Stephen Spender Prize 2009

for poetry in translation

Stephen Spender Prize 2009 for poetry in translation

Winner of the Winners of the Winners of the 14-and-under prize 18-and-under category Open category

Johanna Reimann- First First Dubbers Naomi Ackerman Paul Batchelor ‘The Cricket from The Iliad, Book 24, ‘The Damned’ and the Ant’ by Homer from Inferno, Canto V, by La Fontaine (Ancient Greek) by Dante Alighieri (French) (Italian)

Second Second Clara Yick Kay Fung Michael Swan ‘Phoenix Hairpin’ ‘God, My Good by Lu You Neighbour’ (Classical Chinese) by Rainer Maria Rilke (German)

Third Third Jennifer Cearns Jane Tozer ‘Dead in the Water’ ‘Leper’ from Tristran by Georg Heym by Béroul (German) (Medieval French)

Commended Commended Commended

Maddy Cummins Claire Ewbank A. C. Clarke ‘Atalanta’ ‘The Rats’ ‘The Double Room’ by Ovid by Georg Trakl by Charles Baudelaire (Latin) (German) (French)

Charlie Dowding Nadan Hadzic Timothy Taylor ‘The Miracles of Our Lady’ ‘Sarajevo’s Prayer’ ‘Corpse Washing’ by Gonzalo de Berceo by Abdulah Sidran by Rainer Maria Rilke (Spanish) (Bosnian) (German)

Marwin Kalo Christina Macsween John Turner ‘The Aral Sea’ from Metamorphoses XII ‘Sonnet for Autumn’ by Raim Farkhadi by Ovid by Sully Prudhomme (Russian) (Latin) (French)

Robert Longman Caitlin Spencer Stefanie Van de Peer ‘If My Voice Dies on Land’ Amores 1.12 ‘Psalm’ by Rafael Alberti by Ovid by Herman de Coninck (Spanish) (Latin) (Flemish)

William Yates Saskia Volhard Dearman Mary Weatherburn ‘The Horse and the Wolf’ ‘Ode to Coastal Flowers’ ‘A Small Garden’ by La Fontaine by Pablo Neruda by Rin Ishigaki (French) (Spanish) (Japanese)

Introduction

Once again, over 40 languages were represented, the new and good humour; to Erica Wagner, Literary Editor of boys on the block this year being Akkadian and Nepali. The Times, for not only publicising the prize in the Books There are no prizes for guessing that French, Spanish and section but also continuing to give work experience to some German (in that order) dominated but we were pleasantly of the eighteen-year-old winners (a more enduring reward, surprised by the number of entries from Portuguese this year I suspect, than the cash prizes they are given); and to Mrs and by the unprecedented volume of entries in the 14-and- Drue Heinz, whose Hawthornden Castle has for the fourth under category. If the judges’ enthusiasm faltered after the time hosted a gathering of Spender Prize-winning translators eleventh version of the same La Fontaine fable, they gave no – it is fitting that Jane Tozer’s rollicking translation of sign of it – and it was very interesting to see how different Tristran, an extract from which won third prize in the Open those versions could be. All the winning entries from this category, began life there. and past years, as well as the commended entries from The final vote of thanks goes, as always, to our sponsors. 2008 and 2009, can be read on the Trust’s website at www. The Eranda Foundation has been a generous supporter of stephen-spender.org the Trust and its work and we are indebted to it. My thanks to judges Susan Bassnett, Edith Hall, Karen Leeder and George Szirtes, who considered every entry Robina Pelham Burn before debating the shortlist with an abundance of wisdom Director of the Stephen Spender Memorial Trust

