Renée Vivien, born Pauline Mary Tarn (1877-1909), was a British poet and high-profile lesbian of the Belle Époque who wrote French poems in the style of the Symbolistes and Parnassiens.
I have written and read a lot of fine love poems, and I don't hesitate to say that “Nous nous sommes assises” (“We Sat Down”) is one of the finest I have ever encountered. I don't judge this according to any rule book for assessing a great poem, I only know that I would be immensely proud to have written it.
Martin, I agree and I think all the Renee Vivien poems I translated are first-notch, at least in the originals. The main goal of my translations is to bring the work of outstanding poets to more readers.
I restacked it, and it didn't come out right in that format, so I redid it differently, and it's quite readable now and should get some readers at least to open your post. I'm working away at this and I'm building a following and my stats show they are looking at my restacks. Well, some of them, at least.
Go into my website and open Notes and you'll see exactly how it all works. Other readers - especially Substack readers - have seen those Restacks, and many have opened them. Because I do this, I've been recommended five times now, which is helpful when it comes to getting more views, and these great poems by Renee Vivien really need to seen by as many readers as possible. They are simply wonderful, and need a bigger readership. That's the truth of it.
I have written and read a lot of fine love poems, and I don't hesitate to say that “Nous nous sommes assises” (“We Sat Down”) is one of the finest I have ever encountered. I don't judge this according to any rule book for assessing a great poem, I only know that I would be immensely proud to have written it.
Martin, I agree and I think all the Renee Vivien poems I translated are first-notch, at least in the originals. The main goal of my translations is to bring the work of outstanding poets to more readers.
I restacked it, and it didn't come out right in that format, so I redid it differently, and it's quite readable now and should get some readers at least to open your post. I'm working away at this and I'm building a following and my stats show they are looking at my restacks. Well, some of them, at least.
That's good news. I haven't figured out the restack feature yet.
Go into my website and open Notes and you'll see exactly how it all works. Other readers - especially Substack readers - have seen those Restacks, and many have opened them. Because I do this, I've been recommended five times now, which is helpful when it comes to getting more views, and these great poems by Renee Vivien really need to seen by as many readers as possible. They are simply wonderful, and need a bigger readership. That's the truth of it.
I will check out your Notes, thanks.