Post by Bonobo on Oct 10, 2010 8:59:59 GMT 1
The Locomotive - a poem by Julian Tuwim (1894-1953), perfectly translated by Walter Whipple.
Why perfectly? In the Polish original, the words as well as the rhythm employed by the poet actually give an impression of the noise and commotion produced by a train engine. The English translator rendered it so well, keeping all the effects intact, that I am still surprised such a thing was possible with two so different languages.
The poem is known to every Polish child.
The Locomotive
A big locomotive has pulled into town,
Heavy, humungus, with sweat rolling down,
A plump jumbo olive.
Huffing and puffing and panting and smelly,
Fire belches forth from her fat cast iron belly.
Poof, how she's burning,
Oof, how she's boiling,
Puff, how she's churning,
Huff, how she's toiling.
She's fully exhausted and all out of breath,
Yet the coalman continues to stoke her to death.
Numerous wagons she tugs down the track:
Iron and steel monsters hitched up to her back,
All filled with people and other things too:
The first carries cattle, then horses not few;
The third car with corpulent people is filled,
Eating fat frankfurters all freshly grilled.
The fourth car is packed to the hilt with bananas,
The fifth has a cargo of six grand pi-an-as.
The sixth wagon carries a cannon of steel,
With heavy iron girders beneath every wheel.
The seventh has tables, oak cupboards with plates,
While an elephant, bear, two giraffes fill the eighth.
The ninth contains nothing but well-fattened swine,
In the tenth: bags and boxes, now isn't that fine?
There must be at least forty cars in a row,
And what they all carry -- I simply don't know:
But if one thousand athletes, with muscles of steel,
Each ate one thousand cutlets in one giant meal,
And each one exerted as much as he could,
They'd never quite manage to lift such a load.
First a toot!
Then a hoot!
Steam is churning,
Wheels are turning!
More slowly - than turtles - with freight - on their - backs,
The drowsy - steam engine - sets off - down the tracks.
She chugs and she tugs at her wagons with strain,
As wheel after wheel slowly turns on the train.
She doubles her effort and quickens her pace,
And rambles and scrambles to keep up the race.
Oh whither, oh whither? go forward at will,
And chug along over the bridge, up the hill,
Through mountains and tunnels and meadows and woods,
Now hurry, now hurry, deliver your goods.
Keep up your tempo, now push along, push along,
Chug along, tug along, tug along, chug along
Lightly and sprightly she carries her freight
Like a ping-pong ball bouncing without any weight,
Not heavy equipment exhausted to death,
But a little tin toy, just a light puff of breath.
Oh whither, oh whither, you'll tell me, I trust,
What is it, what is it that gives you your thrust?
What gives you momentum to roll down the track?
It's hot steam that gives me my clickety-clack.
Hot steam from the boiler through tubes to the pistons,
The pistons then push at the wheels from short distance,
They drive and they push, and the train starts a-swooshin'
'Cuz steam on the pistons keeps pushin' and pushin';
The wheels start a rattlin', clatterin', chatterin'
Chug along, tug along, chug along, tug along! . . . . .
LOKOMOTYWA
Stoi na stacji lokomotywa,
Ciężka, ogromna i pot z niej spływa -
Tłusta oliwa.
Stoi i sapie, dyszy i dmucha,
Żar z rozgrzanego jej brzucha bucha:
Buch - jak gorąco!
Uch - jak gorąco!
Puff - jak gorąco!
Uff - jak gorąco!
Już ledwo sapie, już ledwo zipie,
A jeszcze palacz węgiel w nią sypie.
Wagony do niej podoczepiali
Wielkie i ciężkie, z żelaza, stali,
I pełno ludzi w każdym wagonie,
A w jednym krowy, a w drugim konie,
A w trzecim siedzą same grubasy,
Siedzą i jedzą tłuste kiełbasy.
A czwarty wagon pełen bananów,
A w piątym stoi sześć fortepianów,
W szóstym armata, o! jaka wielka!
Pod każdym kołem żelazna belka!