Judges’ comments

Judging this prize is a in which the translator has managed to and syntax it becomes impossible to great challenge and also find superb solutions to a deceptively understand a poem, let alone translate a great pleasure. There simple poem full of complex layers of it. Many of the young translators was a wide range of meaning and formal devices. openly admitted in their commentaries poems submitted this The commentaries are an important that they were at sea with the poems year, in ancient and aspect of this prize, shedding light they had chosen, even though they modern languages, some very well on the strategies employed by the enjoyed the struggle. known, others translated for the first translator and often reflecting the In contrast to previous years, a great time. As judges, we have the difficult reasons for choosing a particular poet many entries used rhymed verse forms. task of narrowing down the entries to a or poem. This year a lot of entrants Sometimes it was used brilliantly, but short list; this year we all agreed before stressed how much they had enjoyed sometimes it descended into doggerel. we came together on the winning the process and also how much they Rhyme in English is very tricky, entry for the 14-and-under category, felt they had learned, which is, after because it can seem deceptively easy a charming rendering of a well known all, what the prize was established to but actually requires great skill and a poem by La Fontaine, and on the achieve. Interestingly, there were some lot of practice. The extent of the use winner of the Open category, a fresh, very thoughtful commentaries about of rhyme raised the question of how new version of Francesca’s address rather weak poems, though it was much contemporary poetry some of to Dante when he meets her on his wonderful to note how many times the translators are reading. The best journey through Hell. translators said they felt ‘passionate’ advice I was ever given about writing But although we reached consensus about the poem they had chosen. and translating was to read, and read on those poems and on our final list, As in previous years, there were and read, advice that I pass on to my we had some lively discussion about some splendid translations of classical students. The more one reads, the many of the other entries, and, as is to poetry, which again reflects the high more one opens doors to possibilities be expected, sometimes we had to agree quality of teaching in this field. Sadly, for one’s own writing. to disagree. One poem I particularly and no doubt a reflection of the decline I learned a great deal from reading liked was a translation by Marwin of modern language learning in schools, these poems, and have noted several Kalo of one of his grandfather’s poems a low level of linguistic competence was poets whose work I now intend to about the Aral Sea, which we all apparent in some poems. I would not seek out. Reading the entries has also agreed merited a commendation. I also want to impose on today’s pupils the raised some interesting questions: why admired Richard Harris’ translation of rote learning of irregular verbs that my do some great poets fail to come across St John of the Cross’s ‘Verses Written generation was forced to undergo, but in another language, why have certain in Ecstasy from Deep Contemplation’, without some knowledge of grammar writers such as Baudelaire become

Judges’ comments

unfashionable to a degree that they that the opening stanza of the prize- This year, remarkably, are almost untranslatable, why does winning translation had stuck in my there was a large degree surrealist poetry read so awkwardly in memory. of immediate unanimity much English translation, what intrinsic Despite the prize going this year among the judges. In the qualities in a poem enable a translator to a translator of one of the world’s 14-and-under category to bring it back to life hundreds, if acknowledged greats, I would still we were delighted to not thousands, of years after it was encourage entrants to consider less well see a larger entry than ever before and composed? Perhaps the simple answer known works, and to use the required arrived quickly at our winner: Johanna to such questions is that what makes commentary in order to explain their Reimann-Dubbers’ translation from a poem translatable ultimately is the significance to the judges. There were French of ‘The Cricket and the Ant’ skill of the translator, its re-creator, almost too many versions of works by La Fontaine. It is tricky to catch the person, young or old, who can by some poets, especially in French the playful tone of these fables, and in excite, move or entertain a new world (all that Baudelaire!), and it would be keeping the lines taut and the rhyme of readers. This prize demonstrates wonderful to see more attempts to scheme buoyant, without being over annually how many people are capable translate from, for example, African- obtrusive, Johanna arrived at some of doing just that. language poets or modern Greek: there wonderfully poised solutions. Her Susan Bassnett was not a Cavafy in sight. concluding couplet, ‘I sang whenever When it came to translations from I had the chance.’ / ‘You sang did you? As a first-timer on the Latin and Greek in the adult category, That’s nice. Now dance.’ was one of judges’ panel I was I was just a little disappointed. The my favorites in the competition as a delighted to be taken suave, upwardly mobile Horace whole. I was particularly struck by on a roller-coaster was an unlikely choice for someone Robert Longman’s beautifully simple through poetry from wanting to write in the idiom of rendering from Spanish of ‘If My Japan to Mexico, Eminem. The lyrics of Sappho and Voice Dies on Land’, and his modest Chile to the Caspian Sea, and metres the theatre verse of Aeschylus are commentary gave a good insight into from the classical elegiac to the most two of the most difficult types of the real work, as well as the enjoyment, avant-garde free verse forms. In the poetry in literary history; a rather involved in the process of translation. fascinating commentaries, I learned different challenge is posed by the In the 18-and-under category the about Chinese rhyme conventions, often indigestible hexameters of judges wrestled with a more diverse Polish portmanteau words, and Arabic Hesiod’s Works and Days and the long list of contenders from classical and sibilance. I was reminded of the intense mysterious archaic Battle of the modern languages. As in the 14-and- melancholy of Rilke and the pungency Frogs and Mice. The less recherché under category many had outstanding of Jacques Prévert. I discovered, with authors Homer and Ovid, on the qualities but failed to sustain the tone astonishment, that Leo Tolstoy was other hand, produced some fine work across the poem as a whole or lost beaten by Sully Prudhomme to the in the 15–18 age group. Teenagers grammatical confidence here and there. Nobel Prize for Literature. hear the playfulness of Ovid loud and In Naomi Ackerman’s translation from A huge fan of the Aesopic tradition clear, although are less sensitive to Ancient Greek of an extract from The of animal fables, I loved several of the his sorrowful undercurrents and the Iliad, we found a worthy winner; but versions of La Fontaine found in the lapidary concision of his Amores. It I was very taken by the discipline youngest age group, although the prize- was sensitivity to both tone and metre of Yick Kay Fung’s translation from winning ‘The Cricket and the Ant’ that won the day for the translation Classical Chinese of ‘Phoenix Hairpin’ stood out for its excellent rhyming and of the closing lines of The Iliad. Here by Lu You and Jennifer Cearns’ rich intuitive sense of the sardonic and taut the sombre content – the funeral of translation of the German Expressionist French original. In the adult category, Hector – was beautifully conveyed classic ‘Dead in the Water’ by Georg I was in no doubt that my favourite in the ineluctable roll of the dactylic Heym. Among the commended entries translation, on every criterion, was hexameters, one of the most difficult let me single out Saskia Volhard ‘The Damned’ from Dante’s Inferno, metres for young translators. The Dearman’s translation from Spanish Canto 5; what most impressed me was decision to separate the lines into of ‘Ode to Coastal Flowers’ by Pablo the interplay between the brilliantly groups successfully conveyed the Neruda. Neruda is such a difficult poet chosen restraint of the six-line stanza sequential stages of the funeral. The to translate; the mixture of rhetorical and the accelerating emotional and selection of this passage could scarcely pathos and simplicity sits uneasily in physical contact between the couple have been more ambitious, and yet the English but this version is a spirited suffering punishment for adultery. The power and pathos of the original rings attempt and has some beautiful lines. week after the judges met, I visited through the translation authentically. The lightning as ‘a citric spark’ will Dante’s tomb in Ravenna, and found Edith Hall stay with me for a long time.

