🧭 A Different Kind of Terrain
Poetry is where translation sheds its technical skin and becomes something else. Not looser. Not freer. Just more layered, more sacred. The rules bend, but the responsibility deepens.
This is not where you begin your career for volume or speed. This is where you go to test your language instinct, your patience, your humility.
⚙️ Two Fields of Work: Craft and Intuition
The Craft Side:
- Study the poet’s life and literary context
- Analyze structure, rhyme, rhythm, and meter
- Understand the tone, movement, and era
- Translate from the page, but with trained eyes
The Intuitive Side:
- Feel the breath between the lines
- Hear the music beneath the syntax
- Let imagery, ambiguity, and silence live in the new version
🎯 You don’t copy a poem. You relight it.
🎭 Your Role Is Not Ownership. It’s Stewardship.
A good poetry translation doesn’t shout. It listens. You’re not the new author—you’re the one keeping the original flame alive in a different room.
Avoid over-embellishing. Avoid stripping the soul out, too. You’re walking a tightrope between meaning and mystery.
💡 Helpful Practices for Literary Translators
- Read both versions aloud – Is the music still there?
- Don’t peek at other translations first – Let your instincts speak before your research refines.
- Be willing to start over – Some pieces demand multiple drafts.
- Compare your work only after it’s complete – Study what others did once you’ve stood on your own.
🧘 Mentoring Prompts
- What kind of poetic voice resonates with you—and why?
- How do you balance personal expression with professional restraint in your translations?
- Are you willing to translate without a clear map, trusting that rhythm and instinct will lead you forward?
✨ Final Note from Romina
Poetry isn’t something you master. It’s something you apprentice yourself to. If you feel pulled toward it, that feeling alone matters. Start small. Start with reverence. And remember—you’re not recreating the poem. You’re letting it speak again, in a new language, through you.
