Can anyone tell me if this makes any sort of sense? I wrote a song for my choir and thought up some lyrics from the top of my head and, that said, I’m not 100% sure about them.
In oculis tuis
Animus sedatur
Animo tuo
Ex amore tuo
Fortuna basior
Et a Venere,
Amoris Dea
In thine eyes, my soul is calmed by thy own.
Because of thy love, I am kissed by fortune and Venus, the godess of love.
I’m pretty sure it’s correct…
From the top of your head, nice Two quick comments: a) it doesn’t say ‘my’ in the third line, though it’s pretty obvious this is the case, b) I am wondering: why did you chose an ablativus instrumenti in one case (Fortuna) and a preposition with ablative in the other (a Venere)? I think that the latter is most common when expressing agency.
Could be wrong..
The ablative of agent is prepositionless, but the ablative of personal agent takes a/ab.( don’t quote me, b/c my Wheelock’s is at home and I’m tired.) I’m pretty sure about it though b/c I remember thinking of the A of Personal Agent as the precursor to the Spanish personal a, which goes before names of people… I couldn’t give you a proper example in Spanish, though… (Ese wey mira las fotos… pero… Ese wey no mira a su esposa) Might not make sense… By NO means am I an expert in Spanish (or Latin, for that matter) Brutus Caesarem necat.
Caesar gladio Bruti necatur.
Caesar a Bruto necatur.
that was my reasoning…
I understood your Fortuna as a reference to the personified goddess of fate (as Venus’ counterpart). I didn’t think of it as luck or chance or fortune, since it is normally persons who kiss.
Did you follow some metrical scheme? (I am no expert on that). I ask because you could, meter allowing, change the word order, if you might want to highlight the ‘you’ for example.
I didn’t really follow any specific metrical scheme other than the melody in the song. Although the number of syllables/line goes 6,6,5;6,6,5;5. I’m not sure if that’s significant, though… The most important thing to me was the melody.
You’re right about emphasis, though I wanted the sound and feel of the melody to be sweet and gentle, so I tried to have the beginning of each phrase/line commence with a vowel or “gentle” consonant, animo tuo sounding, to me, more initially “gentle” than tuo animo.
Thank you for your comments. I’m glad to know that I didn’t screw it up completely. I’d let you hear it, but I’m still trying to find enough players… Nobody works for penuts.
Tibi gratias et vale semper.