Quote:
Originally Posted by W T Clark
Just look at the invisible connection: the implicit links and logic of association employed in the opening of Merwin's translation of "Black Earth". In some sense, that is very faithful
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I’ve finally had time to look this over and agree that in many ways it’s a fine translation, worth studying. The opening is a reimagining—more in Roger’s line (and yours?). In the first three lines, I count four words left over from the original: “blackened,” “mane,” “air” and “choir.” (It’s actually “withers,” not “mane,” but that’s close enough.) The rest of the translation is accurate, but I’m open to the idea that the reimagined lines are more in the spirit of the original than Robert Tracy’s more accurate rendering (without “withers,” though):
All praised, all black, all cosseted and coddled,
All open air and watchfulness, all ranged in tiny hills,
All pulled apart, all organized in chorus—
I don’t have the ambition or the talent to reimagine Russian poets, though of course all translators do it to one degree or another. If I’m influenced to drift a little more in that direction, I’ll go with it.