French Translation #1

Translation Explanation

Welcome, budding polyglot! For this translation we are going to break it down by stanza to keep things more or less clean and I will provide the translation, in full, at the bottom. Keep in mind, I am translating this from my head, I haven’t looked anything up, so your answers and my answers may be different. That does not mean you were wrong, necessarily. There are many ways to say the same thing, I will do my best to explain to you why I think the way I chose is best. However, if you think you have a better answer I encourage you to post it in the comment section below!

Stances galantes

Souffrez qu'Amour cette nuit vous réveille ;

Par mes soupirs laissez-vous enflammer ;

Vous dormez trop, adorable merveille,

Car c'est dormir que de ne point aimer.

Ne craignez rien ; dans l'amoureux empire

Le mal n'est pas si grand que l'on le fait

Et, lorsqu'on aime et que le coeur soupire,

Son propre mal souvent le satisfait.

Le mal d'aimer, c'est de vouloir le taire :

Pour l'éviter, parlez en ma faveur.

Amour le veut, n'en faites point mystère.

Mais vous tremblez, et ce dieu vous fait peur !

Peut-on souffrir une plus douce peine ?

Peut-on subir une plus douce loi ?

Qu'étant des coeurs la douce souveraine,

Dessus le vôtre Amour agisse en roi ;

Rendez-vous donc, ô divine Amarante !

Soumettez-vous aux volontés d'Amour ;

Aimez pendant que vous êtes charmante,

Car le temps passe et n'a point de retour.

Translation Notes

Souffrez qu'Amour cette nuit vous réveille ;

Allow Love to wake you up this night;

This line was difficult, even more so I imagine for those who are just getting into French. The issue is really that written and spoken French are far from the same thing. In written French there will be verbs and conjugations that will never make it to the spoken word. Not only that, but perfection is far more important when writing (if you plan to turn it in, that is) than it would be when speaking since a slight mistake can change the entire meaning of a sentence.