Pulvers and Beichman

 I have been curious how translators translate poetry since the forms of poetry are so different across languages and it’s hard to keep the rhythm of the original poem in translation. How would a poem such as a haiku be translated – would the translator remain strict with the syllable count per line or prioritize meaning? And how would assonance and alliteration be translated?  

Pulver’s view is to prioritize not the direct meaning, but the deeper meaning of the poem; he says, “Distancing yourself from the syntax of the original may be the way to get closest to that original.” Interestingly, Beichman distanced herself but with a constraint; she gave herself a limitation of 31 syllables when translating the 31 syllables of tanka but allowed herself the freedom to experiment with the lines and format of the poem. Regarding haiku, I can see from the translation of the haiku by Ishihara Yatsuka the difference between staying true to the line division vs following English syntax, and that adds a lot to the translation of the poem; the syllable amount didn’t matter.     

­­­I like the way it was described in by Sir John Denham in “Through a Glass Darkly” that poetry translated into a foreign language becomes an empty shell unless a new spirit is added in during the process. This can be seen in the translations of La Lune Blanche by Kafu and the edired translation of Wagauta by Keene. “Bringing home” poems via translation is a very apt metaphor, as with Kafu’s translation of La Lune Blanche, the poem becomes a whisper of love between the trees and the moon instead of an exclamation of awe by a human at the beauty of nature. This appreciation of nature by personifying the trees and the moon has a Japanese taste, and by “localizing” the poem in this way, the poem can be more thoroughly enjoyed by Japanese readers. For Wagauta, I like Keene’s edits in that they improve the flow of the poem; it reads smoother and clearer and is easier to understand.

Both articles mention the tone–the vitality and soul–of a poem, and the responsibility of the translator to get across the soul of the poem. Translating poetry and prose feel very different and I feel that poetry is allowed more artistic freedom in a way. However, it also requires a deeper understanding of the subject matter, the emotions of the narrator/author, and I think this may be difficult to get used to at first, but translating poetry does seem fun.

Tiffany