please help me with this translation, or else i have to wait months to find out what it means

[Steven (remove wax for reply)]

On Sun, 13 Jul 2003 00:05:57 +0100, "Declan Swift" <iro...@indigo.ie>
wrote:

>the best i can do with the hand-writing is this
>(i dont know any german)
>
>himmlisch ist's wenn ich bezwungen meine ivdische Begierj
>Aber noch,wenn's nicht gelungen,
>Halt ich auch vecht hubsch Plaisir!
>Heine
>
>
>the online translaters were not much help, but i know i havent spelled it
>correctly.
>
>i attached a scan of the page, if anybody can look at it
>
>again any help would be sooo... appreciated

Many people who read this group will not be able to read your
attachment. Many news service providers will allow attachments only
on "binary" groups.

Do you have access to a free web page, such as with your Internet
provider or at Yahoo / Geocities? If so, I would recommend that you
post the image there and then post a link to this group.

Regards,

--
Steven - spam...@houston.rrwax.com
remove wax for reply

[Laura E. Czeschick]

Steven (remove wax for reply) wrote:
> On Sun, 13 Jul 2003 00:05:57 +0100, "Declan Swift" <iro...@indigo.ie>
> wrote:
>
>> the best i can do with the hand-writing is this
>> (i dont know any german)
>>
>> himmlisch ist's wenn ich bezwungen meine ivdische Begierj
>> Aber noch,wenn's nicht gelungen,
>> Halt ich auch vecht hubsch Plaisir!
>> Heine
>>
>>

I don't know what the original question was because the first post does not
appear on my screen, but I managed to find the correct spelling of your
quotation:

Himmlisch ist's, wenn ich bezwungen
Meine irdische Begier;
Aber noch wenn's nicht gelungen,
Hatt' ich auch recht hübsch Plaisir.

It is a quotation in German in Lev Tolstoj's "Anna Karenina"; I could not
make out whether or not Heinrich Heine is the author of the original. A
rough English translation (I'm sure someone else could make it sound better,
but I capture the meaning):

It's heavenly to have resisted my earthly temptation,
but even if I failed I had a nice pleasure all the same.

Hope this helps.

Regards----Laura

[clicl...@freenet.de]

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This is indeed by Heinrich Heine (1797-1856), and included in his "Buch
der Lieder", albeit in a somewhat different version (in the 3rd
edition), under: Nachlese, zur 'Heimkehr', VIII:

Himmlisch war's, wenn ich bezwang,
Meine sündige Begier,
Aber wenn's mir nicht gelang,
Hatt ich doch ein groß Pläsier.

Here, other modifications besides, "sinful" replaces "earthly".

The "Buch der Lieder" is a collection of Heyne's poems written between
1816 and 1827. It was published in 1827, eleven editions appeared during
his lifetime, the earlier reissues include corrections and modifications
by his own hand.

Regards,

Martin.

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