Pulvers and Beichman Comments - Connie

I am fascinated to learn that unlike translating stories and other pieces of work where translating as close as possible to the original text is the proper way to translate, translating poems is less about sticking to the original but more about recreating your own poetry to keep the same tone and flow of the original poetry as it is almost impossible to translate the literal meaning while also keeping the depth and meaning of the original. Pulvers mentions that to translate from Japanese to English, the key in how to getting the translated poem to sound and feel like the original is to re-create it. I understand that you would have to read the original and like take it all in to try to come up with your own version that doesn't have to be perfectly the same but still carry the same feeling but that is such a difficult thing to do especially when translating stories literally isn't even that easy to begin with. I think the way he translated the first three lines with ame, kaze, and yuki is a good way to approach the original and the makezu feeling is still there with the way Pulvers used the word "strong".

I find it fascinating that Beichman calls it a spirit that is newly infused in the translated version of Verlaine's poem by Kafu. In the original, you get the feeling that it is the speaker and the landscape coming together but in Kafu's translation, the feeling is there but it is even deeper as it portrays the trees trembling with joy as the moon comes out to them and I find that quite interesting as it doesn't stay exactly true to the original's literal text but it doesn't stray too far while adding a bit of something extra. I also agree with Sesar's point on translating a poem is almost like editing a poem after having read Pulvers' points on poetry translation. What I take away from this is that you're not able to successfully translate poetry if you're going into it with the mindset that you must reproduce the original or cloning it, but instead you must try to create something that will evoke the same feelings one would feel reading the original as would the translation.