Readings

Each week, students examined poems that were written in a different foreign language. Students also read background information on the different languages and cultures, in order to gain an appreciation for the challenges inherant in translating poems from those languages into English. If students were able to read the poem in its original language, they were asked to prepare their own translations of the original poem.

Course readings.

WEEK # POETS POEMS TRANSLATIONS ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
1 Alexander Pushkin

Background:

Aleksandr Pushkin

Pushkin's Biography
Ty i vy (You and Thou)

Ja vas lyubil (I loved you)
Ty i vy (You and Thou)

Original in Cyrillic

Online Translations:

"You and thee" - Alexandr S Pushkin

Thou and You

Ja vas lyubil (I loved you)

Original in Cyrillic

Online Translations:

Love Lyrics by Alexandr Pushkin

I Loved You

Pushkin: I loved You Once
The Alexander Pushkin Homepage
2 Charles Baudelaire

Background:

Charles Baudelaire

Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867)

Poems by Charles Baudelaire

Information about Charles Baudelaire and Les Fleurs de Mal
Lecture/Seminar Schedule for 1999/2000: weeks 11 and 12 of semester 1, and weeks 1 and 2 of semester 2.

Au Lecteur

Les Aveugles

Je n'ai pas oublieé, voisine de la ville


Le Chat


Le Lethe


A une passante


Harmonie du soir

Au Lecteur

Buy at Amazon 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

and

Je n'ai pas oublieé, voisine de la ville

Buy at Amazon 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.

Online Translations:

Le Chat

Le Lethe

A une passante

Harmonie du soir

Baudelaire Online

Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867)
3 Frederico Garcia Lorca

Background:

Federico Garcia Lorca

Federico Garcia Lorca: Biography and Complete Work

The Academy of American Poets: Federico Garcia Lorca
La Aurora

Vuelta de Paseo

Soneto de la guirnalda de rosas; Soneto de la dulce queja

Pueblo
La Aurora

Buy at Amazon 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.

Buy at Amazon ———. The Poetical Works of Federico Garca Lorca. Edited by Christopher Maurer. New York, NY: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1988. ISBN: 9780374520830.

Vuelta de Paseo

Buy at Amazon 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; Complete Spanish Text. Translated by Ben Belitt. Introduced by ngel del Ro. New York, NY: Grove Press, 1997.

Buy at Amazon ———. 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

Buy at Amazon Garca Lorca, Federico. Selected Poems. Translated by Merryn Williams. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Bloodaxe Books, 1992. ISBN: 9781852241605.

Buy at Amazon ———. 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.

Pueblo

Buy at Amazon Garca Lorca, Federico. Selected Poems. Translated by Merryn Williams. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Bloodaxe Books, 1992. ISBN: 9781852241605.

Buy at Amazon ———. The Poetical Works of Federico Garca Lorca. Edited by Christopher Mauer. New York, NY: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1988. ISBN: 9780374520830.

Morpheme Tales

Further Readings

An Essay on Lorca's Sexuality and Censorship.
 
4 Sappho

Background:

Sappho

Introduction

Isle of Lesbos

All of the Poems listed have Translations given on:

Internet Sacred Text Archive
Hymn to Aphrodite

The Moon has Set ...

Hail, Gentle Evening, that bringst back ...

That one Seems to Me the Equal of the Gods ...
Hymn to Aphrodite

This is the only complete Sappho poem we have.

Peitho's Web

Sappho (c.600 BCE)

Sappho's Hymn to Aphrodite

The Moon has Set ...

The Divine Sappho, fr. 52

Sappho 'The Moon is Down'

Hail, Gentle Evening, that bringst back ...

The Divine Sappho, fr. 95

Sappho 'Hesperus, You Bring Back Again'

That one Seems to Me the Equal of the Gods ...

The first Web site includes 26 translations of the poem, some of them into languages other than English.

Sappho: Poem of Jealousy

Sappho (c.600 BCE)

Sappho

Sappho and The World of Lesbian Poetry

Isle of Lesbos
The following site has been mentioned above and has a great collection of links to translations of Sappho poetry:

Sappho (c.600 BCE)
5 Catullus

Background:

Catullus

Gaius Valerius Catullus Biography
LI. Ille mi par esse deo videtur ...

XCII, XCIII, XCIV

LXXIV. Gellius audierat, partuum obiurgare solere ...

II. Passer, deliciae meae puellae ...

CI. Mulatas per gentes et multa per aequora vectus ...

XIII. Cenabis bene, mi Fabulle apud me ...
LI. Ille mi par esse deo videtur ...

This poem is a translation of Sappho's "That one Seems to me the Equal of the Gods ... ".

Catullus, Gaius Valerius. The Poetry of Catullus. Translated by C. H. Sisson. New York, NY: Orion Press, 1967.

Buy at Amazon ———. 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

Buy at Amazon Catullus, Gaius Valerius. 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.

———. Carmina. Translated by Barriss Mills. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Studies, 1965.

LXXIV. Gellius audierat, partuum obiurgare solere...

Catullus, Gaius Valerius. The Poetry of Catullus. Translated by C. H. Sisson. New York, NY: Orion Press, 1967.

———. Carmina. Translated by Barriss Mills. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Studies, 1965.

———. The Poems of Catullus. Translated by Horace Gregory. New York, NY: Covici-Friede, 1931.

II. Passer, deliciae meae puellae ...

Catullus, Gaius Valerius. The Poetry of Catullus. Translated by C. H. Sisson. New York, NY: Orion Press, 1967.

———. The Complete Poetry. Translated and Introduced by Frank O. Copley. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1957.

———. The Poems of Catullus. Translated by Horace Gregory. New York, NY: Covici-Friede, 1931.

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.

Buy at Amazon ———. Catullus. Edited, Translated, Introduced, and Notes by G. P. Goold. London, UK: Duckworth, 1983. ISBN: 9780715614358.

XIII. Cenabis bene, mi Fabulle apud me ...

Catullus, Gaius Valerius. The Poems of Catullus. Translated by Horace Gregory. New York, NY: Covici-Friede, 1931.

Buy at Amazon ———. Catullus. Edited, Translated, Introduced, and Notes by G. P. Goold. London, UK: Duckworth, 1983. ISBN: 9780715614358.

———. The Poetry of Catullus. Translated by C. H. Sisson. New York, NY: Orion Press, 1967.
Complete collection of Catullus poems, each with an English translation:

Complete list of the poems of Catullus

A Variety of Catullus Resources:

Gaius Valerius Catullus
6

Translating Asian Poetry

Students read the following chapters from Buy at Amazon The poem behind the poem: translating Asian poetry. Edited by Frank Stewart. Port Townsend, WA: Copper Canyon Press, 2004. ISBN: 9781556592003

The Chinese Poem: The Visible and the Invisible in Chinese Poetry, by
Michelle Yeh

Forms Transformed: Japanese Verse in English Translation, by Hiroaki Sato

Midwifing the Underpoem, by Leza Lowitz

Once More, on the Empty Mountain, by J. P. Seaton

The Poem Behind the Poem: Literary Translation as American Poetry, by Tony
Barnstone

A Poem Should Mean and Be: Remarks on the Translation of
Japanese Poetry
, by William I. Elliott

Sustenance: A Life in Translation, by Sam Hamill

Haiku

Rather than comparing a large number of haikus translations, the class read a variety of haikus from different eras, both from Japan and other countries.

Background:

Haiku

Error Message Haikus

Classic Japanese Haiku

Miscellaneous

Modern Japanese Haiku

Modern International Haiku

Error Message Haikus

These haikus illustrate the kinds of stereotypes Americans have about the haiku form.

Haiku Error Messages

Classic Japanese Haiku

Buy at Amazon 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

Buy at Amazon 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.

Buy at Amazon 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

Buy at Amazon Stryk, Lucien, tr. Cage of Fireflies: Modern Japanese Haiku. Swallow Press, 1993. ISBN: 9780804009775.

Modern International Haiku

Buy at Amazon Kacian, Jim, ed. Pegging The Wind. Winchester, VA: Red Moon Press, 2003, pp. 26, 27, 44, 45, 60, 61, 74, and 75. ISBN: 9781893959323.