W siódmym dębowe stoły i szafy,
W ósmym słoń, niedźwiedź i dwie żyrafy,
W dziewiątym - same tuczone świnie,
W dziesiątym - kufry, paki i skrzynie,
A tych wagonów jest ze czterdzieści,
Sam nie wiem, co się w nich jeszcze mieści.
Lecz choćby przyszło tysiąc atletów
I każdy zjadłby tysiąc kotletów,
I każdy nie wiem jak się natężał,
To nie udźwigną - taki to ciężar!
Nagle - gwizd!
Nagle - świst!
Para - buch!
Koła - w ruch!
Najpierw
powoli
jak żółw
ociężale
Ruszyła
maszyna
po szynach
ospale.
Szarpnęła wagony i ciągnie z mozołem,
I kręci się, kręci się koło za kołem,
I biegu przyspiesza, i gna coraz prędzej,
I dudni, i stuka, łomoce i pędzi.
A dokąd? A dokąd? A dokąd? Na wprost!
Po torze, po torze, po torze, przez most,
Przez góry, przez tunel, przez pola, przez las
I spieszy się, spieszy, by zdążyć na czas,
Do taktu turkoce i puka, i stuka to:
Tak to to, tak to to, tak to to, tak to to,
Gładko tak, lekko tak toczy się w dal,
Jak gdyby to była piłeczka, nie stal,
Nie ciężka maszyna zziajana, zdyszana,
Lecz raszka, igraszka, zabawka blaszana.
A skądże to, jakże to, czemu tak gna?
A co to to, co to to, kto to tak pcha?
Że pędzi, że wali, że bucha, buch-buch?
To para gorąca wprawiła to w ruch,
To para, co z kotła rurami do tłoków,
A tłoki kołami ruszają z dwóch boków
I gnają, i pchają, i pociąg się toczy,
Bo para te tłoki wciąż tłoczy i tłoczy,,
I koła turkocą, i puka, i stuka to:
Tak to to, tak to to, tak to to, tak to to!...
You can listen to the poem in the vocal rendition by a Polish student, probably from a junior high school.
Pay attention at 1:50 sec. when the recitation gains momentum because the engine goes faster...
Immortal poem, forever in children books:
Why perfectly? In the Polish original, the words as well as the rhythm employed by the poet actually give an impression of the noise and commotion produced by a train engine. The English translator rendered it so well, keeping all the effects intact, that I am still surprised such a thing was possible with two so different languages.
The poem is known to every Polish child.
The Locomotive
A big locomotive has pulled into town,
Heavy, humungus, with sweat rolling down,
A plump jumbo olive.
Huffing and puffing and panting and smelly,
Fire belches forth from her fat cast iron belly.
Poof, how she's burning,
Oof, how she's boiling,
Puff, how she's churning,
Huff, how she's toiling.
She's fully exhausted and all out of breath,
Yet the coalman continues to stoke her to death.
Numerous wagons she tugs down the track:
Iron and steel monsters hitched up to her back,
All filled with people and other things too:
The first carries cattle, then horses not few;
The third car with corpulent people is filled,
Eating fat frankfurters all freshly grilled.
The fourth car is packed to the hilt with bananas,
The fifth has a cargo of six grand pi-an-as.
The sixth wagon carries a cannon of steel,
With heavy iron girders beneath every wheel.
The seventh has tables, oak cupboards with plates,
While an elephant, bear, two giraffes fill the eighth.
The ninth contains nothing but well-fattened swine,
In the tenth: bags and boxes, now isn't that fine?
There must be at least forty cars in a row,
And what they all carry -- I simply don't know:
But if one thousand athletes, with muscles of steel,
Each ate one thousand cutlets in one giant meal,
And each one exerted as much as he could,
They'd never quite manage to lift such a load.
First a toot!
Then a hoot!
Steam is churning,
Wheels are turning!
More slowly - than turtles - with freight - on their - backs,
The drowsy - steam engine - sets off - down the tracks.
She chugs and she tugs at her wagons with strain,
As wheel after wheel slowly turns on the train.
She doubles her effort and quickens her pace,
And rambles and scrambles to keep up the race.
