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spiralsheep2012-10-04 11:23 pmTwo poems for National Poetry Day (UK)
I posted two poems for the UK's National Poetry Day at my journal. The first is Pia Tafdrup's poem for Norway, in Danish with an English translation. The second is a humorous piece about linguistic and cultural translations written by a Scottish poet about the English and the French, and using both languages.
spiralsheep2012-04-03 02:08 pmHill Speak by Zaffar Kunial
A poem about language, scripts, and translations, offered without translation, because I thought some of you would appreciate it.
Hill Speak by Zaffar Kunial
( There is no dictionary for my father’s language. )
Hill Speak by Zaffar Kunial
( There is no dictionary for my father’s language. )
spiralsheep2012-02-23 11:29 pmPoem, Dnia 16 maja 1973 roku by Wisława Szymborska
I saw this poem by Nobel Prize-winning poet Wisława Szymborska in translation on the (recently linked) ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
poetree com and thought I'd track down the Polish original because I've read two other translations and neither of them appealed to me at all but this one by Adam Czerniawski made me want to read more. More of her poems can be found, with English and Swedish translations, on the Nobel Prize website amongst many other places.
Dnia 16 maja 1973 roku
Jedna z tych wielu dat,
kóre nie mówią mi już nic.
Dokąd w tym dniu chodziłam.
co robiłam - nie wiem.
Gdyby w pobliżu popełniono zbrodnię
- nie miałabym alibi.
Słońce błysło i zgasło
poza moją uwagą.
Ziemia się obróciła
bez wzmianki w notesie.
( The rest and an English translation. )
poetree com and thought I'd track down the Polish original because I've read two other translations and neither of them appealed to me at all but this one by Adam Czerniawski made me want to read more. More of her poems can be found, with English and Swedish translations, on the Nobel Prize website amongst many other places.Dnia 16 maja 1973 roku
Jedna z tych wielu dat,
kóre nie mówią mi już nic.
Dokąd w tym dniu chodziłam.
co robiłam - nie wiem.
Gdyby w pobliżu popełniono zbrodnię
- nie miałabym alibi.
Słońce błysło i zgasło
poza moją uwagą.
Ziemia się obróciła
bez wzmianki w notesie.
( The rest and an English translation. )
Jactancia de quietud, Jorge Luis Borges
Jactancia de quietud
Escrituras de luz embisten la sombra, más prodigiosas que meteoros.
La alta ciudad inconocible arrecia sobre el campo.
Seguro de mi vida y de mi muerte, miro los ambiciosos
y quisiera entenderlos.
Su día es ávido como el lazo en el aire.
Su noche es tregua de la ira en el hierro, pronto en acometer.
Hablan de humanidad.
Mi humanidad está en sentir que somos voces de una misma penuria.
Hablan de patria.
Mi patria es un latido de guitarra, unos retratos y una vieja espada,
la oración evidente del sauzal en los atardeceres.
El tiempo está viviéndome.
Más silencioso que mi sombra, cruzo el tropel de su levantada codicia.
Ellos son imprescindibles, únicos, merecedores del mañana.
Mi nombre es alguien y cualquiera.
Paso con lentitud, como quien viene de tan lejos que no espera llegar.
Jorge Luis Borges
Argentina
1925
Entry tags:
Song, Cecília Meireles.
Cecília Meireles was a Brazilian writer and educator, known principally for her poetry. She is considered one of the best poets writing in Portuguese.
( Portuguese )
( English )
( Portuguese )
( English )
spiralsheep2011-10-08 04:49 pmEntry tags:
Two poems by Tomas Tranströmer (recent Nobel prizewinner)
It's autumn here in my four-seasoned, north-of-the-equator, home but I know some of you are a world away from me. Inspired by kore, have some Nobel prize-winning-poet produce in Swedish and then English translation....
Tomas Tranströmer
Ljuset Strömmar In
Utanför fönstret är vårens långa djur
den genomskinliga draken av solsken
rinner förbi som ett ändlöst
förortståg – vi hann aldrig se huvudet.
Strandvillorna flyttar sig i sidled
de är stolta som krabbor.
Solen får statyerna att blinka.
Det rasande eldhavet ute i rymden
transjorderas till en smekning.
Nedräkningen har börjat.
(Translation by Patty Crane)
The Light Streams In
( Translation and second poem with audio. )
kore, have some Nobel prize-winning-poet produce in Swedish and then English translation....Tomas Tranströmer
Ljuset Strömmar In
Utanför fönstret är vårens långa djur
den genomskinliga draken av solsken
rinner förbi som ett ändlöst
förortståg – vi hann aldrig se huvudet.