Judges’ comments

In the Open category all the judges Never will a writer be not over-prettily by Clara Yick Kay were immediately impressed by Paul read more closely than Fung. The winner thundered up on the Batchelor’s translation from Italian of by his or her translator. inside, a splendidly ambitious Homer Dante’s ‘The Damned’. Last year in my The best translators from The Iliad, the very end of the report I wrote about the importance of seem to have an extra book, by Naomi Ackermann. finding some way to account for the ear – indeed have to The greatest range was, as might be metre and rhyme scheme of the original have an extra ear – for the literary expected, in the Open category where in a translation. However, English dimensions and possibilities of their the shortlist tended to be dominated simply does not rhyme with the same own language. Translation can draw by French and German poets, though facility and unobtrusiveness as many the poet out of someone who may not the winner turned out to be Paul other languages, so it is not often that have realised the poet in themselves. Batchelor’s marvellous new take – not a translation can work with a one-to- The response to poetry is in us all but terza rima – on Dante, via George one correspondence in this regard. Half it takes an extra talent to turn response Herbert’s ‘Easter Wings’. Novelty isn’t rhymes are often a good solution (a to invention, to hear and speak echo in the point. New life is: the way a text glance at good contemporary poetry in a fresh voice. swings into the ear with all the sense English is instructive here) and blank There will always remain the question of discovery. This worked. Some good, verse is a possible option, though the of the faithful translation. The difficulty welcome Dutch too, and a robust, muscularity and musicality of good is deciding what it is one should be brilliantly larky Béroul. Rilke, as ever, blank verse is much harder to achieve faithful to. A poem is a complex whole fascinates and shines through. As did, than many entrants seemed to think. Paul made up of many elements, not one of for me, another original take, this Batchelor’s was a persuasive solution to which has an exact equivalent in another time on Baudelaire’s prose poem, ‘The this problem. In exchanging Dante’s language. Yet we hope for recognition, Double Room’, slapped and tickled terza rima for a form borrowed from for some ideal combination of surface into broad Scots Burns measure by George Herbert’s ‘Easter Wings’ and and depth fidelities. The ideal doesn’t A. C. Clarke, an act of such verve often used in English by Derek Mahon exist. But living translations do: echo on and imagination that it delighted and he showed sympathy with the original echo on echo. moved me. Not orthodox translation, and a good sense of what English can do As a first-time judge of this of course, and maybe a little far out at well. I was also pleased to see two Rilke competition I was immediately struck the edge of the field, but I’d walk there translations make it through to the final by the sheer sophistication and skill of any time. deliberations. Rilke is another poet some of the youngest entries though George Szirtes who can too easily sound overblown there were many variations on a theme or shrill in English on account of his among them. Grasshoppers hopped and intricate rhymes; and Michael Swan ants crawled everywhere in regulation and Timothy Taylor demonstrated very La Fontainean fashion. Some of the well the different routes one can take. translations had real wit and sharpness, Once again I was delighted to discover the winner of the class, Johanna new poets: the Belgian poet Herman Reimann-Dubbers, above all. And de Coninck in Stefanie Van de Peer’s there was much beside La Fontaine subtle translation from Flemish and the from Latin and Spanish and Russian. young Portuguese poet Daniel Jonas in The best had an ambitious period-feel Ana Hudson’s translations, though in verging on pastiche and almost carried the final whittling down I was unable it off, form and all. to persuade my fellow judges. A voice The middle-category of 14–18 was to watch, however. There were also a little disappointing as the judges’ versions of old favorites including A. C. discussion showed. Promise everywhere Clarke’s brilliantly audacious rendering but rather less fulfilment, rather less of ‘The Double Room’ by Baudelaire sheer élan. Rather less bite. One could into Scots (which missed out on a prize be charmed, however, by versions by a whisker) and John Turner’s moody of Ovid (who, like La Fontaine gets version of Prudhomme’s ‘Sonnet for in everywhere) and I personally was Autumn’, which demonstrated the taken by versions of Neruda (by Saskia richness and economy that can make Volhard Dearman), George Heym English truly sing: ‘What the sap has (by Jennifer Cearns) and the classical willed, the sap achieves’. Chinese poet, Lu Yu, whose ‘Phoenix Karen Leeder Hairpin’ was translated gracefully but

Winner of the 14-and-under prize

La Cigale et la Fourmi The Cricket and the Ant

La Cigale, ayant chanté The cricket having sung her song Tout l’été, all summer long Se trouva fort dépourvue found her provisions too few Quand la bise fut venue: when the icy winds blew. Pas un seul petit morceau Nowhere could she spy De mouche ou de vermisseau. a single morsel of worm or fly. Elle alla crier famine Chez la Fourmi sa voisine, Her neighbour, the ant, might, La priant de lui prêter she thought, help her in her plight, Quelque grain pour subsister and so she begged her for a little grain, Jusqu’à la saison nouvelle. promised to repay her when summer came again. ’Je vous paierai,’ lui dit-elle, ‘Avant l’Août, foi d’animal, ‘By next summer I’ll repay you both Intérêt et principal.’ interest and loan; animal’s oath.’ La Fourmi n’est pas prêteuse: C’est là son moindre défaut. Now the ant may have a fault or two ‘Que faisiez-vous au temps chaud?’ But lending is not something she will do. Dit-elle à cette emprunteuse. She asked what the cricket did all summer. ‘– Nuit et jour à tout venant Je chantais, ne vous déplaise.’ ‘By day and night, to any comer ‘– Vous chantiez? J’en suis fort aise. I sang whenever I had the chance.’ Eh bien ! Dansez maintenant.’ ‘You sang, did you? That’s nice. Now dance.’

Jean de la Fontaine Translated from the French by Johanna Reimann-Dubbers

Johanna Reimann-Dubbers’ commentary

This poem caught my eye when I first really did make me think and consider I would not only have to find words that read it because it was an interesting and some things in life. It showed me that there fitted the storyline of the poem, but also flowing poem. I was also very excited at is little more important in this world than words that rhymed in the correct places. the concept of translating it into English, as sharing with others and helping those who The dialogue was also quite challenging I love studying poems in depth. Although are less fortunate than us. in some parts, but once I had the basics of some of the words were hard to translate so The most difficult part of the it sorted out, it flowed quite nicely. that they would fit in with the poem, it was translation was, I think, the ends of the In conclusion, I really did love reading nice to set a challenge for myself. I enjoyed lines that rhymed. As I translated from and translating this poem and it taught reading and thinking about this poem; it French into English, it became clear that me a lot.

