Comments on: “El son de las hojas”: Five tree poems from Renaissance Spain

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:08:37 +0000

Hey, thanks for stopping by. It sounds as if I guessed right about Tres Morillas/Moricas, then.

By: Armando Gascón Lozano

Armando Gascón Lozano — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:18:12 +0000

¡Muy bueno! I like your translations, perfect. Many of the Spanish words would not be familiar to the Spaniards any more, ‘garridas’, ‘desmaídas’. Most Spaniards will understand a very sexual subtext in
Tres morillas tan garridas
iban a coger olivas,
y hallábanse cogidas en Jaén

‘Coger, cogidas’ in many Spanish speaking countries, hmm, it is a verb forbidden to use in polite society, if you get what I mean.
The version that I learn in school (!) said
‘e fallábanlas cogidas
en Jaén’
With its emphasis on the olives and not on the three girls it is a lot more tame.

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 13:15:38 +0000

Glad you liked! Thanks for stopping by.

By: Julie

Julie — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 12:55:15 +0000

Your contributions to Festival of Trees are always inventive and inspiring. I’d never heard these songs before and now need to find recordings. Thanks for adding more tree poems to my collection of favorites.

By: Festival of the Trees, #19 « Hoarded Ordinaries

Festival of the Trees, #19 « Hoarded Ordinaries — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 23:15:15 +0000

[...] Dave shared translations of five tree poems from Renaissance Spain, which struck me as being both tree- and mother-centered. Apparently if you Love Your Mother (whether she be Mother Earth, the Virgin Mary, or dear old Mom), loving trees is a natural corollary (a lesson lost on certain Ivy League pranksters?) Kim Nixon compared the hurt of poems not making the cut to the woodpile left in a tornado’s aftermath. 3rd House Journal illustrated in words and pictures the connections between trees and neural networks. And Beloved Dreamer shared the sense of loss and longing evoked by a memorial wreath fading at a crossroads: even evergreens eventually point to mortality. [...]

By: Dave

Dave — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 04:28:21 +0000

You may not know any Spanish, but it sounds as if you’re way more cultured than me when it comes to music! I heard a recording of “Tres morillas” for the first time only after I’d posted these, and a friend emailed me a couple of mp3s.

Glad you liked the translations.

By: Lucy

Lucy — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 14:37:14 +0000

I made myself read the Spanish too, although I don’t have any. I could hear them being sung, I love spanish Renaissance music, and went to check out Catherine Bott’s two versions of Tres Morillas/Moricas. In the Moricas ones the girls are sexy and gorgeous but also chaste and canny! Your translations are much nicer than the ones she gives.

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 02:24:36 +0000

If so, it would be lost on me! Thanks.

By: Natalie

Natalie — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 19:15:46 +0000

Me gusta mucho, Dave, muchas gracias. Se puede sentir la voz del poeta desaparecido dentro de estas palabras nuevas y vivas.

Just showing off but probably incorrectly.
:)

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 18:03:40 +0000

Thanks for these additional comments. It’s always nice to hear that a day’s work hasn’t gone unappreciated.

Dick, while hunting for copies of the lyrics online (because, after all, it’s easier to copy and paste than to transcribe!), I discovered an alternate version of Tres morillas/tres moricas that had been collected (and possibly edited, I don’t know) by Lorca.

…deb, here’s one: http://www.poesia-inter.net/canc0005.htm

Christine – Nice to hear that from a Spanish teacher! I had three years of Spanish in high school, which serves me well enough for a passive understanding of the language. Spanish-speaking members of the extended family have helped keep it fresh, along with my love for poetry in the Spanish language.