Oh whither, oh whither? go forward at will,
And chug along over the bridge, up the hill,
Through mountains and tunnels and meadows and woods,
Now hurry, now hurry, deliver your goods.
Keep up your tempo, now push along, push along,
Chug along, tug along, tug along, chug along
Lightly and sprightly she carries her freight
Like a ping-pong ball bouncing without any weight,
Not heavy equipment exhausted to death,
But a little tin toy, just a light puff of breath.
Oh whither, oh whither, you'll tell me, I trust,
What is it, what is it that gives you your thrust?
What gives you momentum to roll down the track?
It's hot steam that gives me my clickety-clack.
Hot steam from the boiler through tubes to the pistons,
The pistons then push at the wheels from short distance,
They drive and they push, and the train starts a-swooshin'
'Cuz steam on the pistons keeps pushin' and pushin';
The wheels start a rattlin', clatterin', chatterin'
Chug along, tug along, chug along, tug along! . . . . .
LOKOMOTYWA
Stoi na stacji lokomotywa,
Ciężka, ogromna i pot z niej spływa -
Tłusta oliwa.
Stoi i sapie, dyszy i dmucha,
Żar z rozgrzanego jej brzucha bucha:
Buch - jak gorąco!
Uch - jak gorąco!
Puff - jak gorąco!
Uff - jak gorąco!
Już ledwo sapie, już ledwo zipie,
A jeszcze palacz węgiel w nią sypie.
Wagony do niej podoczepiali
Wielkie i ciężkie, z żelaza, stali,
I pełno ludzi w każdym wagonie,
A w jednym krowy, a w drugim konie,
A w trzecim siedzą same grubasy,
Siedzą i jedzą tłuste kiełbasy.
A czwarty wagon pełen bananów,
A w piątym stoi sześć fortepianów,
W szóstym armata, o! jaka wielka!
Pod każdym kołem żelazna belka!
W siódmym dębowe stoły i szafy,
W ósmym słoń, niedźwiedź i dwie żyrafy,
W dziewiątym - same tuczone świnie,
W dziesiątym - kufry, paki i skrzynie,
A tych wagonów jest ze czterdzieści,
Sam nie wiem, co się w nich jeszcze mieści.
Lecz choćby przyszło tysiąc atletów
I każdy zjadłby tysiąc kotletów,
I każdy nie wiem jak się natężał,
To nie udźwigną - taki to ciężar!
Nagle - gwizd!
Nagle - świst!
Para - buch!
Koła - w ruch!
Najpierw
powoli
jak żółw
ociężale
Ruszyła
maszyna
po szynach
ospale.
Szarpnęła wagony i ciągnie z mozołem,
I kręci się, kręci się koło za kołem,
I biegu przyspiesza, i gna coraz prędzej,
I dudni, i stuka, łomoce i pędzi.
A dokąd? A dokąd? A dokąd? Na wprost!
Po torze, po torze, po torze, przez most,
Przez góry, przez tunel, przez pola, przez las
I spieszy się, spieszy, by zdążyć na czas,
Do taktu turkoce i puka, i stuka to:
Tak to to, tak to to, tak to to, tak to to,
Gładko tak, lekko tak toczy się w dal,
Jak gdyby to była piłeczka, nie stal,
Nie ciężka maszyna zziajana, zdyszana,
Lecz raszka, igraszka, zabawka blaszana.
A skądże to, jakże to, czemu tak gna?
A co to to, co to to, kto to tak pcha?
Że pędzi, że wali, że bucha, buch-buch?
To para gorąca wprawiła to w ruch,
To para, co z kotła rurami do tłoków,
A tłoki kołami ruszają z dwóch boków
I gnają, i pchają, i pociąg się toczy,
Bo para te tłoki wciąż tłoczy i tłoczy,,
I koła turkocą, i puka, i stuka to:
Tak to to, tak to to, tak to to, tak to to!...
You can listen to the poem in the vocal rendition by a Polish student, probably from a junior high school.
Pay attention at 1:50 sec. when the recitation gains momentum because the engine goes faster...
Immortal poem, forever in children books: