Category Archives: POETIC NONSENSE

Poetry by Lawrence R. Spencer. Poetic nonsense by Lawrence R. Spencer and others. Haiku poems by Lawrence R. Spencer.

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“O FORTUNA”: MISUNDERSTOOD LYRICS ANIMATED

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

A brilliant demonstration of how a misunderstood word can have crazy consequences:

“O Fortuna” is a medieval Latin Goliardic poem written early in the thirteenth century, part of the collection known as the Carmina Burana. It is a complaint about fate and Fortuna, a goddess in Roman mythology and personification of luck.  In 1935-36, O Fortuna was set to music by the German composer Carl Orff as a part of his cantata Carmina Burana where it is used as the opening and closing number.  “O Fortuna” topped a list of the most-played classical music of the past 75 years in the United Kingdom.

THE ACTUAL LYRICS:

O Fortuna
velut luna
statu variabilis,
semper crescis
aut decrescis;
vita detestabilis
nunc obdurat
et tunc curat
ludo mentis aciem,
egestatem,
potestatem
dissolvit ut glaciem.

Sors immanis
et inanis,
rota tu volubilis,
status malus,
vana salus
semper dissolubilis,
obumbrata
et velata
michi quoque niteris;
nunc per ludum
dorsum nudum
fero tui sceleris.

Sors salutis
et virtutis
michi nunc contraria,
est affectus
et defectus
semper in angaria.
Hac in hora
sine mora
corde pulsum tangite;
quod per sortem
sternit fortem,
mecum omnes plangite!

O Fortune,
just like the moon
thou art variable,
always dost thou
wax and wane.
Detestable life,
first dost thou mistreat us,
and then, whimsically,
thou heedest our desires.
As the sun melts the ice,
so dost thou dissolve
both poverty and power.

Monstrous
and empty fate,
thou, turning wheel,
art mean,
voiding
good health at thy will.
Veiled
in obscurity,
thou dost attack
me also.
To thy cruel pleasure
I bare my back.

Thou dost withdraw
my health and virtue;
thou dost threaten
my emotion
and weakness
with torture.
At this hour,
therefore, let us
pluck the strings without
delay.
Let us mourn together,
for fate crushes the brave.
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VOICE OF THE GODS

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

VOICE OF GOD

About the painting:  “Circe Offering the Cup to Ulysses” is an oil painting in the Pre-Raphaelite style by John William Waterhouse that was created in 1891.  The painting depicts a scene from Greek mythology, the sorceress Circe offering Odysseus a cup containing a potion with which she seeks to bring him under her spell as she has his crew.

In Greek mythology, Circe (pronounced “Keer-keeh” “falcon”) is a minor goddess of magic (or sometimes a nymph, witch, enchantress or sorceress).  By most accounts, Circe was the daughter of Helios, the god of the sun, and Perse, an Oceanid. Her brothers were Aeetes, the keeper of the Golden Fleece and Perses, and her sister was Pasiphaë, the wife of King Minos and mother of the Minotaur. Other accounts make her the daughter of Hecate.  Circe was renowned for her vast knowledge of drugs and herbs. Through the use of magical potions and a wand she transformed her enemies, or those who offended her, into animals.