Friday, August 31, 2018

Stanza 161



Original Old Norse: Auden & Taylor: Bellows: Bray:
Þat kann ek it sextánda
ef ek vil ins svinna mans
hafa geð alt ok gaman
hugi ek hverfi
hvítarmri konu
ok sný ek hennar öllum sefa
I know a sixteenth:
if I see a girl
With whom it would please me to play,
I can turn her thoughts, can touch the heart
Of any white armed woman.
162. A sixteenth I know, | if I seek delight
To win from a maiden wise;
The mind I turn | of the white-armed maid,
And thus change all her thoughts.
160.
A sixteenth I know: when all sweetness and love
I would win from some artful wench,
her heart I turn, and the whole mind change
of that fair-armed lady I love.
Chisholm: Hollander: Terry: Thorpe:
I know a sixteenth. If I want the heart and pleasure
of a winsome lass, I turn the mind
of the white-armed lady to me,
and wend to bed with her.
That sixteenth I know, if I seek me some maid,
to work my will with her:
the white-armed woman's heart I bewitch,
and toward me I turn her thoughts.
I know a sixteenth: if I say that spell
any girl soon grants my desires;
I win the heart of the white-armed maiden,
turn her thoughts where I will.
163. For the sixteenth I know,
if a modest maiden’s favour and affection
I desire to possess,
the soul I change
of the white-armed damsel,
and wholly turn her mind.




We, uh, are gonna just cruise on by this one..

1 comment:

  1. I am having troubles understanding what this is trying to say with white-armed woman

    ReplyDelete