Winners of the 18-and-under category

The Funeral of Hector, Horse-tamer, from The Iliad XXIV (lines 782–804)

ὣς ἔφαθ᾽, οἳ δ᾽ ὑπ᾽ ἀμάξῃσιν βόας ἡμιόνους τε ζεύγνυσαν, αἶψα δ᾽ ἔπειτα πρὸ ἄστεος ἠγερέθοντο. ἐννῆμαρ μὲν τοί γε ἀγίνεον ἄσπετον ὕλην: ἀλλ᾽ ὅτε δὴ δεκάτη ἐφάνη φαεσίμβροτος ἠώς, καὶ τότ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ἐξέφερον θρασὺν Ἕκτορα δάκρυ χέοντες, ἐν δὲ πυρῇ ὑπάτῃ νεκρὸν θέσαν, ἐν δ᾽ ἔβαλον πῦρ. ἦμος δ᾽ ἠριγένεια φάνη ῥοδοδάκτυλος Ἠώς, τῆμος ἄρ᾽ ἀμφὶ πυρὴν κλυτοῦ Ἕκτορος ἔγρετο λαός. αὐτὰρ ἐπεί ῥ᾽ ἤγερθεν ὁμηγερέες τ᾽ ἐγένοντο πρῶτον μὲν κατὰ πυρκαϊὴν σβέσαν αἴθοπι οἴνῳ πᾶσαν, ὁπόσσον ἐπέσχε πυρὸς μένος: αὐτὰρ ἔπειτα ὀστέα λευκὰ λέγοντο κασίγνητοί θ᾽ ἕταροί τε μυρόμενοι, θαλερὸν δὲ κατείβετο δάκρυ παρειῶν. καὶ τά γε χρυσείην ἐς λάρνακα θῆκαν ἑλόντες πορφυρέοις πέπλοισι καλύψαντες μαλακοῖσιν. αἶψα δ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ἐς κοίλην κάπετον θέσαν, αὐτὰρ ὕπερθε πυκνοῖσιν λάεσσι κατεστόρεσαν μεγάλοισι: ῥίμφα δὲ σῆμ᾽ ἔχεαν, περὶ δὲ σκοποὶ ἥατο πάντῃ, μὴ πρὶν ἐφορμηθεῖεν ἐϋκνήμιδες Ἀχαιοί. χεύαντες δὲ τὸ σῆμα πάλιν κίον: αὐτὰρ ἔπειτα εὖ συναγειρόμενοι δαίνυντ᾽ ἐρικυδέα δαῖτα δώμασιν ἐν Πριάμοιο διοτρεφέος βασιλῆος. ὣς οἵ γ᾽ ἀμφίεπον τάφον Ἕκτορος ἱπποδάμοιο.

Homer

Winners of the 18-and-under category

The Funeral of Hector, Horse-tamer, from The Iliad XXIV (lines 782–804)

And so he spoke, and they yoked oxen and mules to their wagons, And then they gathered with speed before the city. For nine days indeed they brought a store of wood beyond measure.

But then the tenth light of day appeared, shining on mortals, And shedding tears they carried out courageous Hector And they placed his corpse on the very top of the funeral pyre, and threw fire upon it.

When early-born light of day appeared with rosy fingers, Then the people gathered around the pyre of renowned Hector. And when they gathered together and had assembled First, with gleaming wine they quenched all the funeral-pyre, As much as the force of the fire had taken hold of.

And then his blood relatives and companions picked up the brilliant-white bones, Melting into tears, and copious tears trickled down from their cheeks. And they gathered the bones and placed them in a golden urn Having enveloped them with soft purple woven cloths.

And with speed they placed it in a hollow grave, And they covered it above with great, close-packed stones. And swiftly they raised a grave-mound over it; and look outs were set all around, Lest the well-greaved Achaeans should make an early attack.

And having raised the grave-mound they went back again; Then having gathered together according to custom, they held a banquet And gave a glorious feast in the house of Priam, god-cherished king.

In this way they took care of the burial of Hector, horse-tamer.

