Quote:
Originally Posted by melliedee
No, you are right about that. I was just thinking of older uses of couplets outside of the western tradition, like the Ghazal.
It's such an interesting subject, translation, because it's really its own kind of creativity. I love different versions of Baudelaire as well as some of my favorite Polish poets. Some of the differences are merely style choices, and others drastically change the form and meaning of a poem.
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You are very right. In my limited exposure to Asian poetry I have found the structure often is as important as content in conveying the meaning of the words. Less is more seems to be the key.
BTW on a seperate topic...as you like the Beat poets I was wondering if you know of a poem by Kenneth Patchen I've been trying to locate. I don't know the name (yeah, I know that helps a lot
) but it is about (if I remember correctly) the need for connection to save the universal light. Something like: "if we were all seperate the light would fail". It was published on the inside of the back cover of the Last Whole Earth Catalog (1971) and I have not been able to find it since (my copy of the catalog being buried in storage in San Francisco along with my Zap Comics and copies of the Berkley Barb
). Can't find it on the net. Ring any bells?
Papa T