{"id":114,"date":"2016-10-14T09:47:35","date_gmt":"2016-10-14T17:47:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.annhuang.com\/blog\/?p=114"},"modified":"2017-12-11T11:40:46","modified_gmt":"2017-12-11T19:40:46","slug":"are-there-any-rules-for-translating-poetry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.annhuangpoetry.com\/blog\/2016\/10\/14\/are-there-any-rules-for-translating-poetry\/","title":{"rendered":"Are There Any Rules for Translating Poetry?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Poetry<\/a>As an art form, poetry doesn\u2019t have hard and fast rules. While there are elements that make up certain types of poems, such as rhyme and meter, there is no \u201cwrong\u201d way to write poetry. The same, however, is not necessarily true for poetry translations. Translations can be a beautiful way to share a poet\u2019s works with the world. Without them, people around the globe would not have been exposed to the masterful works of William Shakespeare, Federico Garc\u00eda Lorca, Rumi and many others. The problem with translations, however, is that they become the translator\u2019s work, a work based on the original poet\u2019s ideas. To prevent misrepresenting an original poem\u2019s spirit, there are guidelines that translators follow to keep their words as intimately related to the work in question.<\/p>\n

Guidelines for Translating Poetry<\/h2>\n

Be fluent in the languages with which you work.<\/h3>\n

If you Google Translate to have a conversation with an individual who speaks a different language than you, you\u2019ll quickly find that phrases don\u2019t always translate well. Sayings that make perfect sense in U.S. English could be nonsensical in other languages, and vice versa. Having intimate knowledge of the poet\u2019s language and the target language will bring you a step closer to staying true to the original text.<\/p>\n

Understand the poet\u2019s culture and history.<\/h3>\n

Having a rudimentary understanding of a language is not enough. You must also be familiar with a poet\u2019s culture and life in his or her point in history. An understanding of a poet\u2019s culture allows you to recognize when a direct translation of a phrase will not work well. A translator who understands the Latvian language and culture, for instance, will see the phrase, \u201cEj bekot,\u201d and know that a poet doesn\u2019t necessarily mean, \u201cGo pick mushrooms,\u201d which is the literal translation. He or she will know that this phrase means, \u201cLeave me alone,\u201d or \u201cGo away.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to understanding colloquialisms, a translator should be aware of the respective language\u2019s evolution. An individual translating Shakespeare into another language, for example, should know that phrases like, \u201cWell met,\u201d and, \u201cGood morrow,\u201d as seen in Henry V<\/em>, are greetings that people during the poet\u2019s era often said.<\/p>\n

Stay as true to the original poem as closely as possible.<\/h3>\n

When translating a poem, you must stay as close to the original meaning as possible in a manner that mimics its original essence and structure. Doing this not only requires a deep understanding of the respective languages, but also the poem itself. For instance, an individual who doesn\u2019t know that Walt Whitman\u2019s \u201cO Captain! My Captain!\u201d is about Abraham Lincoln\u2019s death will not capture the work\u2019s true meaning in a translation.<\/p>\n

Staying close and true to the poem also means feeling and reflecting a poem\u2019s rhythm, pauses, beats, grammatical structure and swirls. If a poet intentionally used words to give a work a specific meter or sound, or places stress on key words, a good translation will replicate these characteristics.<\/p>\n

Translating a poem is far from a simple process. It\u2019s often messy and requires deconstruction, erasing, rewriting and starting over. It is this process, however, that brings the gift of literature to others, making your efforts worthwhile and invaluable.<\/p>\n

Below are some examples of Ann Huang’s translated poems from Classical Chinese to English. They were published\u00a0on the National Translation Month<\/a> website in September 2016.<\/p>\n

Ann Huang is a marketing manager based in Newport Beach, California. She grew up in China, moved to Mexico when she was a teen, and is an MFA candidate from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Huang has authored two poetry collections. Her poem, “Night Lullaby,” was a Ruth Stone Poetry Prize finalist. She is at work translating Tang dynasty poet Li Shang-Yin \u674e\u5546\u9690.<\/em><\/p>\n

Poem 1<\/h3>\n

Untitled<\/strong><\/p>\n

When we meet,<\/p>\n

we don\u2019t want to leave each other,<\/p>\n

The east wind can\u2019t help<\/p>\n

blowing the petals, can\u2019t<\/p>\n

bring them back.<\/p>\n

Silk worms stop giving<\/p>\n

silk till he dies, and my<\/p>\n

tears won\u2019t dry until<\/p>\n

the candle light fades out.<\/p>\n

I look at the mirror and see<\/p>\n

my dark hair grow gray,<\/p>\n

I drink at night alongside frail<\/p>\n

moonlight.<\/p>\n

Once you climb onto the mountain roads<\/p>\n

to the monastery,<\/p>\n

there will be few ways out.<\/p>\n

Perhaps there will<\/p>\n

only be blue birds that<\/p>\n

expect you to come back.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Poem 2<\/h3>\n

Untitled (2)<\/strong><\/p>\n

At eight you found yourself gazing<\/p>\n

into the mirror discreetly, and drew<\/p>\n

your long eyebrows.<\/p>\n

At ten you journeyed out, and<\/p>\n

adorned your skirt shorts<\/p>\n

with hibiscus.<\/p>\n

At twelve you learned to<\/p>\n

play the flute, and never lost<\/p>\n

your affection.<\/p>\n

At fourteen, you hid from ancient<\/p>\n

customs and distant relatives,<\/p>\n

avoided arranged marriages.<\/p>\n

At fifteen you wept in the spring air,<\/p>\n

turned your back facing down<\/p>\n

just like a swinger.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Poem 3<\/h3>\n

Untitled (3)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Last night’s stars twinkled in the<\/p>\n

damp cool winds, from<\/p>\n

painted floors like western meadows<\/p>\n

held the party in the east.<\/p>\n

Without the pair of Phoenix\u2019s wings,<\/p>\n

we cannot fly together, our souls<\/p>\n

touching, our spirits connected<\/p>\n

through a thread of harmony.<\/p>\n

Across the table, we diverted and converted<\/p>\n

our drinks into warm streams. There,<\/p>\n

we unveiled the mystery and discovered the<\/p>\n

true hearts in the heated crowd.<\/p>\n

Sighing– when the drum struck<\/p>\n

to usher me back to work. A horse<\/p>\n

ride turned my disillusion to<\/p>\n

the orchids, where my empty future stands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As an art form, poetry doesn\u2019t have hard and fast rules. While there are elements that make up certain types of poems, such as rhyme and meter, there is no \u201cwrong\u201d way to write poetry. The same, however, is not necessarily true for poetry translations. Translations can be a beautiful way to share a poet\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":115,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,22,26,12],"tags":[31,3,11,39,9,5,6,23,13,14,19],"class_list":["post-114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-experimental-poetry","category-poetry-language","category-poetry-translation","category-surrealist-poetry","tag-ann-huang","tag-essential-poetry","tag-experimental-poetry","tag-poetry","tag-poetry-class","tag-poetry-form","tag-poetry-structure","tag-poetry-translation","tag-surrealism","tag-surrealist-poetry","tag-transcendentalism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.annhuangpoetry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.annhuangpoetry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.annhuangpoetry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.annhuangpoetry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.annhuangpoetry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.annhuangpoetry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":223,"href":"https:\/\/www.annhuangpoetry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114\/revisions\/223"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.annhuangpoetry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.annhuangpoetry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.annhuangpoetry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.annhuangpoetry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}