Poetry, in all its forms, is a kind of magic here on Earth. Yet, our exposure to poetry is often determined by our mother tongues. Anglophone students may study Shakespeare, Warsan Shire, or Margaret Atwood, but it is less likely that they will encounter Robert Bolaño, Olúyẹ́misí Adébọ̀wálé, or Mahmoud Darwish. Francophone students may be taught to recite Baudelaire and Aimé Césaire, but not Hafez, Celerina Patricia Sánchez Santiago, or Maningning Miclat.
We can, and should, try to learn languages beyond our mother tongue(s), but this can take years! In the meantime, if you are looking to expand your literary horizons, we have a few suggestions for accessing poetry in translation:
The Modern Poetry in Translation journal (mpT) publishes three issues annually, filled with outstanding poems, articles, interviews, and translation notes. This journal will give prospective university students insight into transnational academic discussions surrounding literatures and languages today. The issues are organised thematically, so there is undoubtedly something to interest everyone!
If you want to travel around the digital world in eighty (or more) poems, you can find a fantastic website here. The website categorises texts based on the language in which they are written and/or authors’ countries of origin, so we suggest mapping out your own literary journeys (since we can’t travel much under covid!) You can also find articles and interviews with poets and translators on the website, as well as audio recordings of poems if you prefer listening and reading at the same time.
Budding historians or classicists may like to delve into some older poetry. This has its benefits; after all, translators have had far more time to work and rework versions of ancient texts, so there are various translations available, each with its own style. For example, if you want to read Homer’s works but haven’t got your head around ancient Greek just yet, you could turn to Richmond Lattimore’s hexametric translation of the Odyssey or to Brandon Bourgeois’ hip-hop audiobook translation of the Iliad (The ‘Trilliad’). We also recommend Amir Ali Siassi’s excellent book of Hakim Omar Khayyam’s poetry, as well as Leonard Ng’s translations of Yu Xuanji.
Happy reading!
