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The original has an ABAB rhyme scheme. Interestingly both translations have tried to retain one of the rhyming pairs, but they chose different lines. In one we
by kybernetikos 3y ago
The original has an ABAB rhyme scheme. Interestingly both translations have tried to retain one of the rhyming pairs, but they chose different lines. In one we have feign/pain (ABAC) and in the other we have act/fact (ABCB).
Given how difficult translating poetry is, I think the Edouard Roditi translation (feign/pain) is really good (he even manages to rhyme two words that rhyme in the original and get the number of syllables close to the same), but the Richard Zenith translation (act/fact) has so much more energy.
- sasaf5 3y agoAnd of course, both translations have to do without the "fingidor/finge dor" wordplay.
- sasaf5 3y agoWhy not: The poet is a man who feigns Who's so good at his act He manages to feign as pain The pain he feels in fact.
- jorl17 3y agoI always feel that the original has a very implied period at the end of the first verse. My attempts: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37629946 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37629946