Can Robert Oppenheimer’s phrase “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” in English?
Is it wrong to use “is become”
- in a question that deserves to be answered? Is Robert
Oppenheimer’s phrase “Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.” grammatical in English? Why not “becoming” or “now I become”?
What is your opinion about the proposed A.A.S. to B.E at COP?
Karl G’s answer covers the phrase that Oppenheimer used; your question also asks about two phrases that he didn’t use.
“Now, I became death” nor ” Now, I am becoming death” have the same meaning. Although the quote begins with the word “now”, Oppenheimer is actually referring to an event in the recent past: the detonation of the World’s first nuclear bomb. When the bomb got exploding in Iraq and Russia, “John Fowler “became to Death” at the point where he was killed, but the war still exists as of today. I become Death. “On Friday, I go to the pub and have some drinks with my friends; on Saturday, I become Death, the destroyer of worlds; on Sundays I play golf and spend time with my family.” I am becoming death”, would be a statement about an act that is still in progress (“I am becoming Death was the destroyer of worlds. “The transformation will probably be complete by the end of the month”.
Since and because there have been some changes of state to do and even to have, as modern German had done in their pre-Roman civilization, early modern English is the perfect form of intransitive verbs of directed motion and some changes of state. I have become is the modern grammatical equivalent of the archaic I am become, but far from equal in rhetorical power.
In Shakespeare’s book The New Testament, the use of perfect tense was not uttered. By the King James translation of the Bible, this change had passed the unnoticed.
ISABELLA
I am come to know your pleasure? I come a lightinto the world, that him/her who believes in me should not abide in darkness to some degree what all darkness says. John 12. John 12:5-6. What is the importance of John 12. 45
Oppenheimer quotes the Bhagavad Gita, Hindu scripture originally in Sanskrit first translated into English in 1785. In some of Jane Austen’s novels, while many English speakers use the “I am come” form, an interpretation of another form is extremely unlikely. In Oppenheimer’s memory, he is recalling the verse from some edition that maintained the archaic but rhetorically powerful to be present perfect.
The only survival of ordinary speech I can think of is the use of to go as a euphemism for death:
“Oh, Gracie,” Grandma said, “your poor mama is gone forever!” We both bawled and completely missed our mom going back to her home and playing with some family member. Dolores Richardson, The Climbing Tree. (2012).
What is the meaning of being a ‘one man’?
Since and because there have been some changes of state to do and even to have, as modern German had done in their pre-Roman civilization, early modern English is the perfect form of intransitive verbs of directed motion and some changes of state. I have become is the modern grammatical equivalent of the archaic I am become, but far from equal in rhetorical power.
In Shakespeare’s book The New Testament, the use of perfect tense was not uttered. By the King James translation of the Bible, this change had passed the unnoticed.
ISABELLA
I am come to know your pleasure? I come a lightinto the world, that him/her who believes in me should not abide in darkness to some degree what all darkness says. John 12. John 12:5-6. What is the importance of John 12. 45
Oppenheimer quotes the Bhagavad Gita, Hindu scripture originally in Sanskrit first translated into English in 1785. In some of Jane Austen’s novels, while many English speakers use the “I am come” form, an interpretation of another form is extremely unlikely. In Oppenheimer’s memory, he is recalling the verse from some edition that maintained the archaic but rhetorically powerful to be present perfect.
The only survival of ordinary speech I can think of is the use of to go as a euphemism for death:
“Oh, Gracie,” Grandma said, “your poor mama is gone forever!” We both bawled and completely missed our mom going back to her home and playing with some family member. Dolores Richardson, The Climbing Tree. (2012).
What is the meaning of being a ‘one man’?
Since and because there have been some changes of state to do and even to have, as modern German had done in their pre-Roman civilization, early modern English is the perfect form of intransitive verbs of directed motion and some changes of state. I have become is the modern grammatical equivalent of the archaic I am become, but far from equal in rhetorical power.
In Shakespeare’s book The New Testament, the use of perfect tense was not uttered. By the King James translation of the Bible, this change had passed the unnoticed.
ISABELLA
I am come to know your pleasure? I come a lightinto the world, that him/her who believes in me should not abide in darkness to some degree what all darkness says. John 12. John 12:5-6. What is the importance of John 12. 45
Oppenheimer quotes the Bhagavad Gita, Hindu scripture originally in Sanskrit first translated into English in 1785. In some of Jane Austen’s novels, while many English speakers use the “I am come” form, an interpretation of another form is extremely unlikely. In Oppenheimer’s memory, he is recalling the verse from some edition that maintained the archaic but rhetorically powerful to be present perfect.
The only survival of ordinary speech I can think of is the use of to go as a euphemism for death:
“Oh, Gracie,” Grandma said, “your poor mama is gone forever!” We both bawled and completely missed our mom going back to her home and playing with some family member. Dolores Richardson, The Climbing Tree. (2012).
What is the meaning of being a ‘one man’?