Translated from the Ancient Greek by Naomi Ackerman

Naomi Ackerman’s commentary

When deciding what to translate, I searched distant war. Past participles in English the translation leans towards a modern for a poignant extract which would also have this effect of portraying an style of English, I felt the archaism ‘lest’ transcend the barriers of time, and touch ongoing process; therefore I translated was the most appropriate translation of both the classicist and the modern reader. most Greek aorist participles in the extract ‘μὴ πρὶν’. Overall I preserved Homer’s line I feel the last part of The Iliad does exactly as such. Translation of ‘ἐϋκνήμιδες’ was structure, yet I felt my short stanzas were this. A communal focus on the funeral problematic, as ‘well-greaved’ is fairly effective when reading the translation, as of one person, rather than on feats of inaccessible; yet I felt this was needed they emphasise both the sequential stages of strength or heroism, takes the poem to a in order to translate accurately Homer’s Hector’s burial, and those one experiences universal level as readers throughout time meaning. following bereavement. can empathise with the ongoing pain of loss Striking a balance between elegant, Overall, this extract brings a poem of and grief. accessible English and keeping Homer’s war and anger to a tragic end. We may take I wished to convey this sense unique style and spirit was also important. it today as reflective; it is possibly Homer’s of accessibility and continuity in my Although ‘αἴθοπι’ literally translates comment on how, inevitably, the main translation. I translated ‘ἀμάξῃσιν’ as ‘fire coloured’, ‘gleaming’ sounded consequence of war is death. Kudos may be as ‘wagons’, which conjures a sense more appropriate in English, whilst won from it for the few, but for the families of common domesticity, rather than still conveying Homer’s image of wine and communities of those who die, war ‘chariots’ which conjures an image of reflecting the firelight. Secondly, although ends in grief.

Winners of the 18-and-under category

釵頭鳳 Phoenix Hairpin

紅酥手，黃藤酒， Rosy tender hands, rich fine wine, The whole city blossomed with signs of spring. 滿城春色宮牆柳。 By the palace wall the willow swayed 東風惡，歡情薄， To and fro, to and fro. 一懷愁緒，幾年離 But the malicious East Wind tore At the mother’s heart and made her 索。 Cruel; she dismissed her son’s much loved wife and 錯、錯、錯！ Brought little joy. 春如舊，人空瘦， Years went by after the separation 淚痕紅邑鮫綃透。 And melancholy still gripped his heart – Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! 桃花落，閒池閣。 Yet spring comes again, scenery 山盟雖在，錦書難 Unmoved by the sudden encounter. 托。 Peach blossoms still slide and fall from trees, The pavilion floats idly on the lake. 莫、莫、莫！ But hollow and frail Has the lady become. Her silks suck at her red-stained tears, 陸遊 (Lu You) And blood streaks her cheeks.

The vow of love is still there, But exchanges of love cannot be passed on – No! No! No!

Translated from the classical Chinese by Clara Yick Kay Fung

Clara Yick Kay Fung’s commentary

In classical Chinese poems it is considered The poem is a true story. It is said that right choice between love and filial piety, which at a formidable skill to fit as much meaning after the poet’s encounter with his ex-wife at the time was of the utmost importance. Lu as possible into minimal words and in the lake, brimming with stark emotions he chose to obey his mother out of respect for ‘Phoenix Hairpin’ nearly all the verbs are impulsively carved the very characters of her, showing the power Chinese parents had missed out. Hence it was a challenge to the poem onto the wall where they had over their children. choose suitable words in the translation unexpectedly met. Lu You’s marriage to his Another reason why I chose this poem that not only were close to the original cousin was an arranged one and contrary to is the depth of emotions expressed in it. The meaning but also conveyed the sense of expectation they had a loving relationship poem is extremely sad and full of pained love melancholy prominent in the original which was much resented by Lu’s mother. She and frustration, fully expressed at the end poem. was bitter about how close the couple were with the repetition ‘No! No! No!’ when Lu This poem portrays a major issue in and thought that the relationship would only says he cannot even send his lover words of traditional Chinese culture with which non- hinder Lu’s career. So she ordered his wife to love, even though they still love each other, Chinese people might not be familiar. It talks be sent back to her own home and Lu, after as they both have families and sending her of filial piety, a virtue dominant in Chinese making an extremely difficult decision, chose letters would only create a scandal and ruin society about 850 years ago. to obey his mother because for him it was a her reputation.

