Preening

You may have gleaned from my posts that I'm learning French or, more accurately, that I'm enrolled in French classes.  Whether there has been any learning remains to be seen.  Happily, I find one of the best modes of instruction is reading French poetry.  (I mean, what do you know?)  Here's a poem from one of my favorite authors, Raymond Queneau.  See what you can understand (translation below).  (And it helps to read the original aloud with a rhee-di-kuh-lus Frauench aghsennt .)

?L?Esp? Humaine?

L?esp? humaine m?a donn?r />le droit d??e mortel
le devoir d??e civilis?r />la conscience humaine
deux yeux qui d?ailleurs ne fonctionnent pas tr?bien
le nez au milieu du visage
deux pieds deux mains
le langage
l?esp? humaine m?a donn?r />mon p? et ma m?
peut-?e des fr?s on ne sait
des cousins ?ellet?
et des arri?-grands-p?s
l?esp? humaine m ?a donn?r />ses trois facult?br />le sentiment l?intelligence et la volont?r />chaque chose de fa? mod?e
l?esp? humaine m?a donn?r />trente-deux dents un c?ur un foie
d?autres visc?s et dix doigts
l?esp? humaine m?a donn?r />de quoi se dire satisfait

"The Human Species"

The human species has given me
the right to be mortal

the duty to be civilized

a conscience

2 eyes that don't always function very well

a nose in the middle of my face

2 feet 2 hands

speech

the human species has given me

my father and mother

some brothers maybe who knows

a whole mess of cousins

and some great-grandfathers

the human species has given me

its 3 faculties

feeling intellect and will

each in moderation

32 teeth 10 fingers a liver

a heart and some other viscera

the human species has given me

what I'm supposed to be satisfied with

--translated by Teo Savory ( The Random House Book of Twentieth Century French Poetry, edited by Paul Auster, 1984)

Now may be an opportune moment to mention exactly how I feel about the book above.  Go buy it!  The introduction is fantastic.  The translations were all crafted by leading literary figures of the 20th century.  The original poems are by the most impeccable French poets.  Plus the books looks tr?moderne, so people will think you are wicked smart.  That may not have been exactly how I feel, but it dances near enough to the truth.