a pastoral elegy lamenting the death of Edward King, one of his classmates in college.
Where were ye, nymphs, when the remorseless deep
Closed o’er the head of your loved Lycidas?
For neither were ye playing on the steep,
Where your old bards, the famous Druids(Priestly poet-kings of Celtic Britain, who worshipped the forces of nature. They are buried on the mountain Kerig-y-Druion in Wales), lie,
Nor on the shaggy top of Mona(the island of Anglesey) high，
Nor yet where Deva(the river Dee in Cheshire) spreads her wizard stream(this river is supposed to foretell prosperity or dearth for the land).
Ay me, I fondly dream!
Had ye been there-for what could that have done?
What could the Muse herself that Orpheus bore,
The Muse(Calliope) herself, for her enchanting(both by song and magic) son,
Whom universal nature did lament,
When by the rout that made the hideous roar
His gory visage down the stream was sent,
Down the swift Hebrus to the Lesbian shore.
(50-63)
(50-63)
님프여, 어디에 있었는가? 자비없는 바다가
그대의 사랑하는 리씨다스를 덮쳤을 때.
그대는 오랫동안 알던 시인 친구, 그 유명한 드루이드교 사제들이 누워있는
산 위에서 놀고 있지 않았고,
높은 모나 산의 험준한 꼭대기에 있지도 않았으며,
디바가 자신의 마술의 시냇물을 펼친 곳에 있지도 않았다.
아, 어리석은 꿈이다!
그대가 거기 있었다 해도, 무엇을 할 수 있었겠는가?
오르페우스를 낳은 뮤즈가 있었다 해도
매혹하는 힘을 가진 그녀의 아들을 위해 무엇을 했겠는가?
온 자연이 (그 죽음을) 애도하는 그 아들을 위해서.
끔찍한 고함소리를 지르는 그 군중들이
그의 피범벅된 얼굴을 시냇물 아래로 던져서,
물살 빠른 해브루강을 따라 레스보스 해안까지 떠내려갔을 때.
*an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The first version, published in 1667, consists of ten books with over ten thousand lines of verse. A second edition followed in 1674, arranged into twelve books (in the manner of Virgil's Aeneid) with minor revisions throughout. It is considered to be Milton's major work, and it helped solidify his reputation as one of the greatest English poets of his time. The poem concerns the biblical story of the Fall of Man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Milton's purpose, as stated in Book I, is to "justify the ways of God to men."
Descend from heaven, Urania(The Muse of astronomy and Christian poetry), by that name
If rightly thou art called, whose voice divine
Following, above the Olympian hill I soar,
Above the flight of Pegasean wing(Pegasus, the flying horse of inspired poetry, suggests [in connection with Bellerophone, 18] Milton's sense of perilous audacity in writing this poem.)
The meaning, not the name, I call(Milton means holy spirit rather than a Muse Urania): for thou
Nor of the Muses nine, nor on the top
Nor of the Muses nine, nor on the top
Of old Olympus dwell’st, but heavenly born,
Before the hills appeared or fountain flowed,
Thou with eternal Wisdom didst converse(associate),
Wisdom thy sister, and with her didst play
In presence of the Almighty Father, pleased
With thy celestial song. Up led by thee
Into the heaven of heavens I have presumed,
An earthly guest, and drawn empyreal(pertaining to the highest heaven in the cosmology of the ancients) air,
Thy tempering(made suitable by thee).
*Proverbs 8, where Wisdom speaks of being with God before the creation of the world:'When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth....There I was by him, as on brought up with him: I was daily his delight, rejoicing always with him'(8:23-4, 30).
With like safety guided down
Lest from this flying steed unreined(Pegasus unreined may be too dangerous vehicle for any human being, but in the case of Bellerophone, Jupiter made Pegasus throw his rider)(as once
Bellerophon, though from a lower clime(region))
Dismounted, on the Aleian field(the field on which Bellerophon fell and doomed to wander the rest of his life) I fall,
Erroneous(Straying) there to wander and forlorn.
Half yet remains unsung, but narrower bound
Within the visible diurnal sphere(the universe);
Standing on earth, not rapt above the pole,
More safe I sing with mortal voice, unchanged
To hoarse or mute(referring to his own position after the Restoration), though fallen on evil days,
On evil days though fallen, and evil tongues;(He has chosen to continue to "speak" as a poet, and now to speak more safely of earthly things, not heavenly.)
