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Explanation: Some poetic variances to try and convey a sense of the FR emphasis on change and transition from one state to another.
As the day yields to the night... As the day slowly gives way to the night... The day slowly fades / blends into the night...
...sinister shadows swallow the light. ...brooding shadows creep into the light.
Of course, it all depends on the rest of the poem, and rhyme is not necessary (and might even be inappropriate).
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 5 hrs (2012-09-16 20:42:21 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
...night extinguishes the dying embers of the day... ...shadows creep over the dying embers of the day...
Perhaps inquiétante can be rendered by dread or dreadful: ...light of the day gives way to the dread of the night...
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 6 hrs (2012-09-16 21:23:24 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
One last try; still battling to capture the sense of transformation, of the metamorphosis of day into night:
...twisted/warped/writhing shadows... (swallow the light, creep over the dying embers, dance the samba). ...cunning shadows... (as in deceitful, forms are hard to distinguish, illusory).
Unlike Kate and Carol, I greatly like Roamin' in the Gloamin', but the Kenneth MacKellar/Harry Lauder overtones make it too assertively rumbustious here :). Also possible, and more atmospheric, "in the fading, eerie half-light"
there seems to be some confusion regarding the definition of this word. So I looked it up in the big Chambers dictionary, and this is what it came up with:= "faint light after sunset and before sunrise;... dim light or partial darkness,... faintly illuminated, obscure, indefinite..."
Many thanks to all of you for your prompt and thorough replies! I am impressed with the quality of this site. This sentence is part of a short story actually, dealing with all things gloomy and creepy, but not old-fashioned. I am looking for a poetic way of expressing this particular time of the evening... I quite like the idea of rephrasing it, I didn't want to use "twilight", this word seems to me to have somewhat lost part of its strength since the famous saga ;)
I've never heard anybody say it, but I have read it many times in good texts. J'aimerais savoir si d'autres francophones sont dans le même cas. En tout cas, c'est très évocateur et "multi-layered", comme on peut le lire dans le blog de naked translations.
"in the gloaming" is certainly not used much these days, hence the "poetic" entry in my dictionary. So, yes, there could be a difference in register here...
there for all to see) that this is your first shot at KudoZ, and should have been far more gentle with you!
However, you'll always need to be as helpful as possible when posting questions in order to make it easier for potential helpers to post relevant suggestions. This isn't always as simple as it sounds :)
But isn't "entre chien et loup" used a lot more frequently than "in the gloaming"? Perhaps because the English belongs to a higher register than the French?
sorry, I wasn't clear! The phrase itself isn't/wasn't ever meant to be flippant. It's just that, being rather oldfashioned -- or "poetic" as my dictionary specifies (hence my original question re whether this text is poetry) -- it gets used flippantly. And yes, the "gloomy" connotation is there - but only because of the sound :)
Si c'est "flippant", c'est dommage... parce que cela me faisait aussi penser un peu à gloomy en se laissant porter par son imagination. Great link, SJLD!
is a lovely expression - but sounds somewhat outdated, and tends nowadays to be used rather flippantly or facetiously. But it could work in some circumstances - if only you'd provide some context!
Into the Gloaming https://www.escholar.manchester.ac.uk/api/datastream?...uk..... When a person encounters the disappearing light of the gloaming, a subtle but ... people's distinguishing features and expressions become less clear, making .. - Cela me semble assez poétique, un peu comme entre chien et loup
Entre chien et loup – between dog and wolf - means dusk. It describes that hour when it’s difficult to see well, between day and night, when you can’t really see if you’re looking at a dog or at a wolf. Couldn't you find this explanation and translation on the web or are you looking for another way to put it?
what have you already considered and rejected - and on what grounds? A bit of context would also help, such as - well - general context, some surrounding text, register required, etc. What is this about? Is it a novel, poetry...?
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Answers
9 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +10
at dusk/nightfall/twilight
Explanation: time of day
polyglot45 Native speaker of: English, French PRO pts in category: 52
peer agreement (net): +10