I’ve been thinking about my favorite poets and realized that every one of them initially wrote their poetry in their native language. That means they didn’t write in English. What happens to a poem when it is translated into another language? Poetry is a very sensitive form. My experience of these texts must be different than the experience of a native speaker. What do you think?
Tag: Poetry
Reading Pablo Neruda
The imagery in this poem comes through my perception in the exact same manner as I experience my night-dreams.
It’s wonderful how writers leave their readers affected in completely different and unique ways.
Imagery
When a person reads anything, he or she has the opportunity to envision mental pictures of the content as they are guided to understanding through a series of words. Especially in poetry, sensory perceptions triggered by literal description, allusion, simile, or metaphor, among other word manipulations, give the reader a unique experience which he or she couldn’t have had without reading the text.
It’s wonderful what we can experience through words!
Which are more vivid: your dream-world or the worlds which you construct while reading or listening to stories or poems?
ものがたり Translating Horror 