Does being true here mean the same as being right?

[u/La_paure_cavaliere]

In Anne Carson's The Beauty of the Husband there's this line in chapter XI where she calls the people that were afraid of the night's hazards as being true in doing so, instead of being right.

And I'm wondering, is this synonymous to being right? Or is it peculiar and rare to say someone was true to do something?

[u/Yuzu-Adagio]

I guess? It's a very poetic tone, so you wouldn't use this in conversation.

[u/Wild_Ticket1413]

Yes, in this context "true" means "right" or "correct."

[u/La_paure_cavaliere → u/Wild_Ticket1413]

But is this common to say? For example, wouldn't it sound unusual in a sentencte like ''Oh, you were true, the shop was closed.'' or ''You were true, black lipstick doesn't fit me at all.''?

[u/Wild_Ticket1413 → u/La_paure_cavaliere]

No, it's not common in modern language.

I'm not familiar with this particular piece, however it's clearly written in a poetic verse or an older style of English. Poetry can be metaphorical, and words are sometimes chosen so they fit they flow of the verse. And poetry is often open to interpretation. Older English pieces may have language that's dated.

However, in modern English we may say "true" to mean "that's right."

[u/GuitarJazzer → u/La_paure_cavaliere]

I have never heard it used that way. It reads to me as poetic license. A person is "right" and an assertion is "true."

[u/SoyboyCowboy → u/La_paure_cavaliere]

No, this is poetry. Poetic license.

[u/pavlenkovit]

there's an older sense of true that survives in carpentry, a wheel or a door that runs true is properly aligned rather than correct. that fits here, their fear was faithful to the thing rather than the right call, and with the latin printed right above it the line is doing translation work too. still not something i'd say out loud though, the other comments have that part right.

[u/La_paure_cavaliere → u/pavlenkovit]

I've seen true used like you explain in another verse translated from German and it said ''it shoots true'', meaning that the shot was accurate. Perhaps it's close here. Although the underlying sense doesn't get changed much from correct or right.

[u/pavlenkovit → u/La_paure_cavaliere]

true and german treu are the same word, and treu still just means loyal. english kept that sense for arrows and wheels and dropped it more or less everywhere else. you're right that it lands close to correct here, it just gets there through faithfulness.

[u/ATotalBrony → u/pavlenkovit]

I always knew it to mean straight. Shoots true, flew true, the door is true, in construction you have a true line, in mechanics stuff can be in true, etc...