2025-10-02

omnis mundi creatura, english translation

the original was written in latin by alain de lille (1120-1202).

every creature of the world
is to us as if a book and a painting
and a mirror,
a faithful seal of our life, our death,
our condition, our lot.

the rose paints our condition,
a fitting gloss of our state,
a reading of our life.
which, when at first it blooms,
the deflowered flower withers
with evening old age.

therefore the breathing flower expires,
while it wanders into pallor,
dying as it is born.
at once old and new,
at once old man and girl,
the rose withers as it rises.

thus the springtime of human age,
in youth's first morning,
re-blooms a little.
yet this morning is shut out
by life's evening, while it closes
life's twilight.
whose beauty, while it harangues,
its splendor soon is deflowered,
the age wherein it ebbs away.

the flower becomes hay, the gem mud,
man ashes, while man pays tribute
to death.
whose life, whose being are punishment and toil,
and it is necessary
to close life with death.

thus death closes life, grief [closes] laughter,
shadow [closes] day, wave [closes] harbor;
morning is closed by evening.
against us first it makes an assault,
bearing the face of death's penalty,
toil, the actor of death.

it sets us forth into toil,
it takes us up into sorrow;
the conclusion is death.
therefore, shut in under this law,
read your state, o man,
consider your being.

what you were, about to be born;
what you are now, what you will be,
examine carefully.

mourn the penalty, lament the fault,
rein the impulses, break the deed,
put down the eyebrows.
ruler and charioteer of the mind,
rule the mind, channel the currents,
lest they flow into byways.

translation notes at the end of the page.

latin original

omnis mundi creatura
quasi liber et pictura
nobis est, et speculum.
nostrae vitae, nostrae mortis,
nostri status, nostrae sortis
fidele signaculum.

nostrum statum pingit rosa,
nostri status decens glosa,
nostrae vitae lectio.
quae dum primo floret,
defloratus flos effloret
vespertino senio.

ergo spirans flos exspirat
in pallorem dum delirat,
oriendo moriens.
simul vetus et novella,
simul senex et puella
rosa marcet oriens.

sic aetatis ver humanae
juventutis primo mane
reflorescit paululum.
mane tamen hoc excludit
vitae vesper, dum concludit
vitale crepusculum.
cujus decor dum perorat
ejus decus mox deflorat
aetas in qua defluit.

fit flos fenum, gemma lutum,
homo cinis, dum tributum
homo morti tribuit.
cujus vita cujus esse, poena, labor et
necesse
vitam morte claudere.

sic mors vitam, risum luctus,
umbra diem, portum fluctus,
mane claudit vespere.
in nos primum dat insultum
poena mortis gerens vultum,
labor mortis histrio.

nos proponit in laborem,
nos assumit in dolorem;
mortis est conclusio.
ergo clausum sub hac lege,
statum tuum, homo, lege,
tuum esse respice.

quid fuisti nasciturus;
quid sis praesens, quid futurus,
diligenter inspice.

luge poenam, culpam plange,
motus fraena, factum frange,
pone supercilia.

mentis rector et auriga
mentem rege, fluxus riga,
ne fluant in devia.

links

translation notes

the translation should be a near-literal translation of the original latin, preserving its nuances and structure. the english should accurately reflect the original connotations with minimal additions, prioritizing fidelity to the latin over perfect clarity in modern english.

2

  • "defloratus" and "effloret": the latin juxtaposes defloratus ("stripped of flowers") with effloret ("blossoms"). this antithesis, operating on the level of sound as well as meaning, generates a paradox: life is simultaneously diminished and renewed. the image captures the transience of beauty, wherein flourishing already contains within itself the seed of its decline. in translation, one must try to preserve both the botanical metaphor and the temporal tension.
  • omitted verbs: several lines deliberately exclude verbs, creating compressed, almost epigrammatic juxtapositions:

    • risum luctus ("grief [laughter]")
    • umbra diem ("shadow [day]")
    • portum fluctus ("wave [harbor]") this stylistic ellipsis enhances the sense of inevitability: joy, day, and safety are all silently overtaken by their opposites. the translation must decide whether to supply verbs for readability or retain the abrupt nominal clashes, which better preserve the rhetorical force.
  • order of nouns: the sequence consistently places the lighter or more positive term first, only to have it overwhelmed by the darker one that follows. this is not mere cause-and-effect but a staging of dominance, an "engulfing". the structure itself enacts the poem's theme: joy and vitality are fragile, forever overshadowed by grief and decline.

