Femme lassé, pose

English translation: She, languid, poses

08:42 May 21, 2013

French to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature / Feminism

French term or phrase: Femme lassé, pose

Could any of you help me figure out what the "pose" refers to in this Haiku, please?

I'm clutching at straws, but can "poser" ever be used in the sense of "lie down" for a person (which might make some sense given the "lassé" part) or just to "lay down an object", or could it be poser as in "poser une question" or "poser sa candidature", or is it obvious that it's something else? I don't really get the relevance of the last line in this one either, which doesn't do anything to help me interpret the second.

Homme pressé, ose
Femme lassé, pose,
Des êtres ou des animaux ?

Many thanks for your time.

Sonya Mountford-Jones KudoZ activity Questions: 189 (7 open) (13 closed without grading) Answers: 100
Local time: 08:22

English translation:She, languid, poses

Explanation:
She, weary, poses

ie, woman sits around languishing and achieving nothing apart from looking pretty, while the busy male of the species gets on with everything.

This also gives the 5 syllables you're presumably looking for

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Note added at 18 mins (2013-05-21 09:01:11 GMT)
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sorry, forgot to mention: I don't see anything wrong with "poses" as the translation for "poser". It's far a more "passive" action than putting something down

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Note added at 19 mins (2013-05-21 09:02:30 GMT)
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reminds me of those women who pose on yachts while the men rush around looking busy :))

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Note added at 20 mins (2013-05-21 09:03:05 GMT)
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.. and important :))

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Note added at 32 mins (2013-05-21 09:15:19 GMT)
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Since this is a feminist text, I'm assuming that this is tongue-in-cheek: the male image of the woman who is supposedly posing while men are "naturally" rushing around being terribly important

Selected response from:

Carol Gullidge
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:22

Grading comment

Many thanks for taking the time to help me with these queries Carol
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

3 +3

She, languid, poses

Carol Gullidge

Woman weary, bares / Woman listless, bares

Wolf Draeger

Discussion entries: 3

Answers

16 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +3

She, languid, poses

Carol Gullidge
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:22
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 80

Grading comment

Many thanks for taking the time to help me with these queries Carol

Notes to answerer

Asker: Thanks Carol. Strangely, "poses" hadn't even occurred to me, perhaps I'd been reading far more into it than necessary. The syllable rule doesn't seem to apply to all of the Haiku though, so that's not so important.

8 hrs confidence:

Woman weary, bares / Woman listless, bares

Explanation:
Not very literal, but maybe worth a shot :)

Man in a hurry, dares
Woman (world) weary, bares
Beings or animals?

Man breathless, dares
Woman listless, bares
Beings or animals?

I see a sexual connotation here; the man is in a hurry to get what he wants and so takes it (dares), while the woman is bored with life and lets him have his way (bares herself); the author then asks if these really are people engaged in courtship or simply animals mating. That could be a critique both of men's aggressive sexual advances and some women's corresponding lack of willpower.

Wolf Draeger
South Africa
Local time: 09:22
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 32

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English translation: She, languid, poses

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