Heureux qui comme Ulysse a fait un beau voyage

English translation: Happy is he who, like Ulysses, has made a beatiful voyage

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

French term or phrase:	Heureux qui comme Ulysse a fait un beau voyage
English translation:	Happy is he who, like Ulysses, has made a beatiful voyage
Entered by:	Florence Bremond

05:58 Jul 11, 2001

French to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature

French term or phrase: Heureux qui comme Ulysse a fait un beau voyage

HELP!
I need to find an English translation for the following poem...

I have tried various web searches, but with no luck. Does anyone have access to a dictionary of classical verse or the like?

Many thanks for your help,

Julia

« Heureux qui comme Ulysse a fait un beau voyage,
Ou comme cestuy-la qui conquit la toison,
Et puis est retourné, plein d’usage et raison … »

Guillaume du Bellay, 1558

Julia Gal KudoZ activity Questions: 38 (none open) (1 closed without grading) Answers: 1580
Local time: 05:41

Happy is he who, like Ulysses, has made a beatiful voyage. Or like he who has conquered the fleece

Explanation:
Happy is he who, like Ulysses,
has made a beatiful voyage.
Or like he who has conquered the fleece
and then has returned, full of experience and reason.

I know there's probably a much more poetic way of putting this, and you can probably find the exact poetic translation if you go to a local library or bookstore and look up the English version of du Bellay's work (I know there is definitely at least one translation out there).

Selected response from:

Julia Bogdan Rollo (X)
United States
Local time: 20:41

Grading comment

Thanks for replying so quickly. I eventually found a more 'poetic' translation, and it turns out it wasn't written by Guillaume du Bellay - it was his cousin, Joachim du Bellay !!!
3 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

Happy is he who, like Ulysses, has made a beatiful voyage. Or like he who has conquered the fleece

Julia Bogdan Rollo (X)

like him who has conquered

Grace Kenny

Answers

9 mins

Happy is he who, like Ulysses, has made a beatiful voyage. Or like he who has conquered the fleece

Julia Bogdan Rollo (X)
United States
Local time: 20:41
Native speaker of:

Romanian,

English
PRO pts in category: 3

Grading comment

Thanks for replying so quickly. I eventually found a more 'poetic' translation, and it turns out it wasn't written by Guillaume du Bellay - it was his cousin, Joachim du Bellay !!!

2 hrs

like him who has conquered

Explanation:
NOT like "he" - a real barbarism! Prepositions ("like" for example)require the accusative case ("him" for example). In this sentence, "who" is the subject of "has conquered", not "he" or "him".

Grace Kenny
Local time: 04:41
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English

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