Nothing Gold Can Stay

A

avky

New Member
Native English speaker, living in Texas, USA
¡Hola! Necesito ayuda para traducir la siguiente frase, que viene de un poema de Robert Frost:

“Nothing gold can stay.”

¿Es bueno decir “Nada de oro puede quedarse”? Estoy comparando este frase a otro poema, y quiero hablar en una manera un poco más sofisticada.  ¡Gracias!
 
    • Al ser muy metafórico hay que tener muchas cosas en cuenta a la hora de traducirlo. Ten en cuenta que el orden de la frase en inglés es normalmente más importante que en español y en este ejemplo te da pie a varias traducciones muy distintas. Como es un poema, quizá el sentido es el que corresponde a este otro orden: "Nothing can stay gold" queriendo decir, por ejemplo, que nada puede permanecer siempre joven o hermoso.
     
    Nature's first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf's a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay. (Robert Frost)

    It's very clear: youth is no more than a fleeting moment.

    Muy bien Leona
     
    Jim986 said:
    Nature's first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf's a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay. (Robert Frost)

    It's very clear: youth is no more than a fleeting moment.

    Muy bien Leona
    Click to expand...

    Since RF is never easy in spite of the apparent simplicity of the lines, there are hidden themes: the repitition of the color gold makes us think of the metal and contrast the delicate ephemeral beauty of the gold things in nature that symbolise youth. Metalic gold doesn't last either as a sufficient motive for human existence in the sense that it is dross, rubbish,compared to the spirit. So the meaning of the line (also the title of the poem itself) is quite complex. That doesn't mean the transation should be: the same images will work just as well in Spanish. Have a go anyone????
     
    Just a suggestion, depending on the formality of the comparison you're doing, you might look into published translations of Frost's work. They must be out there somewhere...after all, I don't much like poetry, and I could recite this one to you from memory.
     
    I didn't mean any interpretation must be done at the time of translating, I just wanted to bring back those days when we used to comment on poems like these by assuming Frost used one of the most common metaphored themes in poetry, such as the passing of time.
    The translation should in my opinion stay as it is because they can be, as Jim986 says, easily noticeable in a Spanish version of the poem.

    I don't remember whose poem was but I read some lines recently in which an old lady was referred to as SILVER. Maybe that's why gold brought youth to my mind. Also, gold is the color of the sunset and, later on, silver the color of the tree cups lit up by the moon.

    Well, enough rambling. I'd translate (keeping the word order):

    Nada de oro permanece
     
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