ASL Narrative of the month
for September 2010
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The Eclipse
Since every language has different grammar that, thus, affects the structure of the poem or another element, I rearranged the structure a bit to maintain the concept of the poem and the grammatical harmony in ASL rather than to maintain the limiting structure.
For example, my opening began with the scene ("open cold") which comes before "I stood". It began with the description of the scene and context before it comes to the details. It is known as "topicalization" in ASL.
Another example in my ASL translation is that the ASL phrase "hope of light" occurs at the end after the phrase "in the face of darkness." It is logical and harmonious in this way. If it were to follow the order of words in the last line in this original poem, the translation in ASL would probably result in, like, "flattening out the flame or light of hope". The last line in this English works well but translation can result in a different concept if the same structure is preserved. In interpretation from a language to another, concept is a paramount to preserve the meaning.
The Eclipse
I stood out in the open cold
To see the essence of the eclipse
Which was its perfect darkness.
I stood in the cold on the porch
And could not think of anything so perfect
As mans hope of light in the face of darkness.
By Richard Eberhart, American poet (1904 - 2005).