10 Winners of the 18-and-under category

Die Tote im Wasser Dead in the Water

Die Masten ragen an dem grauen Wall Masts jut over the grey wall; Wie ein verbrannter Wald ins frühe Rot, a scorched forest against early red, So schwarz wie Schlacke. Wo das Wasser tot black as slag and water Zu Speichern stiert, die morsch und im Verfall. stares up, deathlike, at warehouses, the rotten, the decay.

Dumpf tönt der Schall, da wiederkehrt die Flut, A muffled echo along the quay Den Kai entlang. Der Stadtnacht Spülicht treibt with the returning flood. City nightlight penetrates Wie eine weiße Haut im Strom und reibt through ashen white skin like electricity; Sich an dem Dampfer, der im Docke ruht. chafes the steamer resting in the dock.

Staub, Obst, Papier, in einer dicken Schicht, Dust, fruits, paper in a thick layer, So treibt der Kot aus seinen Röhren ganz. and excrement bursts out from its pipes. Ein weißes Tanzkleid kommt, in fettem Glanz White dance dress is floating on oily sheen, Ein nackter Hals und bleiweiß ein Gesicht. a naked throat and lead-white face.

Die Leiche wälzt sich ganz heraus. Es bläht The corpse wallows. The dress swells, Das Kleid sich wie ein weißes Schiff im Wind. billows; a white ship tossed in gusts of wind. Die toten Augen starren groß und blind Dead eyes staring widely, blindly to Zum Himmel, der voll rosa Wolken steht. Heaven. To pink clouds on high.

Das lila Wasser bebt von kleiner Welle. Purple water quivers in little waves: – Der Wasserratten Fährte, die bemannen – a water rat tracks this white human raft. Das weiße Schiff. Nun treibt es stolz von It pushes off, full grey head and black fur, launches. dannen, Voll grauer Köpfe und voll schwarzer Felle. But the corpse sails blithely on, torn by wind and flood. Her fat belly bulges over the water’s surface; Die Tote segelt froh hinaus, gerissen a vacuous socket almost gnawed to pieces, Von Wind und Flut. Ihr dicker Bauch entragt a cavern booming from the bites. Dem Wasser groß, zerhöhlt und fast zernagt. Wie eine Grotte dröhnt er von den Bissen. She drifts out to sea; Neptune saluting her from a wreck as she devours the water. Sie treibt ins Meer. Ihr salutiert Neptun She sinks. Von einem Wrack, da sie das Meer verschlingt, Inwards, down to green depths, Darinnen sie zur grünen Tiefe sinkt, to rest in the arms of a plunging sea monster. Im Arm der feisten Kraken auszuruhn Translated from the German Georg Heym by Jennifer Cearns

Jennifer Cearns’ commentary

I was immediately drawn to this poem using ‘plunging’. Similarly the verb entragen more abrasive. I also wanted to retain the for its harsh yet beautiful description. (to look out) didn’t seem to work in English, feeling I experienced when first reading It seemed to me like a more realistic yet so I opted for ‘bulges’ instead. Metaphors this poem: being almost submerged in almost cruel rendering of the image of also proved difficult, both to understand and relentless imagery and description. For Ophelia lying drowned in water. Heym translate. Upon realising the ‘manned white this reason I decided not to keep the creates a meticulous description of just one ship’ referred to in stanza 5 was the corpse, I original rhyme scheme, as I felt the actual snapshot image, and it was this that I set decided instead to use ‘raft’, as, to me at least, words and imagery used in English were out to achieve in my translation. it made the body seem more fragile. more important. I also often omitted the The main difficulties I encountered in Heym, however, sets this corpse against definite article or used present participle translating from German were concerned a harsh industrial backdrop, and I was verbs (a form that does not exist in the with adjectives that seemed to have no direct careful not to move too far away from original German), and I hope that by my equivalent in English. An example of this this with softer imagery. Rather than doing this, the poem has retained the sense was feist and I eventually decided to move the direct translation ‘rubs’, for example, of immediacy and continuous description away from the original slightly, instead I chose ‘chafe’, as I felt this word was that Heym clearly intended to create.

