Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.
You will also have access to many other tools and opportunities designed for those who have language-related jobs (or are passionate about them). Participation is free and the site has a strict confidentiality policy.
12:58 May 31, 2011
German to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature / Poetry of H.G. Adler
German term or phrase:taub an der alten Hand
In the H.G. Adler poem, Denkmal im Walde, there is a puzzling line in the first stanza - "taub an der alten Hand". Here's the full text of the stanza. I'd be interested in others thoughts about how best to translate this line.
Sichel des Ungewohnten, Dorn der Eisamkeit
Im Nachtgeviert des Waldes, scheuer Schritt,
Gebleicht von abgescheuertem Erliegen
Auf kühlem Moos: taub an der alten Hand
Sich selbsts gewiß ein schauerndes Gesicht:
So ruft der Bruder nicht, so nicht;
So trotzt dem Denkmal aufgebrannt die Trauer.
Explanation: This reminds me spontaneously of the Greek expression "the bird's milk", denoting something delicious, the assumption being that both birds and milk are very tasty, its combination would be even more so. I think the above line could be the inverse rhetorical device, describing the statue's decrepity. Not content with depicting the hand as old, in a kind of negative superlative it is called "deaf" to further indicate its fallen state.
"taub" can also have the meaning of "numb", but with the poem continuing "so ruft der Bruder nicht", I think that associations with hearing are intended, that the poet plays with this ambiguity, using the word as a pun.
I really like your insights into this poem.Adler's poems are filled with words used in unusual ways. This poem is still a bit of a mystery to me, but your thoughts have pushed me further down the path. Thanks.
my reading: the hand touching the monument turns numb with the stone's coldness, and this numbness reminds the speaker of his own mortality (“sich selbst gewiss ein schauerndes Gesicht”). Bruder is of course “Bruder Tod”.
(Another possible reading: the monument is a human statue with a hand that is cold/dead>numb )
Automatic update in 00:
Answers
4 hrs confidence:
the old hand being deaf
Explanation: This reminds me spontaneously of the Greek expression "the bird's milk", denoting something delicious, the assumption being that both birds and milk are very tasty, its combination would be even more so. I think the above line could be the inverse rhetorical device, describing the statue's decrepity. Not content with depicting the hand as old, in a kind of negative superlative it is called "deaf" to further indicate its fallen state.
"taub" can also have the meaning of "numb", but with the poem continuing "so ruft der Bruder nicht", I think that associations with hearing are intended, that the poet plays with this ambiguity, using the word as a pun.
reorient Local time: 15:21 Works in field Native speaker of: German PRO pts in category: 8
Explanation: I only put 'ancient' so as to give the same number of syllables as the German... otherwise old would do just as well.
But I think 'taub' would have to be translated as numb here (taubheitsgefühl = feeling of numbness) as, even taking poetic licence to an extreme, I can't imagine a hand being deaf....
phoeberuth Local time: 14:21 Specializes in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 4
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +1
