Modern Poetry in Translation

Polyphony, Series 3 No.14

By David Constantine, Helen Constantine

'Polyphony' deals with the different voices of poetic translation: the local, the foreign, the native, the acquired – and the strange hybrids that come into being when the language of home is crossed with that of abroad. This issue of Modern Poetry in Translation is an anthology in celebration of variety, without ever suppressing tones, dialects and utterances it might disturb us to hear. 'Polyphony' includes a new translation of Pushkin’s Yevgeni Onegin by D.M. Thomas, along with translations of Valéry Larbaud, Eugene Dubnov, Dorothea Grünzweig. There are also translations out of English: William Blake into Russian, Gerard Manley Hopkins into German, plus a feature on Daniel Huw’s Memories of Ted Hughes 1952-1963 (Five Leaves, 2010), and an essay that delves into the Voices of Poetry, those very voices that make poetry such a vital, vibrant and unique experience for all concerned.

Read a review of Polyphony by Lesley McDowell in the Independent on 28 November 2010.

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In Polyphony

Poetry and Features

Editorial David and Helen Constantine

Tony Baker, ‘Government by Unparliament’: some drifts for catching about polyphony

Gerard Manley Hopkins, Dorothea Grünzweig, Derk Wynand: three voices (German)

Régis Bonvicino and Antônio Moura, variations on Pound’s ‘In a Station of the Metro’, translated by Stefan Tobler (from Portuguese)

Reza Baraheni, ‘Daf’, translated by Stephen Watts with the author from Farsi

W. D. Jackson, German children’s rhymes

Salman Masalha, ‘The Song’, translated by Vivian Eden with the author from Hebrew

John Greening, after Akhenaten’s ‘Hymn to the Sun’ from Ancient Egyptian

Han Dong, two poems, translated by Nicky Harman from Chinese

Luis Amorim de Sousa, ‘Bellini and Pablo as well’, translated by Anthony Rudolf with the author from Portuguese

Nasos Vayenas, five poems, translated by Richard Berengarten and Paschalis Nikolaou from Modern Greek

Vyacheslav Kuprianov ‘Song of Odysseus’, translated by Dasha C. Nisula from Russian

Joan Ariete, two poems, translated from the Kapampangan by Shon Arieh-Lerer and the author

Robert Hull, A Lancashire Jorge Luis Borges from Spanish (Argentina)

Itzik Manger’s ‘Amon un Tamar’ and Heinrich Heine’s ‘Die Liebe begann im Monat März…’, translated by Murray Citron from Yiddish and German

Valéry Larbaud, ‘Scenes’, translated by Padraig Rooney from French

Eugene Dubnov, two poems, translated by Anne Stevenson with the author from Russian

Grete Tartler, two poems, translated by Adam Sorkin from Romanian

Bohdan Ihor Antonych, two poems, translated by Steve Komarnyckyj from Ukranian

Paul Celan, two poems, translated by Alfred Corn from German

Wiliguru Pambardu and Parraruru, four poems, translated from the Yindjibarndi by Shon Arieh-Lerer

Sasha Dugdale, ‘William Blake in Russia’

Pushkin, from Yevgeni Onegin, translated by D.M.Thomas from Russian

Denisa Comănescu, ‘Return from Exile’, translated by Adam Sorkin from Romanian

Lowri Gwilym, ‘Returning’, translated by Damian Walford Davies from Welsh

Poems by Chabuca Granda and Javier Heraud, translated by Timothy Allen from Spanish (Peru)

Tal Nitzan, ‘Behind the eyelids’, translated by Vivian Eden  from Hebrew

Sirkka Turkka, three poems, translated by Emily Jeremiah (with Fleur Jeremiah) from Finnish

Surjit Patar, ‘The Magician of Words’, translated by Amarjit Chandan from Punjabi

Reesom Haile, three poems, translated by Charles Cantalupo from Tigrinua

Naomi Jaffa: ‘Aldeburgh 2010: the ultimate polyphonic poetry experience’, with poems by Lars Gustafsson and Toon Tellegen from Swedish and Dutch

Reviews

Karen McCarthy on Chris Daniels’s Pessoa

Cecilia Rossi on Translating Selves

David Constantine, notes on three books

Saradha Soobrayen Further Reviews