Dhamma Wheel Buddhist Forum

binocular wrote:

Sprouticus wrote:

binocular wrote:Also, and I haven't thought of this before, I think that the national literature might be specific enough to affect whether someone will love reading or not.

The poem is very powerful. I can't imagine being able to work with it in junior high school.

Here's another one, by one of our greatest poets, Srečko Kosovel (1904 - 1926). There is also music set to this poem and we sang it in our school choir (ages 6 to 15).

(The following is my translation. The bird mentioned is a fieldfare, and Kras is a region in our country.)

- - -

A ballad

In the silent time of autumn
the fieldfare
comes to Kras.

In the fields
there is noone left anymore,
only she
across the fields
flies.
And only a hunter
follows her ...

A shot into the silence;
a tiny stream of blood;
the fieldfare
lies still, lies still.

- - -

I still get tears into my eyes reading it (I do right now). ........
..........

Seems you are reading it for enjoyment.
chownah

chownah wrote:Seems you are reading it for enjoyment.

When a poem cues in one's deepest existential problems and concerns, it can hardly be said that one is reading it for enjoyment. I also get tears in my eyes when I think about the futility of life as it is usually lived.

When Prince Siddhartha left the palace, starting on his quest -- was he doing that in the pursuit of enjoyment? I think it would be quite a stretch to say so.

Alas, you do raise an interesting point.

The last stanza caught me quite off guard. I had looked at the pictures in the Wikipedia article first, so I had the image of the sweet little bird in my head. My eyes are still tearing up a bit. Thank you for sharing your translations.

Reading, for me, is divided into two main categories: enjoyment and information. These do not have to follow the obvious enjoyment is fiction and information is non-fiction. Reading informative pieces is frequently for enjoyment. And reading fiction for information happens if it's done, say, for a class. Even horribly sad material falls into reading for enjoyment because I'm not doing it in service to an obligation.
When I was in junior high I used to hide a book under my desk and read during math class. Reading is like breathing for me. Natural and vital.