[Chris Childers]

There you have it, sinner friends! Twelve translations, no more, no less, because whether or not I managed to choose the twelve BEST (probably not), at the outset I decided to forbid myself any fudging, hedging or waffling. Hope you've enjoyed them. You may vote for your top 3 through tomorrow (Friday) night and I will announce Rachel's winners and your winners when I wake up on Saturday, as well as reveal the identities of our translators. Here, in easy summary form, is the list of poems:

1. Cuckoo or Swallow, Gustaf Froding
2. Meriggiare pallido e assorto, Eugenio Montale
3. "Love and the open heart are always one," Dante Alighieri
4. Mystical Longing, Goethe
5. Various Effects of Love, Lope de Vega
6. November, Giovanni Pascoli
7. Dragon Tale, József Romhányi
8. Ballade of the Old Procuress to the Working Girls, François Villon
9. Ode to Bacchus, Horace
10. The Ruin, The Exeter Book
11. Life is a Dream, Calderon
12. Psalm 8, David

I'll kick off the voting with my top 3:
1. Calderon
2. Villon
3. Pascoli

& one more thing: the culture of GUESSING has disappeared a bit from recent bake-offs. If you know whose a translation is, don't spoil other people's fun, but if you have a GUESS, have at it! (Though preferably on the original thread.)

Chris

[Catherine Chandler]

There was never any doubt in my mind about my #1 choice.

1) Pascoli
2) Calderon
3) Villon

Knowing the time and energy involved in hosting a bake-off, I can only add my sincere thanks to Chris and Rachel for this event. So many excellent translations!

My only itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny disappointment was that no woman poet was represented in the final 12.


Bravo to all finalists!

[R. Nemo Hill]

1. Calderon
2. Villon
3. Exeter

[David Rosenthal]

1. Calderon
2. Pascoli
3. Froding

[Allen Tice]

(1) Pascoli                          (200 proof clarity)
(2) The Exeter Book            (nearly perfect)
(3) Calderon                       (a whirlwind)
==============
(4) Horace 2.19                   (wonderful in parts)
(5) Francois Villon                (has some wicked competition out there)

I guess Psalm 8 to be by Alan Sullivan

[Maryann Corbett]

1. Pascoli. (If you'd let us, I'd vote for this more than once!)
2. Villon
3. Dante

[Tim Murphy]

Much though we wish it were otherwise, not much of our work will ever be deemed to play in this league, and many of these translations are very distinguished. Establishment of our translation board was the best suggestion I ever made to Alex. Translation as Rachel said is a great place for an accomplished poet to recharge the batteries, for a beginning poet to overcome fixation with finding a "voice." I was reduced to printing these out and throwing them up a stair case. The poems landing highest were in this order:
Calderon
Froding
Dante

Warmest congratulations to all, and thanks to all for your helpful comments.

[Mary Meriam]

As poems, since I'm not a translator:

1. Froding
2. The Exeter Book
3. Calderon

[Gregory Dowling]

Calderon
Dante
Lope de Vega

(But tomorrow my number 3 could be Exeter or Villon.)

[Mark Allinson]

1: Pascoli

2: Calderón

3: Fröding