Selected Poems: Dual-Language Edition (Penguin Classics)

As a child of adoption, this beautiful poem by Victor Hugo,” Moise sur le Nil”, touched my heart. I had not given much thought to this side of the story of Moses’ adoption when reading it before. However, Hugo tells of the sacrifice that Pharaoh’s daughter gave when rescuing Moses from the Nile, knowing that her father had decreed the death of first born sons in Egypt. As Hugo describes in his poem, as soon as Pharaoh’s daughter saw this abandoned Hebrew child, she had compassion and took him to raise as her own. Consequently, in addition to being raised in a loving home, Moses would be taught to speak and write the Egyptian language correctly and would later pen the first five books of the Bible. He would also have the chance to receive an education in arithmetic, geometry, and law which was also beneficial in helping him write the Mosaic law.It was undeniably excruciating for his Mother, Miriam, to “give him up” so that he could have not only a better life, but any life at all under Pharaoh’s wrathful regime. Miriam’s unconditional love for her son also provided a great blessing to Pharaoh’s daughter as she loved, nurtured and claimed Moses as her adopted son. Hugo took this incredible story ((see Exodus 2:5-10; Acts 7:21; Hebrews 11:24) of a mother’s love, by will and by birth, and gave verse to God’s providential plan to save His people from hatred, bigotry and fear through his Servant Moses. This story also touches home to me as a product of a birth mother who “gave me up” so that I could have a better life and my adopted Mother who loved me, a little girl from an unknown origin, and prepared the way for God to use me as His Servant.See my translation of this poignant work at [...]

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Since almost no poetry by Hugo is available in English, this is a welcome sampling. THAT deserves five stars. The introduction is informative (and none too shy on opinions). The French original on the facing page is helpful for comparing with the translation. And the translator's notes on his method of translating put things in perspective. As usual, the translator must make a choice between two basic options: literalness (which may sacrifice "tone" or "rhyme"), or keeping the "sound" or rhyme of the original (which may necessitate substituting English words or phrases for those in the original). The current translator opted for the former choice. Fine. How odd, then, that he also mixes in elements of the second choice! The result sometimes is that you have neither the tone nor the rhyme nor the literal rendering of the original.In one poem, for example, Hugo ends with a line that is six syllables long, with three of those words (and four syllables in those three words) carrying the same vowel sound -- "aw". Those words in French are "maison," "sans," and "enfants" (the last word ending the line.) Six syllables, four homonyms! Not bad! However, the translation has more than six syllables, and no words that sound alike,and some of the words in the translation are not in the original. How does that convey either the tone, mood, or rhyme of the original? In fact, the orignal has four phrases at the end of the poem, each of which repeats a pattern of contrast using the words "sans" ("without"): spring without flowers, a cage without bird, a hive without bees, a house without children. This obvious, simple, and intentional pattern is not maintained in the translation, and I wonder why. Instead, "poetic" license is in evidence by the translator. Part of Hugo's madness in this method may well have been to end with his clever (and lyrical) six-syllable, four-homonym ending, and in English, the "pay off" would not have been there. Still, how much license should a translator take?In all, I am glad to have these poems, but I am restless till someone can find a way to come closer to Hugo. Maybe I should just learn French.