Czech Poetry?
Ahoj! I am reading "Every Word Is A Bird We Teach To Sing" by Daniel Tammet, and he talks about teaching an English class in Lithuania and using an American poetry anthology as teaching material because poetry can convey many meanings of a word depending on its interpretation. Where could I find some great Czech poetry as a similar teaching aid for myself? Dekuji!
10 Comments
Ahoj. There many sites that bring contemporary poetry (just search for básně, poezie) like pismak.cz for amateurs.
I would also recommend to stay away from anything before year 1900 (or even later) because the language has changed a lot.
For learning I would recommend song lyrics instead as they tend to be somewhat easier and more straightforward. Some of them are real poetry. And some of them are poems that were straightforward enough to make songs out of them.
Some completely opinion-based list of authors I like:
Jiří Suchý, Jiří Orten, Josef Kainar, J.H Krchovský, Václav Hrabě
great generation active after 1920: Vítězslav Nezval, Jaroslav Seifert, Jiří Wolker and others
even older, but often used by contemporary bands as a lyrics source: František Gellner, Petr Bezruč, Fráňa Šrámek
old and therefore hard (not recommended): Karel Hynek Mácha, Karel Jaromír Erben, Karel Havlíček Borovský
Also, some children poetry could be good and easier.
Jíří Žáček http://www.jirizacek.cz/ukazky-tvorba-pro-deti.html
Emanuel Frynta, František Halas (Halas dětem), František Hrubín (Dětem), Jan Vodňanský...
Halas and Hrubín also did great poetry for adults, but it may be too complicated for starters.
Emanuel Frynta is one for my favorities poem-man(??). He play with words and with czech language. Nice! (Emanuel Frynta je jedním z mých oblíbených básnířů. Hraje si se slovy a českým jazykem. Krása!)
/I'm sorry to my wrong English. I'm learning that./
MOUCHA
Ač moucha kouše člověka,
že kolikrát až otéká -
člověk se nemstí na mouše
a nikdy mouchu nekouše.
A váží si nás celý svět,
že dovedeme odpouštět.
ANGLIČANÉ
Angličané jsou námořníci
a slečny oslovují Miss,
co o nich ale musím říci -
že nedovedou pravopis.
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Už první omyl je ten,
že píšou I - a čtou to aj!
To jako kdyby psali květen
a vyslovovali to máj.
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Je mi jich líto, hlavně dětí,
co ty s tím mají za dřinu -
já musel napsat jen tři věty
a myslel jsem, že zahynu.
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Ta hrůza, než se naučíte
pár slovíček, a natož stran!
A u nich každé malé dítě
musí být rovnou Angličan.
I absolutely love lyrics of Karel Kryl's songs. They are beautiful, sometimes quite hard, but it's worth :)
Example:
http://www.karaoketexty.cz/texty-pisni/kryl-karel/bratricku-zavirej-vratka-8320
you and me both! lately my favorite has been Divný kníže. maybe it was prophetic very differently than we had thought?
And from contemporary authors I can't get enough of Xavier Baumaxa's poetic Czech
Žena vyvrknuvši kotník si
tančila boogy, celá se třesouc
sklenku v levé ruce třímajíc
Stařec přepluv celé moře
drinků nalévá si svého Hemingwaye
usnuv u toho na své bárce
Ženy povinuvše ratolesti
vyslavše je na své cesty
pomalu oblékají své tukové vesty
vyslavše je na své cesty
can't help it, but while the transgressives look awesome, the possessive pronoun seems weird. the doers are the women who did the sending, but i would expect the journeys they sent the offspring on to be the offspring's rather than the women's, in which case the reflexive possessive pronoun would be out of place and the regular "jejich" needed.
Very true. There are some I can't even spell as a native speaker. Nice that most of them aren't used anymore.
