Our summer made her light escape into the beautiful

lisamazingg

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"Our summer made her light escape into the beautiful" it's written by emily dickinson in her poem imperceptibly as grief. If anyone could translate it precisely i would be very very grateful! :mrgreen:
 

Cato

Consularis

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Location:
Chicago, IL
Re: Poem line translation!!!!

lisamazingg dixit:
"Our summer made her light escape into the beautiful" it's written by emily dickinson in her poem imperceptibly as grief. If anyone could translate it precisely i would be very very grateful! :mrgreen:
Literally, Aestas nostra effecit ut lumen eius in pulchritudinem elaberetur. But there are three issues here:

1. Latin doesn't casually distinguish between "his" and "her", so the word eius could be translated as "his" or her". We could make it more explicit by substituting erae - "the lady's".

2. "Into the beautiful" is an enigmatic phrase; I have tried to render this with in pulchitudinam - "Into the beauty", but I'm not sure this fits the context of the poem (I'm not familiar with this line from Dickinson).

3. It seems obvious Dickinson is using a metaphor for death in this line, which is why I've translated "light" as lumen, a word sometimes associated with the light of life. But again, without knowing the complete context, I could be way off here...

Any other suggestions are welcome.
 

scrabulista

Consul

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Location:
Tennessee
Re: Poem line translation!!!!

http://inamidst.com/dickinson/s5/

As imperceptibly as Grief
The Summer lapsed away —
Too imperceptible at last
To seem like Perfidy —
A Quietness distilled
As Twilight long begun,
Or Nature spending with herself
Sequestered Afternoon —
The Dusk drew earlier in —
The Morning foreign shone —
A courteous, yet harrowing Grace,
As Guest, that would be gone —
And thus, without a Wing
Or service of a Keel
Our Summer made her light escape
Into the Beautiful.

I think "her" refers to Summer (luckily Aestas is feminine). Also I was a bit perplexed on whether "light" was lumen (light from the sun) or levis (not heavy, as in a "light touch" -- the imperceptible disappearance of summer).
 
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