ES.261
Poetry in Translation
Spring 2006
Topics
- Introductions. Discussion of goals of poetry translation, special challenges of translating poetry. Discussion of two Russian poems by Alexander Pushkin.
- Discussion of assignment from the previous week. An introduction to Charles Baudelaire and his times, and a detailed look at multiple translations of a few of his poems. Particularities of French language and culture.
- An introduction to Garcia Lorca and his times, and a detailed look at multiple translations of a few of his poems. Particularities of Spanish language and culture.
- An introduction to Sappho, and a detailed look at multiple translations of a few of her poems. Old translations of Sappho are read and compared to modern ones. Particularities of Ancient Greek language and culture.
- An introduction to Catullus, and a detailed look at multiple translations of a few of his poems. Particularities of Latin language and culture.
- Haikus from a range of time periods, both Japanese and international, are discussed. Difficulties of translation from Japanese and of the poetic form. Particularities of Japanese language and culture.
- Chinese poetry: Li Bai and Du Fu. Difficulties of translation from Chinese. Particularities of Chinese language and culture.
- Discussion of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight , which is read both in translation and in the original. Discussion of Middle English to Modern English translation.
- Discussion of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales , including the author and his times.
- Discussion of Beowulf , including the language and the times. Comparison of Beowulf with the previous two works studied.
- Persian poetry: Mawlūnū Jalūl ad-Din Muhammad Rūumi and Omar Khayyám. Difficulties of translation from Persian. Particularities of Persian language and culture, including Sufism.
- Poetry from Africa and the Caribbean. Several poems written in Papiamento, Afrikaans and Swahili are discussed. Discussion of poetry written in languages that have lacked official status. Culture and history of the Caribbean and of South Africa.
- Student presentations of final projects.
Readings
- Alexander Pushkin
- Ty i vy (You and Thou)
- Ja vas lyubil (I loved you)
- Charles Baudelaire
- Baudelaire, Charles. Complete Poems . Translated by Walter Martin. Manchester, UK: Carcanet Press, 1998. ISBN: 9781857540499.
- ———. One Hundred Poems from Les Fleurs du mal . Translated by C. F. MacIntyre. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1947.
- ———. Poems; A Translation of Les Fleurs du mal . Translated by Roy Campbell. London, UK: Harvill Press, 1952.
- Les Aveugles
- Baudelaire, Charles*. Baudelaire in English*. Edited by Carol Clark and Robert Sykes. New York, NY: Penguin Classics, 1998. ISBN: 9780140446449.
- The poem from the book, Reed, Jeremy. You’d sleep with Anything , and written “after Charles Baudelaire” was also discussed.
- Frederico Garcia Lorca
- Garca Lorca, Federico. Selected Poems . Translated by Merryn Williams. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Bloodaxe Books, 1992. ISBN: 9781852241605.
- ———. Poet in New York; Complete Spanish Text . Translated by Ben Belitt. Introduced by ngel del Ro. New York, NY: Grove Press, 1997.
- ———. The Poetical Works of Federico Garca Lorca. Edited by Christopher Maurer. New York, NY: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1988. ISBN: 9780374520830.
- Vuelta de Paseo
- Garca Lorca, Federico. The Poetical Works of Federico Garca Lorca . Edited by Christopher Mauer. New York, NY: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1988. ISBN: 9780374520830.
- ———. Poet in New York . Edited, Introduction, and Notes by Christopher Mauer. Translated by Greg Simon and Steven F. White. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Bilingual edition, 1998. ISBN: 9780374525408.
- Soneto de la guirnalda de rosas; Soneto de la dulce queja
- ———. The Poetical Works of Federico Garca Lorca . Edited by Christopher Mauer. New York, NY: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1988. ISBN: 9780374520830.
- Hymn to Aphrodite
- The Moon has Set …
- Hail, Gentle Evening, that bringst back …
- That one Seems to Me the Equal of the Gods …
- LI. Ille mi par esse deo videtur …
- Catullus, Gaius Valerius. The Poetry of Catullus . Translated by C. H. Sisson. New York, NY: Orion Press, 1967.
- ———. Catullus . Edited, Translated, Introduced, and Notes by G. P. Goold. London, UK: Duckworth, 1983. ISBN: 9780715614358.
- ———. The Complete Poetry . Translated and Introduced by Frank O. Copley. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1957.
- XCII, XCIII, XCIV
- Catullus, Gaius Valerius. Catullus . Edited, Translated, Introduced, and Notes by G. P. Goold. London, UK: Duckworth, 1983. ISBN: 9780715614358.
- ———. Carmina . Translated by Barriss Mills. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Studies, 1965.
- LXXIV. Gellius audierat, partuum obiurgare solere…
- ———. The Poems of Catullus . Translated by Horace Gregory. New York, NY: Covici-Friede, 1931.
- II. Passer, deliciae meae puellae …
- CI. Mulatas per gentes et multa per aequora vectus …
- Catullus, Gaius Valerius. Carmina . Translated by Barriss Mills. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Studies, 1965.
- ———. The Poetry of Catullus . Translated by C. H. Sisson. New York, NY: Orion Press, 1967.
- XIII. Cenabis bene, mi Fabulle apud me …
- Catullus, Gaius Valerius. The Poems of Catullus . Translated by Horace Gregory. New York, NY: Covici-Friede, 1931.
