The question I put as the title of this post is one of the many questions that were given in the other class of my studies, called "the icons of the Polish culture: literature". It did me come back to my Polish lessons in the high school, where there weren't already linguistic subjects, but only literature. And the poems are the worst. I don't know if it works in English, buy in Polish, when we analise some poem, we are in the habit to asking "What the author meant?". For me it was and still is quite mysterious. How can I know it????
I won't make deeper this train, I just wanted you to understand me that it wasn't nice memory for me. However, the new course started with a poem of Stanisław Barańczak, a famous Polish translator. Unfortunately, "Wrzesień" ("September") is not available in English. It's a pity, but on the other hand, I can imagine how difficult should be translate it. The mencioned lyrical situation of the poem is that some foreigners from different cultures are participating in a Polish class in USA. But the subject of the class is not grammar or vocabulary. It's literature. They're reading Adam Mickiewicz's "Ode to Youth"!! I can identify with them because it seems that they are suffering doing that!! The point is that, actually, I ought to identify soon with the role of the teacher... In this case, I know since now that I will never treat poems like this one in me classes!
I will put the poem below, but before I need to add that it represents that it's not an easy task to teach Polish literature if we really want present to our students Polish icons (that Adam Mickiewicz is, there's no doubt). That's the conclusion we came to.
Stanisław Barańczak - "Wrzesień"
W pokoju z biurkiem, tablicą i nie dającym się otworzyć oknem
(klimatyzacja) wyjaśnia znaczenie zdania
"goniąc za żywiołkami drobniejszego płazu"
grupie złożonej z Mulata, Japonki, dwojga Anglosasów,
nowojorskiego Żyda i kalifornijskiej Irlandki.
Po chwili skupionego milczenia Japonka podejmuje czytanie,
brnąc po kostki przez Bałtyk spółgłosek. Za oknem wieżyczka Lowell House
złoci się w słońcu, jak co roku świeżo odmalowana.
Skończyło się, dawno temu. Co? Młodość. W promieniu
co najmniej mili (1609,31m)
jeszcze przez dobre pięć minut oprócz niego nie będzie nikogo,
kto by wiedział, co znaczą słowa "spólny łańcuch" oraz "ziemskie kolisko".
I had the same problem!! The question "What the author meant?" for me was and is strange. Everyone has the right to understand poems in a different way :-)
ReplyDeleteBtw, you know that tomorrow prof. Paweł Próchniak lectures about Stanisław Barańczak's poerty? :) (as part of Poznań Poetów 2015 - Festival)
ReplyDelete