One of my favorite poems of the German language is Bertolt Brecht’s “Erinnerung an die Marie A.” The themes of youthful love, impermanence, and fading memory stuck with me the first time I read it, and the poem continues to give me a wistful feeling each time I reread. Perhaps someday I’ll attempt to give it … Read more
Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent! (In the Western churches, that is!) Now begins the season of penance — of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. This Lent, I’m doing a few personal penances, including a fast from Facebook (so you won’t see me there, except perhaps for a Sunday post-share). On top of … Read more
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