Jade: Translating Poetry

Last class I picked up the winter 2011-12 publication of Ploughshares specifically because it included an archived interview with Elizabeth Bishop. While I have read hardly any of her work, her villanelle "One Art" really struck me when I encountered it in my senior year English classes. In the interview, I was surprised to find out that on occasion she would translate Spanish poetry into English. Coincidentally, a week ago I finished a short book by Eliot Weinberger which catalogued nineteen different ways one ancient Chinese poem has been translated. The take away from Weinberger's analysis: translating poetry is almost impossible because across languages the standards of meter, rhyme, and even visual aesthetic are so different. In Chinese, for instance, the number of characters per line are traditionally the same, giving the poem a very balanced appearance and even pace. This distinct style is impossible to replicate in any western language. Thus, a translator must be a wizard in order to not only understand the poem through the correct historical lens and translate its meaning, but also replicate that same first impression. Needless to say, the fact that Bishop's few translations, particularly of Octavio Paz, are well respected, I consider her an incredibly capable poet who knows language and its sensitivities.