3

  • "spirans flos exspirat": the play between spirans ("breathing, alive") and exspirat ("expires, breathes out") compresses the whole arc of existence into one breath. in english, preserving both the literal respiratory metaphor and the existential resonance is key: the flower breathes as it dies.
  • "dum delirat": translated as "while it raves" or "while it is delirious", this phrase introduces a note of irrationality, even madness. it suggests that the natural world itself is swept into chaos, that the final moments of beauty are tinged with frenzy rather than serenity. the translator must balance literal sense with the undertone of ungoverned dissolution.

4

  • "perorat": literally "to deliver a speech to its conclusion", the verb is striking here because beauty itself is depicted as an orator. it "makes its case" before fading away, as though arguing for its significance even in the moment of passing. this personification lends a theatrical pathos: beauty is both eloquent and doomed. in english, one might render this as "pleads" or "speaks out", though any choice risks losing the courtroom metaphor latent in perorat.

6

  • "labor mortis histrio": the phrase frames toil as "the actor of death". labor here is not mere drudgery but performance: suffering is staged, rehearsed, and endlessly repeated. the metaphor fuses the relentless necessity of work with the inevitability of mortality, as though human striving were but a role in death's theater. in translation, it is essential to retain the theatrical imagery rather than flatten it into abstraction.

10

  • "supercilia": literally "eyebrows", but figuratively "arrogance" or "haughtiness". the physical image of raised brows conveys a moral flaw with subtle precision. retaining both the literal and figurative resonance, perhaps through a phrase like "lifted brows" or "prideful bearing" keeps the richness intact.
  • "motus fraena" and "factum frange": these compact imperatives suggest two aspects of discipline: restraining impulses (fraena = "bridle, reins") and breaking off deeds already begun (frange = "break, shatter"). the imagery of control is both physical (of motion) and ethical (of action). together, they underscore the difficult art of self-governance: to master not only what one intends but also what one has already set in motion. here is a revised and expanded version of the historical context. i have kept your structure but refined the prose, deepened the explanation, and clarified the interplay between medieval and modern perspectives.

historical context

medieval thought and allegory

  • the poem originates in the middle ages, an era when christian theology provided the dominant intellectual framework. medieval scholars and poets frequently employed allegory, embedding spiritual meaning within descriptions of nature or human experience, even when divine references were not explicit.
  • a prevailing conviction was that every aspect of the natural world mirrored the divine order. birds, flowers, stars, and even the alternation of day and night were regarded as symbolic reflections of god's governance. thus, depictions of natural cycles were rarely neutral; they carried theological resonance, whether the poet overtly intended it or not.

the title

  • omnis mundi creatura may be translated as "every creature of the world" or "every creation of the world". in medieval usage, creatura implied not only the created being but also, by necessity, its creator. to speak of creation was to acknowledge divine craftsmanship.
  • for a medieval audience, the very phrase would have signaled a theological meditation: observing creatura was itself a mode of contemplating god's artistry, even if the poem's text does not name him.

interpreting the juxtapositions

  • the poem abounds in stark pairings: life and death, joy and grief, day and night. on the surface, these highlight the transience and cyclicality of existence.
  • in a medieval christian context, however, such opposites were not merely existential observations but signs of a divinely ordered cosmos. the rise and fall of joy, the fleetingness of beauty, and the inevitability of death all illustrated the fragility of earthly life and implicitly directed the reader toward eternal truths.
  • the absence of explicit theological language does not negate this reading. medieval audiences, accustomed to allegorical interpretation, would have discerned divine order in the poem's contrasts even where god is unmentioned.

other interpretations

  • the poem can equally be appreciated without recourse to theology. read in a secular or existential light, it becomes a meditation on impermanence, the inevitability of change, and the cyclical rhythms of nature and human life.
  • this modern perspective highlights universal human experience rather than divine symbolism. it resonates with a humanistic view: that recognition of life's transience requires no supernatural framework, only attentiveness to the passage of time and the fragility of beauty.