Voice And Versification In Translating Poems

Great poets like Shelley and Goethe have made the claim that translating poems is impossible. And yet, poems are translated; not only that, but the metrical systems of English, French, Italian, German, Russian and Czech have been shaped by the translation of poems. Our poetic traditions are inspired by translations of Homer, Dante, Goethe and Baudelaire. How can we explain this paradox? James W. Underhill responds by offering an informed account of meter, rhythm, rhyme, and versification. But more than that, the author stresses that what is important in the poem—and what must be preserved in the translated poem—is the voice that emerges in the versification. Underhill’s book draws on the author’s translation experience from French, Czech and German. His comparative analysis of the versifications of French and English have enabled him to revise the key terms involved in translating the poetic voice and transposing the poem’s versification. The theories of versification from the Prague School of Linguistics, the French and Swiss schools of versification, and recent scholarship in metrics and rhythm in the UK and in the USA have been integrated into this synthetic but rigorously coherent approach to translating poems. The extensive glossary at the end of the book will prove useful for both students and teachers alike. And the detailed case studies on translating poems by Baudelaire and Emily Dickinson allow the author to categorize and appraise the various poetic and aesthetic strategies and theories that are brought to bear in translating Baudelaire into English, and Dickinson into French.

Author of Encyclopedia of Translation Terminology (2007), A Dictionary of Translation and Interpreting (2002), and A Linguistic Study of the Development of Scientific Vocabulary in Standard Arabic (London: KPI 1987) Intended for poetry-translation scholars, teachers, students, and practitioners, this book provides an in-depth look at poetry translation as an act of creative recreation. Clearly written and amply illustrated, it is designed to help readers understand the nature of poetry, the key elements of its language, the various types of challenges frequently encountered in its translation, and the procedures, methods and strategies required to translate poems into poems. It provides important and penetrating answers to questions such as: What makes poetry translation a special case within literary translation?? Is poetry translatable?? Does poetry really get lost in translation?? How should a poem be translated? What makes a “good” translation? Is it preferable to translate a poem literally, or should the translator endeavor to recreate the effect of the original poem as a poem in its own right in the target language? Is poetry translation a matter of reproduction or an act of recreation? Who translates poetry? Should a poem be looked at as a “renaissance painting”? Why is poetry translation referred to as “the art of compromise”?

"Letters Concerning Poetical Translations: And Virgil's and Milton's Arts of Verse, &c" by William Benson William Benson was a talented amateur architect and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons. However, he was also a passionate academic and literary lover. This volume collects multiple letters Benson wrote regarding the translations of some of the most important poets in history, Virgil and Milton, whose impacts could be lost if not properly translated.

His book investigates the problems and possibilities in the translation of literature, especially poetry. The investigation is based on a comparison between Catullus' sixty-fourth poem and English translations of it published between 1870 and 1970. Several strategies for translating are analyzed, and their comparative merits and faults are discussed. The book also tries to describe the position translation and translation studies should occupy in the wider context of the study of comparative literature. --from publisher description.

The Routledge Handbook of Literary Translation provides an accessible, diverse and extensive overview of literary translation today. This next-generation volume brings together principles, case studies, precepts, histories and process knowledge from practitioners in sixteen different countries. Divided into four parts, the book covers many of literary translation’s most pressing concerns today, from teaching, to theorising, to translation techniques, to new tools and resources. Featuring genre studies, in which graphic novels, crime fiction, and ethnopoetry have pride of place alongside classics and sacred texts, The Routledge Handbook of Literary Translation represents a vital resource for students and researchers of both translation studies and comparative literature.

Translation is a very important tool in our multilingual world. Excellent translation is a sine qua non in the work of the Swedish Academy, responsible for the Nobel Prize in Literature. In order to establish a forum for discussing fundamental aspects of the translation of poetry and poetic prose, a Nobel Symposium on this subject was organized.The list of contributors includes Sture All‚n, Jean Boase-Beier, Philippe Bouquet, Anders Cullhed, Gunnel Engwall, Eugene Eoyang, Efim Etkind, Inga-Stina Ewbank, Knut Faldbakken, Seamus Heaney, Lyn Hejinian, Bengt Jangfeldt, Francis R Jones, Elke Liebs, Gunilla Lindberg-Wada, G”ran Malmqvist, Shimon Markish, Margaret Mitsutani, Judith Moffett, Mariya Novykova, Tim Parks, Ulla Roseen, Emmanuela Tandello, Eliot Weinberger, Daniel Weissbort, and Fran(oise Wuilmart.