À une damoyselle malade (in ASL) 2007-05-31
An interpretation of À une Damoyselle malade by Clément Marot
On reading Le Ton Beau de Marot, I felt I should attempt to render it in ASL, as AFAIK of all Hofstadter's versions of it, he lacks one that is signed.
The constraints, per LTBdM, as applied to ASL:
- The poem is 28 lines long.
- Each line consists of three syllables
each 'line' is one sign Each line's main stress falls on its final syllable.
not applicable- The poem is a string of rhyming couplets: AA, BB, CC, ...
Rhyme is with handshapes (traditional for ASL poetry) - indicated as [handshape] at end of transcription. - Midway, the tone changes from formal ("vous") to informal ("tu").
- The poem's opening line is echoed precisely at the very bottom.
- The poet puts his own name directly into his poem.
- The semantic and rhyming couplets are asynchronous.
French | Rough ASL |
À une Damoyselle malade Ma mignonne, Je vous donne Le bon jour; Le séjour C'est prison. Guérison Recouvrez, Puis ouvrez Votre porte Et qu'on sorte Vitement, Car Clément Le vous mande. Va, friande De ta bouche, Qui se couche En danger Pour manger Confitures; Si tu dures Trop malade, Couleur fade Tu prendras, Et perdras L'embonpoint. Dieu te doint Santé bonne, Ma mignonne |
for girl sick beautiful [B->S] give-to-you(formal) [B] greeting/invitation [B] (brow) rest [B] (shake. brow down) prison [V] health [H (~= V)] recover [4->S] open [S] door [B] exit [B] quick [S->A] Sai [S] order [D] go [D] get-up [V] (brow) lie-down(durative) [V] danger [A] (lean forward conspiratorily) grab-a-lot [A] candy [D] (brow up) frequent [D] (...) sick [8] (brow down) sympathy (~= "awww") [8] (shake, brow up [= if you don't]) eat [O] (head back) lose [O->4] (smile) fat [4] bless-you [A->4] recover [4->S] beauty/beautiful [B->S] |