Simply Haiku

Haiku for People

Haiku, Haibun, Haiga, Photohaiku, Arthaiku

Robert Hass on Haiku
 
7 Li Bai (Li Po)

Background:

Chinese Poetry

Shi(Poetry)

Li Bai

Du Fu

Background:

Du Fu
Li Bai (Li Po)

Sitting Alone on Chingting Mountain

Amusing Myself

Hearing a Monk of Shu Play the Lute

Du Fu

Spring Prospect

Night at the Tower

Staying Overnight at the Chancellery in Spring
Li Bai (Li Po)

Sitting Alone on Chingting Mountain

Buy at Amazon 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.

Buy at Amazon 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

Buy at Amazon Whincup, Greg, comp. The Heart of Chinese Poetry. New York, NY: Anchor Press, 1987. ISBN: 9780385239677.

Buy at Amazon Liu, Wu-Chi, and Irving Yucheng Lo, eds. Sunflower Splendor: Three Thousand Years of Chinese Poetry. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1990. ISBN: 9780253355805.

Hearing a Monk of Shu Play the Lute

Buy at Amazon Whincup, Greg, comp. The Heart of Chinese Poetry. New York, NY: Anchor Press, 1987. ISBN: 9780385239677.

Buy at Amazon Liu, Wu-Chi, and Irving Yucheng Lo, eds. Sunflower Splendor: Three Thousand Years of Chinese Poetry. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1990. ISBN: 9780253355805.

Du Fu

Spring Prospect

Buy at Amazon Whincup, Greg, comp. The Heart of Chinese Poetry. New York, NY: Anchor Press, 1987. ISBN: 9780385239677.

Buy at Amazon Liu, Wu-Chi, and Irving Yucheng Lo, eds. Sunflower Splendor: Three Thousand Years of Chinese Poetry. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1990. ISBN: 9780253355805.

Night at the Tower

Buy at Amazon 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

Buy at Amazon Whincup, Greg, comp. The Heart of Chinese Poetry. New York, NY: Anchor Press, 1987. ISBN: 9780385239677.

Buy at Amazon 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.
Du Fu Index

Li Bai Index

[504] About Tu Fu
8 Old and Middle English

Background:

Old English language

Middle English

Anonymous (Middle English)

Background:

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Buy at Amazon Merwin, W. S., tr. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A New Verse Translation. 1st ed. Knopf, 2002. ISBN: 9780375414763.

Buy at Amazon Stone, Brian, tr. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin Books, 1959. ISBN: 9780140440928. Lines read: 1-55, 1181-1240, 2265-2326.
Language:

Middle English Dictionary

Literature:

Anthology of Middle English Literature (1350-1485)

Anonymous (Middle English)

Full Original Text:

This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Canterbury Tales and Other Poems by Geoffrey Chaucer (PDF - 1.9MB)

Prose Translations:

Sir Gawain and The Green Knight

Representative Poetry Online
9 Geoffrey Chaucer

Background:

Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales
The Canterbury Tales Sections read: The General Prologue through line 42, The Wife of Bath's Prologue, The Cook's Prologue and The Cook's Tale.
This work should be read in the original, in addition to the translations. For example, the following is a recent edition:

Buy at Amazon Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. Edited, Introduced, and Notes by Jill Mann. London, UK: Penguin Classics, 2005. ISBN: 9780140422344.

Buy at Amazon ———. The Canterbury Tales. Translated into modern English by Nevill Coghill. London, UK: Penguin Classics, 2003. ISBN: 9780140424386.

Buy at Amazon ———. Canterbury Tales. Translated into modern English by J. U. Nicolson. Dover Publications; New Ed edition., 2004. ISBN: 9780486431628.
Audio Recordings:

The Criyng and The Soun

Original Text:

The Canterbury Tales

Geoffrey Chaucer (1342-1440) "The Canterbury Tales"
10 Anonymous (Old English)

Background:

Beowulf
Beowulf Lines read: 1-52, 688-735, 3137-end.

Buy at Amazon Heaney, Seamus, tr. Beowulf: A New Verse Translation. New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 2001. ISBN: 9780393320978.

