French: La forêt vierge (1/2)

GeneralChristine Ruzik7

Hello,

a poem in two parts. It’s from Leconte de Lisle, a 19th century poet who has quite an evocative style.

A lot of difficult words… “Hallier” is a “groupe de buissons serrés” says my newly bought dictionary.


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  1. This is quite the poem, wow, beautifully written. There were many words that I didn’t know but by sound I could get. Some others that I marked with (?) I’m not so sure. Here’s my transcription:

    Depuis le jour antique où germa sa semence
    Cette forêt sans fin aux feuillages houleux
    S’enfonce puissamment dans les horizons bleus
    Comme une sombre mer qu’enveloppe(?) un soupir immense.

    Sur le sol convulsif l’homme n’était pas né
    Qu’elle emplissait déjà mille fois séculaire
    De son ombre de son repos de sa colère
    Un large pan du globe encore décharné(?).

    Dans le vertigineux(?) courant des heures brèves
    Du sein des grandes eaux sous les cieux rayonnants,
    Elle a vu tour à tour jaillir(?) des continents
    Et d’autres s’engloutir au loin tels que des rêves.

    Les étés flamboyants sur elle ont resplendi,
    Les assauts(?) furieux des vents(?) l’ont secouée,
    Et la foudre à ses troncs en lambeaux s’est nouée ;
    Mais en vain l’indomptable(?) a toujours reverdi.

    Elle roule emportant ses gorges ses cavernes(?)
    Ses blocs moussus ses lacs hérissés et fumants
    Où par les mornes nuits geignent les caïmans(?)
    Dans les roseaux bourbeux où luisent leurs yeux ternes.

    Ses gorilles ventrus hurlant à pleine voix
    Ses éléphants gercés comme une vieille écorce
    Qui rompant les halliers effondrés de leur force
    S’enivrent(?) de l’horreur ineffable des bois ;

    Ses buffles au front plat irritables(?) et louches
    Enfouis dans la vase épaisse des grands trous
    Et ses lions rêveurs traînant leurs cheveux roux
    Et balayant du fouet l’essaim strident des mouches.

    Ses fleuves monstrueux(?) débordants vagabonds
    Tombés des pics lointains sans noms et sans rivages
    Qui versent brusquement leurs écumes sauvages
    De gouffre en gouffre avec d’irrésistibles bonds.

    Et des ravins(?), des rocs, de la fange, du sable,
    Des arbres, des buissons, de l’herbe incessamment
    Se prolonge et s’accroît l’ancien rugissement
    Qu’a toujours exhalé son sein impérissable(?).

    Quelques petites choses:

    1. décharné – At first I read déperné but that didn’t make any sense. Then I realized that it was that the p was a ch, but for the omission of r, the n goes over the circle vowel, not under (like the word charme).
    2. vertigineux – I would have written it according to the abbreviating principle: v – reverse e – t – j, but writing as you did is fine. In Simplified is written v – e – r – t – j – e – n – oo hook, and in DJS, both e circles are added.
    3. assauts – I think the s is too big, but afaut doesn’t make any sense.
    4. vents – The a is missing: v – a – n.
    5. l’indomptable – It is written much simpler: l – nd blend – o hook – nd blend – b (the p is omitted). (In Simplified, the second blend is replaced by n – t.)
    6. The e in caverne should be reversed.
    7. Caïmans should be written with the broken circle, not the double circle (paragraph 114).
    8. Irritables is simply reverse e – t – b.
    9. The m in monstreux should be longer because it’s the men blend.
    10. I would have added the second e in impérissable (as in Simplified): n – p – e – r – e – s – b

    1. First, congratulations, Carlos, for the transcript. With almost only words from the sustained register, it hasn’t been easy for me to write this poem, so I imagine to read it…

      All your question marks are well guessed, except the first one: I tried to write “qu’enfle”. I suppose that if I break the curve, it would be more obvious… (I don’t like to break the curves but it is sometimes necessary.)

      1) Décharné : right, I guess I have to review the reverse-R…
      2) The way you would have written “vertigineux” is fine to me. I saw “vertigo” in the Anniversary Gregg Shorthand Dictionary and so added a circle.
      3) I will make a smaller “s”…
      4) You’re right: “vent” v-a-n.
      5) « l’ind-o-m“p”t-able » : right, the “p” in French is barely pronounced…
      6) It will be reversed;
      7) I forgot the broken circle;
      8) How handy… I like simple forms;
      9) The “m” will be longer;
      10) This is the only point I disagree: I based myself on the Anniversary Gregg Shorthand Dictionary. “Imperishable” appears inside and there’s no second “e”.

      Thank you very much for the corrections. Quite a work… 🙂

      1. I’d just like to comment, as Carlos said, how beautifully written that was. Better then Carlos’!

        Though I have no iedea of what it meant it was a joy to behold.

    1. Great! Looks good!

      In English Gregg, -ish is an analogical word ending (an extension of the abbreviating principle, see page ix of the Anniversary Dictionary). That explains why the second e sound is eliminated in “perish”, but written in other words with “peri”, like “periscope”, “peristalsis”, and also in other words with the same sound, such “malice”, “accomplice”, “avarice”, etc. Even the outline for “Paris” has the e in English (if not, it would read “parse”). Another exception of the second e sound not written is the word “peril”, because that outline is following the “obscure vowel rule” (paragraph 16, English Anniversary Manual). It’s one of those weird things …

      1. I read attentively the texts you mentionned and I see your point.And… let’s say… I must like “impérissable” the way it is. Sorry, Carlos…

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