[Daily] Walden, Henry David Threau

11. 23

오늘 제가 준비한 건, 헨리데이빗소로우의 <월든 Walden>에 나오는 유명한 구절입니다. 영화 <죽은시인의 사회>에도 인용되었었죠. 멋진 외국 성우가 직접 읽는 버전도 있어서 들으면서 익히시면 더 도움 되실 겁니다.

 

I went to the woods

나는 숲으로 갔다,

 

because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life,

내 뜻대로 살기 위해, 삶의 본질과 대면하기 위해서였다.

 

and see if I could not learn what it had to teach,

그리고 삶이 가르쳐 주는 것을 내가 배우지 못한 건 없는지 확인하고 싶었다.

 

and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.

또 죽음을 맞이했을 때 제대로 살지 않았다고 후회하고 싶지 않았다.

 

I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear;

나는 삶이 아닌 것은 살지 않으려 했으니, 삶은 그토록 소중한 것이다.

 

nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary.

나는 불가피한 경우가 아니면 이런 목표를 단념하고 싶지 않다.

 

I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life,

나는 깊이 있는 삶을 살며, 삶의 정수를 맛보고 싶었다.

 

to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life,

삶이 아닌 것을 모조리 없애버리면서 스파르타 사람처럼 기운차게 살고 싶었다.

 

to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms,

낫을 휘둘러 길을 내고 풀을 바싹 베어 삶을 구석으로 몰아가서는 가장 낮은 단계까지 전락시킬 때,

 

and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world;

삶이 천박한 것으로 판명난다면 삶의 천박함을 하나도 빠뜨리지 않고 완전히 알아내어 세상에 알리고

 

or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion.

반대로 삶이 숭고한 것이라면 경험을 통해 삶의 숭고함을 깨달아 내 다음 여행에서 그 사실을 정확하게 알리고 싶었다.

 

For most men, it appears to me, are in a strange uncertainty about it, whether it is of the devil or of God, and have somewhat hastily concluded that it is the chief end of man here to "glorify God and enjoy him forever.“

내가 보기에는 대부분의 사람이 삶이 악마의 것인지 신의 것인지 모르면서 인간이 존재하는 주된 목적을 ‘하느님을 찬양하며 하느님으로부터 영원한 즐거움을 얻기 위함’이라고 성급히 결론짓기 때문이다.

 

 

<전문>

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion. For most men, it appears to me, are in a strange uncertainty about it, whether it is of the devil or of God, and have somewhat hastily concluded that it is the chief end of man here to "glorify God and enjoy him forever."

― Henry David Thoreau