Buy at Amazon Donoghue, Daniel, ed. Beowulf: A Verse Translation: Authoritative Text, Contexts, Criticism. Translated by Seamus Heaney. New York: W.W. Norton, 2001. ISBN: 9780393975802.

Buy at Amazon M. Anderson, Sarah. Beowulf. Translated by Alan Sullivan and Timothy Murphy. New York, NY: Pearson/Longman, 2004. ISBN: 9780321107206.

Buy at Amazon F. Huppé, Bernard, tr. Beowulf, a New Translation. Binghamton, NY: Longman, 2004. ISBN: 9780321107206.

Copy of the original Beowulf text.

Audio recordings of the Old English version of Beowulf.

University of Virginia audio recordings of Beowulf in Old English.

Recording of Seamus Heaney reading excerpts from his translation of Beowulf.

11

Rumi

Background:

Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi

Sufism

Ghazal

Omar Khayyám

The class read selections from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyám.

Background:

Omar Khayyám

Rubaiyat

Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyám

Rumi

Ghazal 1919 (This is Love ...)

A Thief in the Night/And He is With Us

Ghazal 116

Omar Khayyám

Selected Rubaiyat

Rumi

Ghazal 1919 (This is Love ...)

Rumi: A Translation in Comparison

Jalūl ad-Din Rūumi,Buy at Amazon 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

Divani Shamsi Tabriz

Jalūl ad-Din Rūumi,Buy at Amazon Maulana. Love is a Stranger: Selected Lyric Poetry of Jelaluddin Rumi. Translated by Kabir Edmund Helminski. Putney, VT: Threshold Books, c1993. ISBN: 9780939660322.

Ghazal 116

Rumi 116

Jalūl ad-Din Rūumi,Buy at Amazon Maulana. Love is a Stranger: Selected Lyric Poetry of Jelaluddin Rumi. Translated by Kabir Edmund Helminski. Putney, VT: Threshold Books, c1993. ISBN: 9780939660322.

Omar Khayyám

The Rubaiyat are numbered differently in different translations, so the numbers of the Rubaiyat read are given separately for each translation under the citation.

Fitzgerald's translation, second edition:

623. Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam of Naishapur - Rubaiyat Number: 1, 12, 19, 58, and 72.

Fitzgerald's translation, fifth edition (first also available here):

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayam - Rubaiyat Number: 1, 12, 19, 58, and 72.

Medieval Sourcebook: Omar Khayyam (d. 1123 CE): The Rubaiyat, c. 1120 - Rubaiyat Number: 452, 104, and 284.

[750] The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

A number of translations of the Rubaiyat numbered 12 by Fitzgerald, all of which are to be read.

Khayyam, Omar. Omar Khayyám, 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.

Rumi

Love Poems of Rumi

A Tribute to Molana Jalal-e-Din Mohammad Molavi Rumi

Rumi

Recordings:

Ghazals from Diwan of Shems

Omar Khayyám

The Keeper: The Legend of Omar Khayyam

12

Selected Papiamento (language) poets

Selected Afrikaans (Language) poets


Selected Swahili (Language) poets

Papiamento Poets

Gladys do Rego-Kuster

Imelda Valerianus-Fermina

Belen Kock-Marchena

Afrikaans Poets
Antjie Krog


Swahili Poets

Traditional (Anonymous)

Papiamento Poems

Buy at Amazon Creation fire: a CAFRA Anthology of Caribbean Women's Poetry. Edited by Ramabai Espinet. Toronto, Canada: Sister Vision, 1991. ISBN: 9780920813027.

Gladys do Rego-Kuster, "Poem"

Imelda Valerianus-Fermina, "Muhe" ("Woman")

Belen Kock-Marchena, "Poem"

Afrikaans Poems

Antjie Krog, "Neither Family Nor Friends"


Antjie Krog,
"My Words of Love Grow More Tenuous than the Sound of Lilac"

Swahili Poems
Anonymous,
The Swahili Coast

Background:

Papiamento

Afrikaans Language

Afrikaans Translation



Swahili Language

Swahili Poetry
13


Student Presentations

Student Presentations

Student Presentations Student Presentations