I’m currently working on a translation project for one of my classes. I took a poem by Pascoli called Il Lampo (lightening) and I translated into English a couple of different ways. It’s been really difficult trying to figure out the right words to use but I also think it’s a super cool project. I’m also working on a final translation that uses the same rhyme and meter of the original Italian.
IL LAMPO
E cielo e terra si mostrò qual era:
la terra ansante, livida, in sussulto;
il cielo ingombro, tragico, disfatto:
bianca bianca nel tacito tumulto
una casa apparì sparì d’un tratto;
come un occhio, che, largo, esterrefatto,
s’aprì si chiuse, nella notte nera.
I.
Lightening
And heaven and earth showed themselves as they were:
the earth panting , bruised, in shock;
the heaven obstructed, tragic, undone:
white white in the tacit tumult
a house appeared disappeared suddenly
like an eye, which, wide, startled
opened closed, in the black night.
II.
The Lightening
And heaven and earth revealed themselves for what they were:
the ground breathless, battered, paralyzed;
the sky obscured, tragic, incomplete:
blinding white in the unspoken uproar
a house appears disappears suddenly
like an eye, wide and terrified
opens then closes, in the black night
