Today, I spent all day in the library. That is, libraries. It was amazing. :D
I got up early to spend some time in St. Peter's library, which is open 24/7 - the bookworm's proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. When the other libraries started opening up, I headed over to the Taylorian, located right next door to the Ashmolean museum. The Taylorian holds a lot of books on linguistics and languages, including French medieval poetry. I spent some three hours pouring over the amazing Middle French texts of Marie de France's Lais and other such medieval courtly romances. I knew there was a reason for memorizing the future subjunctive!!!! YAY!
Now here's something from "La Chatelaine de Vergy," and it's about this knight, and a lady, and they fall in love ... you know the story. But anyway, the knight is sad, because he's betrayed his one true love - well, it was sort of accidental, and sort of forced, but it was betrayal in the end - and he's all upset because he is in the middle of a dilemma and has to make a choice between two situations - ideally, he'll pick the lesser of two weevils ... but that's another story.
Et tandis qu'il est plonge dans ces pensees,
ne sachant quel parti est le meilleur,
l'eau du coeur lui monte aux yeux,
a cause de l'angoisse qui l'etreint,
et coule sur son visage,
qui en est mouille.
Eh, ok, sorry about the painful grammar; it's all correct letter-wise, but the accents are missing ... and YES, there is a reason to accents, and this is it.
But anyway, essentially, he's crying, but the phrase "l'eau du coeur," water from the heart, which wells up in his eyes and tumbles down his face, was just so beautiful, I had to share :)
Aaaanyway, notes to type, the world to save, and Guilder to frame for it ... SWAMPED.
Talk soon! :)
Great post! I was excited because I understood most of the French :)
ReplyDeleteYay! Erin! Are yo following? You dont show up in my list! .... ooooh, are you following privately? Sneaky ... ;)
ReplyDeleteAnyway, glad you like the post; isn't the poetry beautiful? It doesn't rhyme in the modern French translation (above) but it does in the Old/Middle French, which is absolutely heavenly! You should look it up if you have time! :)
"Get some rest. If you haven't got your health, what have you got?"
ReplyDeleteI have book envy now. I was excited just walking around Marquette's library, and that's tiny in comparison to where you were I'm sure... Take me with yooooouuuu!!!
Awww... Rose, you beat me to it.*sigh* I was going to say that!!! :( ...Wait. Wasn't it:"If you haven't got your health, you haven't got anything"??? Or am I mixed up? *clutches head* Ohhhh... I can't tell anymore. My head. I was up waaaaaay too late last night... I need to go to bed. Weird thing is I might have trouble going to bed...Ever had that happen? Weirdest thing on the planet...This is turning into my own little blog. Whoopsy :D Sorry Catherine!!! I'll leave now!!! Lol
ReplyDeletelol Ok, it won't let me post a comment for the last one; I dunno, you guys all too up too much space or something! Gosh! But that's ok; I was just going to say, Rose, it's from Scarlet Pimpernel, "we see him here," etc. Y'know. "The man's a poet!" We should get together and watch that sometime ... ! Silly old bear, Emperor's New Groove. What were you thinking???
ReplyDeleteBut by the way, Rose, Brenna; Brenna, Rose. You two should get to know each other. You have a lot in common. Like, me. Ha ha! Ok, if that's the basis of a friendship, there is something terribly, terribly wrong. But that's ok, you have a lot more in common, too. Like Princess Bride. Chocolate coating makes it go down nice :) *nods*
Mmm... Chocolate coating... Another great movie.Lol.I actually know a girl who doesn't like that one, though!!! *shakes head in pity* Unbelievable...
ReplyDeleteHi Rose!! :D Nice to meet you! How much fun is this?! Where are you from? I hail from Verona, WI and I met Catherine at the Browerville Sister's Girls Camp. How about you?
(...Catie, who are you calling a "silly old bear" btw??? I've never been called that, so I was just curious:D And maybe you can only have a certain number of comments on one blog *rubs chin thoughtfully* Maybe?)
Unfathomable! I've no idea if that's a word, but it sounds deep and serious.
ReplyDeleteThe bear is Rose. She hibernates half the day, she's about twenty thousand years older than I am, and she's unbelievably, contagiously, irrepressively, irresponsibly, and irreversably silly. You two will have a lot of fun togther :)
..."Silly" huh? Well, my friends all think I'm crazy, so this could be VERY enjoyable :D It was funny, though, just today, I was chatting with one of my friends and I made some odd/obscure/silly/stupid/funny (I thought) remark and she came back with "...Um...WOW." To which I replied with an "innocently blinking" emoticon: "Maybe. But would you have me any other way?"...All she said was that that was classified information. So yeah. What are you going to do..."I am quite put out" (NAME THAT QUOTE!!!!;) Lol!)
ReplyDeleteLady Catherine DeBourgh!
ReplyDeleteI'll introduce myself to Brenna! Hello! I'm Catherine's cousin and Rose's older, married sister!
Oi! We've been through this before; I am NOT a lunatic old woman ranting about pollution. I am a lunatic young woman ranting about ... well, just about anything. But there is a difference.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, Julia, Brenna; Brenna, Julia. You, too, have much in common. Me. Princess Bride. Calvin and Hobbes ... ?
Anyone else like to be introduced to anyone else while I'm at it?
WHEEEEEEEE!!!! I get to meet all sorts of fun people on here!!!! :) Lovin' it!!!
ReplyDeleteMay I be the first, though, to congratulate Julia on "Name That Quote"!!! Congratulations Julia!!!!! Let's give her a round of applause everyone!!! :))