2 march 2024

2 march 2024

John Bjarne Grover

A comparison of a poem by norwegian poet Hans-Henrik Holm (1896-1980) and a poem by chinese poet 龚自珍 = Gong Zizhen (1792-1841).

The poem 'Ljuvt i dúle vi fløkjer vår freisting i eitt' is from Holm's "Bygdir i solrøyk" volume 3 (out of 6), chapter 9 ('Hugsvìv i tjåk-kjeppa') poem 3 - here with my tentative translation:

In fair secrets temptations combine
Our secret joy needs no correction.
Our common joys squeezed in the gentian,
of scent and sensual intoxication,
shall deeply through hope recombine
in longing and hushing of dreams.
We blindly rush from our memories.
The beauty our minds can collect
from sounds and from coincidences
is shaped in our bright memories/recollect
and highflying philosophies.
High up in the mountains, there, under the green,
among crags there's a waterfall.
The senses are blunted from devilish depends
chilling our innermost call.
I must try to break through the dam
the nation provides for a hum.
If I cannot restrain the courageous and keen [my courage and keen[ness]]
I am squeezed in the lightning's entrails.
Ljuvt i dùle vi fløkjer vår freisting i eitt
Inkje treng vi ei løynhugge bøte.
Vår samgjilde tryst i søte,
av ange og sanserus,
skal djupt gjenom von seg røte
i stunding of draumesus.
Or vårt hugs kann vi ruse i blinde.
Alt fjågt som vi evler binde
av lòt og brílegjir,
skal skipast til bjarte minne
og flògfus tankesvir.
Høgt i fjøll-lendet under ei gjóte
ligg bland rabbar eit fossefall.
Kvervd vert kjensla i tjå-ridom ljóte
so eg innst i mitt gjed vert kald.
Eg fær freiste å demmingi brjote
millom skjâlfolk med dutletrall.
Held 'kje lenger på min attkjøvde kjønskap eg styr
skal med kreisteslått eg bygdlunka øse i hyr.

(Automated translation on the web - such as this or this Google translation seem rather far off from Holm's nynorsk language.

The last line really reads "I will with strained laughter excite the lukewarm (?) villagers in 'hyr'": This 'hyr' can mean courage, good mood, conduct, but also a reference to weather conditions or more generally to the faint traces of something - see this article (including 'pale memory that something exists', 'gleam') and this - and this - the interpretations of 'thunder's entrails' makes for the poetic subject a heraclitean counterpoint to the collective consciousness that was squeezed into the gentian in the beginning of the poem (cp. the theories on ancient egyptian spirituality). How can this interpretation be defended? By way of a very similar poem from chinese poet Gong:

九州生气恃风雷，
万马齐暗究可哀。
我劝天公重抖擞，
不拘一格降人才。九州生气恃风雷，
万马齐暗究可哀。
我劝天公重抖擞，
不拘一格降人才。

The glosses by the Yabla dictionary

A translation attempt by Google

My own tentative translation:

9 lands [= 'Old China'?] have given birth to air: Mother of thunderstorms.
10 thousand horses all from secret searches hid:
I urge the Lord of Heaven to repeat his trembling shake
and not restrain one character [in order] to tame the talented.

It is seen that the thunder is an essential part of the poetic theme - which seems to be the same as in Holm's poem. Gong line 1-2 are Holm stanzas 1-2. The Lord of Heaven = high up in the mountains; the trembling shake = the devilish depends etc. This is what lends to the thunder towards the end of Holm's poem (taking the lightning to be accompanied by thunder) a rather essential role - even if it in Holm's original wording in the last line is not so much more than a strained or forced laughter (cp. Gong's 'tamed talent') by which he hopes to cheer up his lukewarm fellow beings.

Sources:

100 ancient chinese poems. Sinolingua, Beijing 2010.

Holm, H.-H.: Bygdir i solrøyk III. Gyldendal, Oslo 1950. (III-IV are bound in one volume).

Torp, A.: Nynorsk etymologisk ordbok, Aschehoug, Kristiania 1919.