*After the Restoration of Charles II(May 1660) and until the passage of the Act of Oblivion(August 1660), Milton was in danger of death and dismemberment (like Orpheus); several of his republican colleagues were hanged, disembowelled, and quartered for their part in the revolution and regicide.
In darkness, and with dangers compassed round,
And solitude; yet not alone, while thou
Visit’st my slumbers nightly or when morn
Purples the east. Still govern thou my song,
Urania, and fit audience find, though few.
But drive far off the barbarous dissonance
Of Bacchus and his revellers, the race
O that wild rout that tore the Thracian bard
In Rhodope, where woods and rocks had ears
To rapture, till the savage clamour(a loud persistent outcry) drowned
Both harp and voice; nor could the Muse(Calliope) defend
Her son. So fail not thou, who thee implores:
For thou art heavenly, she an empty dream.
Urania, and fit audience find, though few.
But drive far off the barbarous dissonance
Of Bacchus and his revellers, the race
O that wild rout that tore the Thracian bard
In Rhodope, where woods and rocks had ears
To rapture, till the savage clamour(a loud persistent outcry) drowned
Both harp and voice; nor could the Muse(Calliope) defend
Her son. So fail not thou, who thee implores:
For thou art heavenly, she an empty dream.
(Book 7, 1-39)
실낙원 7권 1-39
유레니아여, 하늘에서 내려오라! 그 이름으로
내가 옳게 불렀다면, 그대의 신성한 목소리를 따라
나는 올림푸스 언덕 위로 솟아오른다.
페가수스의 날개보다 더 위로.
나는 이름보다 그 뜻을 부른 것이다.
그대는 아홉 명의 뮤즈 중 하나도 아니고
오래된 올림푸스 산 꼭대기에 살지 않지만,
이 땅에 언덕이 나타나고 산맥이 흘러가기 이전에
천상에서 태어났으니까. 그대는 영원한 지혜와 어울렸는데,
지혜는 그대의 누이, 그대는 그대의 천상의 노래를 즐겨 듣는
전지전능한 아버지 앞에서 그녀와 함께 놀았다.
나는 그대에 이끌려 감히 하늘 중에도 제일 높은 하늘로 올라갔다.
나는 천상의 바람에 이끌려 그 단련을 받고 하늘나라의 손님이 되었다.
과거에 이보다 낮은 지형에서도 고삐풀린 페가수스에서
알레이안 평원으로 떨어져 정처없이 헤멨었던 벨레로폰처럼 떨어지지 않도록
안전하게 인도받으면서.
여전히 반쯤은 노래할 것이 남았지만, 눈에 보이는 일상적인 우주의 좁은 테두리 안에서
극 지방의 영향에 홀리지 않고, 대지에 서서
인간의 목소리로 보다 안전하게 노래한다.
비록 사악한 세월이지만, 타락하여 사악한 나날이 계속되지만,
사악한 말들 가운데에서도 나는 거칠어지거나 침묵하지 않는다.
어둠 속에서, 위험과 고독에 둘러싸여도,
나는 혼자가 아니었다. 밤중에, 혹은 아침 해가 동녘을 붉게 물들일 때,
잠든 나를 찾아왔으니까.
여전히 그대는 내 노래를 지켜준다.
유레니아여, 나에게 비록 그 숫자가 적어도 올바른 독자를 찾아주길.
하지만 바쿠스와 그 미친 추종자들의 그 야만적인 불협화음은 멀리 몰아내주오.
로도프의 그 쓰레이스 출신 시인을 갈기갈기 찢어 죽인 그 사나운 군중 말이오.
나무들과 돌들도 모두 그의 노래를 듣고 매혹되었지.
그 광란의 고함소리들이 하프소리와 목소리를 뒤덮어버릴 때까지.
그때에도 그 뮤즈 칼리오페도 그 아들을 지키지 못했소.
하지만 그대는 이렇게 간청하는 나를 틀림없이 지켜줄거요.
뮤즈는 공허한 꿈이지만, 그대는 천상의 존재니까.