So this spring — to my great excitement and gratitude — I’ve been allowed to sit in on a graduate seminar on translation theory and practice. (EEEEE!) For this week, as a practical exercise, we were to translate a brief Spanish-language poem (actually, a single stanza from a much longer Spanish poem) into English or … Read more
In 1828, the great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin wrote a short, lighthearted love poem to Anna Olenina, a girl he was pursuing at the time. Almost two hundred years later, that small poem is one of Pushkin’s most well-known and beloved verses. It also has a reputation for causing a particular conundrum for English translations. … Read more
I promised Facebook I would, and so it is done! Presenting a Russian-to-English translation of this brief but beautiful poem by famed Silver Age poet Marina Tsvetaeva: You can listen to a nice reading of it here. I loved this poem as soon as I saw the word рябина (ryabina) — rowan. Besides the Siberian birch, which … Read more
Ever had feelings for someone, and you just couldn’t work up the nerve to tell them? Or worse, you tried to hide that you liked them at all? Today’s poem, written by the 19th-century Russian poet Afanasy Fet, expresses that feeling with poignant simplicity and elegance. I tried to preserve as much of that tone as … Read more
It’s November, and I’m in the mood for something depressing! Today’s poem comes to you from 2016, by way of the 100 Themes Challenge I have yet to finish. The prompt for this one was — BREATHE — which, as it turns out, has little to do with the final result … but hey, a … Read more