other women has great force because she summons nature to back her up.]


8The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.
9My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, shewing himself through the lattice.
10My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.
11For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;
12The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;



[Note: As a cartoonist, line 8 is skewered for me because I can imagine the way Don Martin would have drawn it. It's still a beautiful image, though. I forgive the "voice of the turtle" reference...turtles don't have voices, do they?...but why quibble?]


15Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.
16My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.
17Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bethel.

[Note: That's it, that's the end. I have no idea why the boyfriend wants to take vine-eating foxes with him, but the word music here is so powerful that it transcends literal meaning. I deleted lines 13 and 14 just to make the passage shorter. You can read the whole passage here:  http://kingjbible.com/songs/2.html

(Forgive the weird spacing above...I'm having computer problems)


A beautiful poem, huh? I wish poetry readings were sometimes done by professional actors reading classic poems like this one. If they were, maybe they'd be better attended.

BTW: if you follow the link to the site that I stole this from, you'll discover that clicking on the blue line numbers in the King James Version will take you to a long list showing how other translators handled the same line. Boy, what a difference! If you're a student of good writing, I know of no better textbook than these comparisons!

Also BTW:  Animation Insider just put up an interview of me on their site:
http://www.animationinsider.com/2011/07/eddie-fitzgerald/



11 comments:

Rafi said...

great post. regarding line 12 "the voice of the turtle" - that is actually a mistranslation. In the original Hebrew it says "the voice of the Tor". A "Tor" is a type of dove - a species which includes the "Turtle dove" - which is probably what the translator meant....

Joshua Marchant (Scrawnycartoons) said...

Beautifully worded poem and thanks for the link to the interview!

Don Martin and Biblical poetry, together at last!

thomas said...

very nice interview.

I had never seen WORM before.
What a great piece of work!

JM said...

Usually the italicized words in the Bible are the ones that had to be added in translation because of grammar differences between Hebrew and English.

Anonymous said...

Cool interview! Did Animation Insider edit you or just publish all your answers to their questions? I see that the number of questions varies from interviewee to interviewee and wondered if they were cherry picking responses or what.

Kelly Toon said...

Rafim, I thought it was funnier as "voice of the turtle" because turtles really DO have voices . . . when they are mating. They sound pretty passionate, too:

http://youtu.be/vTRRS3IY4Tw
http://youtu.be/_sMFN69l_ZY

Uncle Eddie, there are some seriously dark poems in "Lamentations" (in the Bible). You might like them.

Eddie Fitzgerald said...

Rafi: Aaah! THAT'S it! Thanks!

Jonathan: You must be right. I wish the site had explained that.

Eddie Fitzgerald said...

Kelly: Good Lord! How the heck did you find those videos? I've never seen a turtle's "whatchamacallit" before!

Thanks for the advice about "Lamentations." I'll look it up.

Anonymous said...

Excellent interview, Eddie. I also really liked the Biblical poem you chose. It reminds me of how really into the Bible I was early last year, and how I used to go church regularly. Still feel bad that I can't go anymore, but oh well, it's life.

BlakeJ said...

Nice poetry, Uncle Eddie! The Bible sure does have beautiful poetry, as well as words of wisdom to live by!

Also, nice interview! I saw "Worm" again (which was hilarious AGAIN), and I also noticed you mentioned a graphic novel! How about putting up a teaser for it on your blog?

JohnDoe123 said...

WOAH! looooooooooooooooooooooooooove you're animated short, Ed! I can't believe I never saw it before. GEE-KNEEE-US!