ELEA FRIEDRICHS
Englische Sprüche für die 7. Klasse: Thema Renaissance
The Globe Theatre
All the world‘s a stage
and on our stage appear
the kings and queens of olden times,
the emperors, generals, heroes,
the workers, lovers, friends and foes
and spirits, fairies, witches too,
to tell us tales of love and life
of passion, courage, rage and strife.
The Magnifying Glass
The sun‘s rays
falling far and wide
spread warmth and light
upon the earth.
Yet these same rays,
when focussed through a lens,
cause smoke to rise
and flames to flicker into life.
The City of Venice
Venice, city of a thousand canals
and pearl of the Adriatic!
In your bustling streets
the business of the age is done
and from your busy harbours
the merchant adventurers set sail.
For here lies the meeting point
of north and south and east and west,
the centre of our world.
The Treatment of Native Peoples
Who gave you the right to take our land?
Which god led you here to us?
By whose justice did you crown yourself our king?
You do not know our ways,
the age-old traditions of our people.
You do not speak our tongue,
and have no knowledge of our gods.
You may enslave our bodies
and bind them to your will,
but in our souls we remain
forever a free people.
The Lookout in the Crow‘s Nest
I take my place atop the mast,
high above the rolling deck,
and on the horizon see land at last:
there is no turning back.
I fix my eyes on the distant shore,
rich green glades and rivers pure,
ripe with promise and ours to explore.
Martin Luther
„Let no man try to change me
for I have found my duty,
my conscience and my destiny.
Ninety five articles of faith
hang nailed to Wittenbergs door.
One single book of eternal truth
will be my guide for ever more.“
Johannes Gutenberg
Words on the page were once
the work of holy men,
who in their cells transcribed
the sacred texts with care
and laid them,
colourful and bejewelled
at the feet of emperors.
Yet in this time of new ideas,
one man, Johannes Gutenberg by name,
set metal type in wooden frames,
and by his skill made possible
the production of books for everyone,
the unstoppable spread of knowledge.
A Storm at Sea
Let the storm rage round about me,
and gales howl through the night,
for our trusty ship can weather
all the forces of the sea,
and our crew will work together
till the coming of the light.
The Prism
Have you ever seen the rainbow
refracted through a glass?
Have you ever known the world
in colours of such contrast?
A first prism breaks the beams of light,
a second mixes them again to white.
The Telescope of Galileo Galilei
Two lenses, carved convex and concave,
Set by a craftsman in a tube finely made,
afford me a view of the heavenly spheres
when into the telescope I peer.
I turn my gaze on a starry night
at the millions of pinpricks of distant light.
And this wondrous invention reveals to my eyes
the infinite mystery of the skies.
Inventions of Leonardo da Vinci
Let your curiosity know no bounds
but wander ever onwards
in search of new ideas.
Supposing we could find a way to fly
high above the mountains and the trees!
What if, with some invention
we could breathe beneath the sea?
Imagine we could heal all ills
through knowledge of anatomy!
With such technological mastery
What kind of world could then we see?
What kind of people would then we be?
The Confession of Galileo Galilei
„Do these people not comprehend
that, little matter what we say,
unsay or leave unsaid
a truth once revealed
cannot be undiscoverèd?
Where others, greater of heart than I
for their convictions a fiery death did die,
my head I bow to the lords of the land
and mutter words of aquiescence
so as to feign dutiful repentance.
Yet for the movements of the heavens
such human words effect no change.
They sway no planet from its course,
bring not the Sun to turn about the earth.
And my truth, though by mine own tongue denied,
will outlive me and all those to whom I have lied.“
The Magnet
Restless is the magnet
seeking always true north.
Restless the adventurers
who in their ships set forth
in search of foreign riches,
knowledge and experience.
The Navigators
The seafarers of olden times
trusted in the stars
to guide their ships to harbour
and so they travelled far.
Battered by wind and waves,
and carried to an unknown shore,
With the help of the Pole Star
they returned home once more.
Latitude and Longitude
A net of lines, finely meshed,
are drawn across the globe:
Latitude: set by the stars,
and determined by degrees;
the distance north or south,
from the Equator to the Poles.
Longitude: the riddle of time itself,
the distance east or west
as measured by the movement
of the sun across the sky.
Together they provide the perfect instrument
to guide stout ships from continent to continent.
Columbus at the Spanish Court
„The earth is round and surely
in sailing westwards o‘er the sea,
we can reach the Indies and Cathay
much sooner than by travelling
east by Bartolomeo‘s way
around the Cape of Storms.
So give me three ships
and a crew of the best:
I‘ll cross the ocean to India
and return from the West!“
Marco Polo
Marco Polo was a merchant,
who travelled over land,
along the Silk Road leading
to the court of Kublai Khan.
Over twenty four years
far eastwards did he roam
until, laden with gold and jewels,
Kublai sent him home.
Michelangelo‘s David
A chiselled brow, a critical eye,
muscles and sinews, finely shaped,
a head of curls, carved with precision
the warrior caught in a moment of decision:
Proudly David before Goliath stands,
hewn from marble by the master‘s hands.
Copernicus
Nicholas Copernicus in his tower in Torun
the movements of the heavens did declare
to be heliocentric and so laid bare
the teachings of the church as wrong.
The earth, a sphere revolving on its axis
traces a well-worn path across the sky,
with just one single moon for company.
And every planet follows its own course
turning ever onwards in perfect balance:
around the Sun, which exerts such force
as to form the centre of this eternal dance.
The Spanish Armada
To conquer England was his goal.
And so the King of Spain set sail
with mighty ships, magnificent
and filled with men most valiant.
Sir Francis Drake, the pirate captain
and favourite of Elizabeth, the queen,
sailed out with several ships to meet
the fast approaching Spanish fleet.
But hardly had they planned their move,
when wild winds began to blow,
and the Spanish fighters brave
perished in a watery grave.
William Shakespeare
The master playwright at his desk
with words so deftly weaves a tale
that brims with knowledge of far-flung lands
and plumbs the depths of human souls.
The players in their wooden O
with costumes bright and eyes aglow
then bring to life for all the world to see
fine tales of history, comedy and tragedy.
The Temple of the Sun in Cuzco
A high gate, a dark door:
Entering, I found my way
to a chamber filled with light.
Golden walls and roof and floor
a golden disc with shining rays:
a temple to the sun so bright.
Perspective
Two lines, cutting through space to meet
in a central vortex of the field of vision,
form a vanishing point of such precision
that all objects can be traced to it.
The use of geometrical division,
a new technique to represent reality
enabled the Renaissance masters
to show the world in its complexity.
The Pendulum
Observe, when set in motion,
the movement of the pendulum,
which, by swinging to and fro,
seeks ever a return to equilibrium.
So do we also sometimes sway
to a great depth or a great height
yet with time‘s gentle passage,
we return to what is right.