Posted on 09/02/2018 2:01:16 PM PDT by Twotone
It is often said that we should worry about the world we are leaving to the younger generation. I am a bit more worried about the poor world, given the state of the younger generation who will soon have custody of it. Last week, for example, the students of Manchester University have decided that Rudyard Kipling’s poem “If” is not suitable for their college because he was raaaaacisst. Of course. They have replaced his poem with some vapid drivel from the serially overrated Maya Angelou. It might have been better if they’d simply rewritten Kipling’s verse, adapted it for modern times. I tried to help out in the Sunday Times today:
If you can self-define as something you’re not,
And crawl into victimhood, however well-bred
And spew out tendentious sub-teenage rot
And wear a vagina on top of your head,
And whine like a ninny, inside your safe space,
When the real world intrudes on the crap you’ve averred,
Then apply to our college – we’ll give you a place,
(For about £30k). And you’ll get a third.
The English language has an enormous vocabulary which allows exact translations to be achieved. That is why it is the language of Commerce. Contracts are written precisely. English means what it says and says what it means. French is the language of Diplomats for the reason that a word can be interpreted in more than one way depending on the rest of the sentence. All papers written in the United Nations for example, are written in English AND in French.
Translations of a given text may vary slightly depending on the translator, but the good translations carry the rhythm, feeling, and meaning of what is written.
it is not a new poem simply because the language is different. One must be, however, fluent in the language in order to recognize an excellent translation.
Un soir fait de rose et de bleu mystique...........
One evening made of rose and a mystic blue.........
Identical meaning, identical feeling, identical visual therefore the same poem.
You would fail translating Jimi Hendrix or Jim Morrison poetry to the same song...words and meaning and it has to rhyme.
Yes, thanks for posting :)
You must think - so called - like a communist:
If If (!) is written by a designated racist, then it is itself racist regardless of content.
The Tyranny of Recency.
Precisely
Kipling has been given a bum rap for as long as I can remember (70 years). He was born in India of English parents during the reign of Queen Victoria. His poems and stories make wonderful reading. Intellectuals have blacked his name in the interest of political correctness.
His writings have always stirred me
Our universities are not interested in turning out men who think, but puppets who obey.
We were talking about poetry. We were NOT talking about lyrics. Lyrics are written to fit the music or the music is composed to fit the lyrics. Songwriting is an entirely different art form. Poetry stands alone. Lyrics are one half of a duet.
You can have Hendrix and Morrison. I’ll take Shakespeare, Longfellow, Browning, Shelly, Keats, Guest, Kipling, Frost, and many others.
That's what frightens me the most. I can see the Communist boa tightening its coils around our democratic republic, slowly forcing the life out of it. Yet apathy rules on the right.
“I can see the Communist boa tightening its coils around our democratic republic, slowly forcing the life out of it. Yet apathy rules on the right.”
Agreed. Flyover country goes about it’s daily business thinking “It’ll never get THAT bad.” Well guess what? It’s here. And it’s getting that bad.
Kipling’s “The Mother Hive” is essential reading for all conservatives.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.