Chanson d'automne par Paul Verlaine

    While the words of Verlaine's poem sing a rather dark and bleak song, the verses and their rhyme scheme sing a song that is antithetical to the message of the work.  The French vowel sounds produce a beautiful symphony that contrast starkly with the content of the poem.  Overall, I found Verlaine's piece  to be substantively macabre, but phonetically beautiful.  -AMH

                                                            
(l'original)
Les sanglots longs                                                         
Des violons
    De l'automne
Blessent mon coeur
D'une langeur
    Monotone.

Tout suffocant
Et bleme, quand
    Sonne l'heure,
Je me souviens
Des jours anciens
    Et je pleure,

Et je m'en vais
Au vent mauvais
    Qui m'emporte,
Deçà, delà,
Pareil à la
    Feuille morte.


(la traduction anglais)
The long sobs
Of the violins
Of autumn
Wound my heart
With a monotonous
Languor.

Choking
Or pale, when
The hour strikes,
I remember
the old days
And I cry,

And I'm the
Ill wind
That carries me,
Hither and thither,
Like a
Dead leaf.

Bid Day 2012

Last Saturday Centre College celebrated an annual event for the Greek community known as "Bid Day." On this day, pledges for each fraternity run across campus to join their new brotherhood where they await dressed in bizarre, outrageous outfits to welcome their new members in uproarious celebration.  Bid Day is day where all inter-fraternal rivalry is shoved aside and there is a strong sense of Panhellenic unity that draws all Greek men closer together.  As a member of the fraternity Beta Theta Pi, I was pleased to welcome seven new members into our fold and joined in my fellow Greeks' enthusiasm for their new members as well.   -AMH