More on Translation (Shakespeare, Sonnet 60)
Las olas huyen.
El Tiempo todo arrasa.
Mi verso queda.
The waves are rolling
As Time destroys all.
My haiku for you remains.
I’m particularly proud of this one. I took a class on translation that included poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. There was no exam but a portfolio with every torture we could possibly inflict on Shakespeare’s Sonnet 60. I did what was required (rhymed translation, literal translation, comparing my own with a published one, and so on). And then I wrote a haiku, my first one in Spanish.
I thought it was fitting. Shakespeare and a handful others were twisting an Italian form for their purposes, messing with the original rhyme scheme, classic topics, and English syntax. Then I go and steal a Japanese form and Shakespeare’s ideas. Who was it that said that every poet is a thief?
El Tiempo todo arrasa.
Mi verso queda.
The waves are rolling
As Time destroys all.
My haiku for you remains.
I’m particularly proud of this one. I took a class on translation that included poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. There was no exam but a portfolio with every torture we could possibly inflict on Shakespeare’s Sonnet 60. I did what was required (rhymed translation, literal translation, comparing my own with a published one, and so on). And then I wrote a haiku, my first one in Spanish.
I thought it was fitting. Shakespeare and a handful others were twisting an Italian form for their purposes, messing with the original rhyme scheme, classic topics, and English syntax. Then I go and steal a Japanese form and Shakespeare’s ideas. Who was it that said that every poet is a thief?