On the singer's creepy-cool concept album, a poem penned around 1912 speaks volumes about the singer's existential views: a rare treat from one of the world's best-selling musical artists.
Wasn’t aware of the new album (not my taste), but I did watch the short film on Prime of Weeknd singing songs from it in a dreamy setting with dancers: very interesting.
I think I’d go with Corn’s translation as slightly better English poetry. I like how he expands “Ordnungen” to list two types of angels (Mitchell’s “angels’ hierarchies” is unpoetic). Similarly, I feel Mitchell’s “in that overwhelming existence” and Snow’s “in his stronger existence” sound a little pretentious if you read them aloud. Corn’s “strongly grounded being” doesn’t sound great either, but at least it’s not so abstract.
Fortunately the German is not rhymed or in meter, so the translators didn’t have to deal with that. I never realized Rilke’s “Archaic Torso of Apollo” was a sonnet until recently because the early translation I have (Norton) drops the rhyme and strict meter.
The English “terrible” has also changed over the years, I suppose, from Battle Hymn of the Republic’s “terrible swift sword” (doesn’t mean the sword is shoddily made), and perhaps that’s the sense intended in the translation dictionaries. So, yeah, “terrifying” is good.
Minor typo alert: should be “angels” not “angles” in Corn’s last line. Although in a pool hall, if you’re losing money, every angle could be terrifying.
Wasn’t aware of the new album (not my taste), but I did watch the short film on Prime of Weeknd singing songs from it in a dreamy setting with dancers: very interesting.
I think I’d go with Corn’s translation as slightly better English poetry. I like how he expands “Ordnungen” to list two types of angels (Mitchell’s “angels’ hierarchies” is unpoetic). Similarly, I feel Mitchell’s “in that overwhelming existence” and Snow’s “in his stronger existence” sound a little pretentious if you read them aloud. Corn’s “strongly grounded being” doesn’t sound great either, but at least it’s not so abstract.
Fortunately the German is not rhymed or in meter, so the translators didn’t have to deal with that. I never realized Rilke’s “Archaic Torso of Apollo” was a sonnet until recently because the early translation I have (Norton) drops the rhyme and strict meter.
The English “terrible” has also changed over the years, I suppose, from Battle Hymn of the Republic’s “terrible swift sword” (doesn’t mean the sword is shoddily made), and perhaps that’s the sense intended in the translation dictionaries. So, yeah, “terrifying” is good.
Minor typo alert: should be “angels” not “angles” in Corn’s last line. Although in a pool hall, if you’re losing money, every angle could be terrifying.