- Translating Asian Poetry
- Students read the following chapters from The poem behind the poem: translating Asian poetry. Edited by Frank Stewart. Port Townsend, WA: Copper Canyon Press, 2004. ISBN: 9781556592003
- A Poem Should Mean and Be: Remarks on the Translation of Japanese Poetry, by William I. Elliott
- Error Message Haikus
- Classic Japanese Haiku
- Matsuo, Bashō. The Essential Bashō . Translated by Sam Hamill. Boston, MA: Shambhala, 1999, pp. 116-119, 142, 143, 152, and 153. ISBN: 9781570622823.
- Ueda, Makoto. Matsuo Bashō . New York, NY: Twayne Publishers, 1970, pp. 60-61.
- Miscellaneous
- Addiss, Stephen, Fumiko Yamamoto, and Akira Yamamoto. Haiku People: Big and Small in Poems and Prints . New York, NY: Weatherhill, 1998, pp. 50. ISBN: 9780834804173.
- Clements, Jonathan, tr. The Moon in the Pines: Zen Haiku. Selected by Jonathan Clements. Studio; 1st American ed edition, 2000, pp. 75. ISBN: 9780670892297.
- Modern Japanese Haiku
- Stryk, Lucien, tr. Cage of Fireflies: Modern Japanese Haiku . Swallow Press, 1993. ISBN: 9780804009775.
- Modern International Haiku
- Kacian, Jim, ed. Pegging The Wind . Winchester, VA: Red Moon Press, 2003, pp. 26, 27, 44, 45, 60, 61, 74, and 75. ISBN: 9781893959323.
- Li Bai (Li Po)
- Sitting Alone on Chingting Mountain
- Pine, Red, tr. Poems of the Masters = Qian jia shi: China’s Classic Anthology of T’ang and Sung Dynasty Verse . Port Townsend, WA: Copper Canyon Press, 2003. ISBN: 9781556591952.
- Liu, Wu-Chi, and Irving Yucheng Lo, eds. Sunflower Splendor: Three Thousand Years of Chinese Poetry . Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1990. ISBN: 9780253355805.
- Amusing Myself
- Whincup, Greg, comp. The Heart of Chinese Poetry. New York, NY: Anchor Press, 1987. ISBN: 9780385239677.
- Hearing a Monk of Shu Play the Lute
- Whincup, Greg, comp. The Heart of Chinese Poetry . New York, NY: Anchor Press, 1987. ISBN: 9780385239677.
- Spring Prospect
- Night at the Tower
- Sze, Arthur, ed. The Silk Dragon: Translations from the Chinese . Port Townsend, WA: Copper Canyon Press, 2001. ISBN: 9781556591532.
- Staying Overnight at the Chancellery in Spring
- Old and Middle English
- Anonymous (Middle English)
- Merwin, W. S., tr. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A New Verse Translation . 1st ed. Knopf, 2002. ISBN: 9780375414763.
- Stone, Brian, tr. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight . Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin Books, 1959. ISBN: 9780140440928. Lines read: 1-55, 1181-1240, 2265-2326.
- Geoffrey Chaucer
- Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales . Edited, Introduced, and Notes by Jill Mann. London, UK: Penguin Classics, 2005. ISBN: 9780140422344.
- ———. The Canterbury Tales . Translated into modern English by Nevill Coghill. London, UK: Penguin Classics, 2003. ISBN: 9780140424386.
- ———. Canterbury Tales . Translated into modern English by J. U. Nicolson. Dover Publications; New Ed edition., 2004. ISBN: 9780486431628.
- Anonymous (Old English)
- Heaney, Seamus, tr. Beowulf: A New Verse Translation . New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 2001. ISBN: 9780393320978.
- Donoghue, Daniel, ed. Beowulf: A Verse Translation: Authoritative Text, Contexts, Criticism. Translated by Seamus Heaney. New York: W.W. Norton, 2001. ISBN: 9780393975802.
- M. Anderson, Sarah. Beowulf. Translated by Alan Sullivan and Timothy Murphy. New York, NY: Pearson/Longman, 2004. ISBN: 9780321107206.
- F. Huppé, Bernard, tr. Beowulf, a New Translation . Binghamton, NY: Longman, 2004. ISBN: 9780321107206.
- Omar Khayyám
- Ghazal 1919 (This is Love …)
- Jalūl ad-Din Rūumi, Maulana. Love is a Stranger: Selected Lyric Poetry of Jelaluddin Rumi . Translated by Kabir Edmund Helminski. Putney, VT: Threshold Books, c1993. ISBN: 9780939660322.
- A Thief in the Night / And He is With Us
- Khayyam, Omar. Omar Khayy á m, a new version based upon recent discoveries . Translated by Arthur J. Arberry. London, UK: J. Murray, 1952. Rubaiyat Number: 66, 161, 247, 107, 190. Also discussion on pp. 18, 19.
- ———. The Romance of the Rubaiyat . Translated by Edward Fitzgerald’s. Introduced and Notes by A. J. Arberry. London, UK: G. Allen and Unwin, 1959.
- Selected Papiamento (language) poets
- Selected Afrikaans (Language) poets
- Selected Swahili (Language) poets
- Papiamento Poets
- Afrikaans Poets Antjie Krog
- Swahili Poets
- Papiamento Poems
- Creation fire: a CAFRA Anthology of Caribbean Women’s Poetry. Edited by Ramabai Espinet. Toronto, Canada: Sister Vision, 1991. ISBN: 9780920813027.
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗Historical OpenCourseWare
- MIT OCW calendar ↗
- MIT OCW readings ↗
- MIT OCW syllabus ↗
- Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.