In 1968 the Sunday Times ran a competition to translate a poem by Baudelaire ("Je suis comme le roi d'un pays pluvieux") into English. The poet Nicholas Moore

In 1968 the Sunday Times ran a competition to translate a poem by Baudelaire ("Je suis comme le roi d'un pays pluvieux") into English. The poet Nicholas Moore read about the competition and, apparently angered by the fruitlessness of the task, entered it 31 separate times with 31 different poems, many submitted pseudonymously and in the styles of other poets. One of them even begins "I'm like the Winner of the Competition / the one who wrote the strong, rewarding phrase..." None of his entries won, but his anger ("All I have against translation is that it can't be done!") carried him a surprisingly long way. You can read his entries (and the original) here http://www.ubu.com/ubu/pdf/moore_spleen.pdf http://www.ubu.com/ubu/pdf/moore_spleen.pdf