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Read The flower and the leaf in English, with Spanish beside it
The Floure and the Leafe is an anonymous Middle English allegorical poem in 595 lines of rhyme royal, written around 1470. During the 17th, 18th, and most of the 19th century it was mistakenly believed to be the work of Geoffrey Chaucer, and was generally considered to be one of his finest poems. The name of the author is not known but the poem presents itself as the work of a woman, and some critics are inclined to take this at face value. The poet was certainly well-read, there being a number of echoes of earlier writers in the poem, including Geoffrey Chaucer, John Lydgate, John Gower, Andreas Capellanus, Guillaume de Lorris, Guillaume de Machaut, Jean Froissart, Eustache Deschamps, Christine de Pizan, and the authors of the "Lai du Trot" and the Kingis Quair. (This summary is from Wikipedia.)
Summary generated automatically by Project Gutenberg.
- Read time
- 24 min
- Words
- 5,359
- Chapters
- 1
- Paragraphs
- 93
- Price
- Free
- English poetry -- Middle English, 1100-1500
[letter: T] The nightingale with so mery a note [leaf]
[letra: T] El ruiseñor con una nota tan alegre [hoja]
Answered him, that all the woode rong [leaf]
Le respondió, que todo el bosque resonó [hoja]
So sodainly, that, as it were a sote, [leaf]
Tan de repente, que, como si fuera un sueño, [hoja]
I stood astonied; so was I with the song [leaf]
Quedé atónito; tanto me había cautivado el canto [hoja]
Thorow ravished, that till late and longe, [leaf]
Que hasta tarde y largo tiempo, [hoja]
Ne wist I in what place I was, ne where; [leaf]
No supe en qué lugar estaba, ni dónde; [hoja]
And ay, me thoughte, she song even by mine ere.
Y siempre, me pareció, ella cantaba justo junto a mi oído.
[letter: W] Wherefore about I waited busily, [leaf]
[letra: W] Por eso busqué con atención a mi alrededor, [hoja]
On every side, if that I her mighte see; [leaf]
En cada lado, por si podía verla; [hoja]
And, at the last, I gan full well aspie [leaf]
Y, al final, comencé a distinguir bien [hoja]
Where she sat in a fresh grene laurer tree, [leaf]
Dónde estaba sentada en un fresco laurel verde, [hoja]
On the further side, even right by me, [leaf]
En el lado opuesto, justo junto a mí, [hoja]
That gave so passing a delicious smell, [leaf]
Que emitía un olor tan delicioso, [hoja]
According to the eglentere full well.
Que concordaba perfectamente con el espino albar.
[letter: W] Whereof I hadde so inly great pleasure, [leaf]
[letra: W] De lo cual tuve un placer tan íntimo y grande, [hoja]
That, as me thought, I surely ravished was [leaf]
Que, como me pareció, fui ciertamente cautivado [hoja]
Into Paradice, where as my desire [leaf]
Hacia el Paraíso, donde mi deseo [hoja]
Was for to be, and no ferther to passe [leaf]
Era estar, y no pasar más allá [hoja]
As for that day; and on the sote grasse [leaf]
Por aquel día; y sobre la dulce hierba [hoja]
I sat me downe; for, as for mine entent, [leaf]
Me senté; pues, según mi intención, [hoja]
The birddes song was more convenient,
El canto de los pájaros era más conveniente,
[letter: A] And more pleasaunt to me by many fold, [leaf]
[letra: A] Y más agradable para mí por muchas veces, [hoja]
Than meat or drinke, or any other thing. [leaf]
Que la comida o la bebida, o cualquier otra cosa. [hoja]
Therto the herber was so fresh and cold, [leaf]
Además, el cobijo era tan fresco y frío, [hoja]
The wholesome savours eke so comforting, [leaf]
Los aromas saludables también tan reconfortantes, [hoja]
That, as I demede, sith the beginning [leaf]
Que, como yo juzgaba, desde el principio [hoja]
Of thilke world was never seene or than [leaf]
Del mundo nunca se había visto ni entonces [hoja]
So pleasaunt a ground of none earthly man.
Un suelo tan agradable para ningún hombre terrenal.
Questions about The flower and the leaf
Can I read The flower and the leaf in English with Spanish side by side online?
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What level do I need to read The flower and the leaf here?
There is no set level. The flower and the leaf runs to 5,359 words, and the translation sits beside it, aligned phrase by phrase, so you can start below the level the original would need on its own and lean on the translation only where you stumble.
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How long does The flower and the leaf take to read?
About 24 min at a normal pace, longer if you stop to look at the alignment, which is rather the point.
Book details
- Original language
- English
- Translation
- Spanish, machine translation
- Source text
- Project Gutenberg #78062
- Licence
- Public domain in the United States
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