Hi, Julie—
I really enjoyed this sonnet. Your translation is precise and manages to capture the energy of the original. Like Carl, I admire “ostinato-singing light” as an imaginative rendering. “Zing” is a precise onomatopoeia reproducing the raspy sound that cicadas make.
Several classical writers refer to the cicadas as singing in the heat of the day, and most of them find the song of the cicada pleasant—Vergil being the exception. In Eclogue II he describes them as raucis . . .cicadis. In the Georgics, as Carl noted, they are called querulae. . . cicadae. Many myths, however, link cicadas with the Muses and music.
Very enjoyable! Fine work, Julie.
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