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Glossary entry

Spanish term or phrase:

cual la vida por delante...

English translation:

Just like the life lying ahead...

Added to glossary by Yvette Neisser Moreno
Feb 10, 2006 19:15
18 yrs ago
Spanish term

cual la vida por delante...

Spanish to English Art/Literary Poetry & Literature
As a non-native speaker of Spanish, it's sometimes hard for me to tell when there are errors in a source text, especially in poetry where typical sentence structure/grammar are not always used. So, I'd be most appreciative if anyone could tell me whether the lines "cual la vida por delante / después de romper el compromiso" in the following excerpt make sense in Spanish, and if so, could you please explain the sentence/grammatical structure?

The unnamed subject is the goddess Night (of Norse mythology), and "el" refers to her first husband.

Con él tuvo un hijo amplio, incierto,
puro –Espacio su nombre-
cual la vida por delante
después de romper el compromiso.
La union duró un momento oportuno...

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!
Proposed translations (English)
4 +2 Just like the life lying ahead...
5 +2 which the life ahead
4 as life looming ahead...
4 a son......full of life
4 whose life stretches out before him
3 with life impending

Discussion

Yvette Neisser Moreno (asker) Feb 15, 2006:
Thank you all for your very helpful comments. As is usually the case with my poetry questions, I find the combination of your responses (as opposed to one individual answer) most helpful, and am sorry I can't give points all around!
Yvette Neisser Moreno (asker) Feb 10, 2006:
Sorry, what I meant by "error" is a proofreading error such as a missing word, typo, or punctuation error. I only raise the question because I have encountered occasional typos in the poet's books, and in fact there seems to be at least one typo elsewhere in this same poem.
Rosa Maria Duenas Rios (X) Feb 10, 2006:
Hi Yvette, as you know poetry takes many stylistical licenses. It might be difficult to explain a somewhat loose grammar structure. Also, something perceived as an error could have been written by the poet on purpose. There are usually no errors in poetry
Yvette Neisser Moreno (asker) Feb 10, 2006:
In case I was unclear--while I understand the individual phrases, I can't follow the sentence as a whole and am wondering if the sentence is incomplete? After phrases starting with "cual" and "despues", I would expect something else to be said.

Proposed translations

+2
54 mins
Selected

Just like the life lying ahead...

Of course they make sense, even though the grammatical structure might be a bit loose. I will attempt a translation of the poem:

"(the Night) had a son with him" (we do not know who is him). "The son was vast, uncertain and pure." "The son was called Space" (now it makes sense why he is vast, uncertain and pure, right?)
(Space) "just like the life lying ahead" (cual la vida por delante)
"After breaking a commitment" (después de romper el compromiso).
What commitment? Apparently the one between the Night and the father of the child, because the following line states that:
"The union lasted a timely moment" (enough for Espacio to be born, I suppose).
Does it make more sense now?


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 56 mins (2006-02-10 20:12:35 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

After reading myself, I find my explanation not clear enough. The jist of the two lines that interest you is that the son, named Space, is like the life lying ahead after breaking a commitment.
Peer comment(s):
agree Luis Javier Otoya
1 hr
Muchas gracias Luis Javier
agree Elena Robles Sanjuan : It does make a lot of sense the way you put it
11 hrs
Thanks! I was not sure it was very clear
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you. This does make sense, and I like the wording you've suggested."
13 mins

as life looming ahead...

Declined
as life looming ahead / after breaking up the betrothal



--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 20 mins (2006-02-10 19:36:20 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I believe "cual" here is a comparative adverb, and the intention of the poet is to underline that feeling of loneliness and emptiness, that infinite void that couples face when they break up...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 34 mins (2006-02-10 19:50:07 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

... and that void is called Espacio
Something went wrong...
Comment: "Thank you for explaining about the comparative adverb!"
40 mins

a son......full of life

Declined
In my humble opinion the phrase does not really make sense at all.
But if you want to make some sense out of it, then it could mean that they had a son who was pure and full of life.

It doesn´t make sense to say that he had a life ahead of him because it is obvious. The expression "tenía toda una vida por delante" is commonly used when someone dies at an early age.





--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 41 mins (2006-02-10 19:57:26 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

And by the way, "amplio"? generous; "incierto"? insecure?
Something went wrong...
Comment: "Thank you for mentioning that expression--that was quite helpful for me in understanding the nuance/context of the wording."
+2
4 mins

which the life ahead

"cual la vida por delante" is correct in Spanish

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 9 mins (2006-02-10 19:25:04 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

the son still had a life ahead after the couple broke apart

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2006-02-10 20:43:33 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

It is correct in Spanish. Example:

Canta el llanero
si tragándose el camino
Cual centauro majestuoso
Se encuentra con el jilguero.


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2006-02-10 20:46:12 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

otro:

TE QUIERO

SANDRA ROA

CEFO - Bucaramanga

FUENTE: Revista Camaleón N°5. Enero de 1996






Incierto.., cual centauro fugaz

y galopante fuente dorada de

inspiración que muchas veces

Me hace feliz y algunas sufrir...



--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2006-02-10 20:50:06 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Así como el alma, de José Juan Báez Fumero
Báez es muy dado a usar el símil para mostrar las analogías que le son más
queridas: “la llevo metida en el alma cual ángel que viaja conmigo,” dice para ...
www.pucpr.edu/hz/011.html - Páginas similares
Peer comment(s):
agree Denise DeVries : who [had is understood] his life ahead
7 mins
agree Rosaelena5 (X)
8 hrs
Something went wrong...
5 hrs

whose life stretches out before him

I think that "stretching out" ties in well with the child's name, "Espacio."
Something went wrong...
50 mins

with life impending

With him she conceived a son
very vast, unknown, pure
- Space was he named -
with life impending
after breaking the engagement.
The union had been timely...

May give you some ideas...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 14 hrs (2006-02-11 10:13:38 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

after taking time to reflect, 'cual' here is used as a comparison, so it would be
'...
like as life impending
after breaking that engagement.
The union had lasted but long enough...'

Something went wrong...
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