Strandvillorna flyttar sig i sidled
de är stolta som krabbor.
Solen får statyerna att blinka.
Det rasande eldhavet ute i rymden
transjorderas till en smekning.
Nedräkningen har börjat.
(Translation by Patty Crane)
The Light Streams In
( Translation and second poem with audio. )
spiralsheep2011-07-16 02:47 pmEntry tags:
Octavio Paz help?
I've been trying to read more widely, and share my enthusiasms at poetry readings. I try to read an original before an English translation and I like to credit (and critique) translators. But I've been having difficulty finding information on Octavio Paz in English, particularly one well-known poem. I normally manage better than this. Perhaps I'm asking the wrong questions?
Can anyone in this com point me towards an original of "No More Cliches"? Is there a translator in addition to Paz? Or was it originally in English? Is this "translation" so far from an original that it shows few resemblances? Help, please?
(My Spanish comprehension is non-existent, sorry.)
No More Clichés
( Poem )
Can anyone in this com point me towards an original of "No More Cliches"? Is there a translator in addition to Paz? Or was it originally in English? Is this "translation" so far from an original that it shows few resemblances? Help, please?
(My Spanish comprehension is non-existent, sorry.)
No More Clichés
( Poem )
spiralsheep2011-04-22 10:00 pmTranslate, a poem by Benjamin Zephaniah
For reasons that will become apparent, I prefer not to translate this poem by Benjamin Zephaniah (although I will interpret and elucidate on request). Note: author's dialect/accent is Brummie (i.e. from Birmingham, England), and English Rastafarian, and with Caribbean Island inheritances.
More Benjamin Zephaniah here: http://spiralsheep.dreamwidth.org/358757.html
Translate
Who will translate
Dis stuff.
Who can decipher
De dread chant
Dat cum fram
De body
An soul
Dubwise?
( 3 more verses this way.... )
More Benjamin Zephaniah here: http://spiralsheep.dreamwidth.org/358757.html
Translate
Who will translate
Dis stuff.
Who can decipher
De dread chant
Dat cum fram
De body
An soul
Dubwise?
( 3 more verses this way.... )
spiralsheep2011-03-04 11:46 amOld English and Latin riddles (Exeter Book and Symphosius)
An Old English riddle, circa 10th century CE, from the Exeter Book (text is the currently accepted standard):
Moððe word fræt. Me þæt þuhte
wrætlicu wyrd, þa ic þæt wundor gefrægn,
þæt se wyrm forswealg wera gied sumes,
þeof in þystro, þrymfæstne cwide
ond þæs strangan staþol. Stælgiest ne wæs
wihte þy gleawra, þe he þam wordum swealg.
( My transliteration and translation. )
The above riddle was probably based on this Latin riddle from the Aenigmata by Symphosius, circa 4th-5th century CE (text from Raymond Ohl, 1928, but the standard rendering of "Littera" would be litera and the punctuation, as always, is arguable):
Littera me pavit nec quid sit littera novi:
In libris vixi nec sum studiosior inde;
Exedi Musas nec adhuc tamen ipsa profeci.
( Two translations to English. )
Anyone still mystified by these riddles may apply to me in comment form for the answer(s). :-)
Moððe word fræt. Me þæt þuhte
wrætlicu wyrd, þa ic þæt wundor gefrægn,
þæt se wyrm forswealg wera gied sumes,
þeof in þystro, þrymfæstne cwide
ond þæs strangan staþol. Stælgiest ne wæs
wihte þy gleawra, þe he þam wordum swealg.
( My transliteration and translation. )
The above riddle was probably based on this Latin riddle from the Aenigmata by Symphosius, circa 4th-5th century CE (text from Raymond Ohl, 1928, but the standard rendering of "Littera" would be litera and the punctuation, as always, is arguable):
Littera me pavit nec quid sit littera novi:
In libris vixi nec sum studiosior inde;
Exedi Musas nec adhuc tamen ipsa profeci.
( Two translations to English. )
Anyone still mystified by these riddles may apply to me in comment form for the answer(s). :-)
दो नज़्म
Zaahid, sharaab piine de maszid mei.n baith kar
Ya woh jagah bata de, jaha.n khuda nahii.n hai
the reply:
Zaahil, sharaab pii le tu maszid mei.n baith kar
Gar dil mei.n khuda nahii.n hai, to kahii.n nahii.n hai
Ya woh jagah bata de, jaha.n khuda nahii.n hai
the reply:
Zaahil, sharaab pii le tu maszid mei.n baith kar
Gar dil mei.n khuda nahii.n hai, to kahii.n nahii.n hai