11 Winners of the Open category

Inferno The Damned Canto V, lines 121–38 after Dante

E quella a me: “Nessun maggior dolore The bitterest che ricordarsi del tempo felice sorrow is not regret, ne la miseria; e ciò sa ’l tuo dottore. though that is part of what we suffer – the bitterest sorrow lies in happiness rehearsed, Ma s’a conoscer la prima radice as when I speak of how del nostro amor tu hai cotanto affetto, our fate took root. dirò come colui che piange e dice. It was a poem: Noi leggiavamo un giorno per diletto the ballad of Sir Lancelot di Lancialotto come amor lo strinse; whom love enslaved – old fashioned stuff, soli eravamo e sanza alcun sospetto. pure nonsense really, so where was the danger if from time to time our eyes met – Per più fïate li occhi ci sospinse where was the harm? quella lettura, e scolorocci il viso; ma solo un punto fu quel che ci vinse. We read on until we reached the line Quando leggemmo il disïato riso about a kiss both looked-for and unbidden – esser basciato da cotanto amante, a kiss so long desired and yet so lightly taken – questi, che mai da me non fia diviso, that line was our undoing: a sidelong la bocca mi basciò tutto tremante. Galeotto fu ’l libro e chi lo scrisse: glance – another – quel giorno più non vi leggemmo avante”. into each other’s eyes, and we, who since that day have never been apart, Dante Alighieri we latecomers to everything within our hearts, we put the book away and read no further.

Translated from the Italian by Paul Batchelor

Paul Batchelor’s Commentary

Dante’s encounter with Paolo and Francesca to be compromised if unidiomatic words or This form is related to that of George is one of the most surprising episodes in the expressions are used in order to facilitate a Herbert’s ‘Easter Wings’ and has been used Inferno. Despite the obvious sincerity of rhyme. Italian is rich in rhyme, but English several times by Derek Mahon. The stanza- their love for one another, and the sympathy is relatively poor. I then translated it into shape is immediately noticeable and regular, with which they are portrayed, Paolo and blank verse, but this didn’t seem to be the but the rhyme scheme can be varied, so Francesca are being punished in hell for answer either, because Dante’s use of terza hopefully the form conveys something of the sin of adultery. The episode has been rima is so closely connected to the tone and the original’s structure, while also being translated many times, but just as it retains content of what he is saying: his dovetailed flexible and natural-sounding. I used its fascination for contemporary readers, I stanzas and inter-locking rhymes give us a consonantal rhyme, so ‘regret’ is rhymed hoped it could withstand another version. fuller sense of the orchestrated inevitability with ‘take root’, ‘poem’ with ‘harm’, and At first, I tried to translate the poem into of his vision. ‘read on’ with ‘unbidden’, and so on. I terza rima, but could not find a satisfactory In the end, I used a form in which the hoped that this would make for a more way of doing so: conveying the tone of the number of metrical feet per line expand subtle musical effect, while allowing me to original was my main concern, and this tends and then contract over a six-line stanza. juxtapose some key words.

12 Winners of the Open category

Du, Nachbar Gott God, My Good Neighbour

Du, Nachbar Gott, wenn ich dich manches Mal God, my good neighbour, if you sometimes hear in langer Nacht mit hartem Klopfen störe, – me knocking in the dead of night, I’m sorry. so ists, weil ich dich selten atmen höre I can’t tell if you’re breathing, and I worry: und weiß: Du bist allein im Saal. I know you’re all alone in there. Und wenn du etwas brauchst, ist keiner da, There’s nobody to watch, or understand um deinem Tasten einen Trank zu reichen: if you need something – say, a glass of wine. ich horche immer. Gib ein kleines Zeichen. I listen day and night. Give me a sign. Ich bin ganz nah. I’m near at hand.

Nur eine schmale Wand ist zwischen uns, Chance, nothing more, has set this flimsy wall durch Zufall; denn es könnte sein: between us. And who knows, perhaps ein Rufen deines oder meines Munds – if you or I could bring ourselves to call und sie bricht ein it might collapse ganz ohne Lärm und Laut. quietly, and leave no trace.

Aus deinen Bildern ist sie aufgebaut. The wall is built of pictures of your face.

Und deine Bilder stehn vor dir wie Namen. Your pictures stand in front of you like names. Und wenn einmal in mir das Licht entbrennt, And if for once my inner light shines through mit welchem meine Tiefe dich erkennt, and blazes up, so that it might show who vergeudet sichs als Glanz auf ihren Rahmen. and what you are, it’s scattered by their frames.

Und meine Sinne, welche schnell erlahmen, And all my senses die back with the flames, sind ohne Heimat und von dir getrennt. and are left homeless, and cut off from you.

Reiner Maria Rilke Translated from the German by Michael Swan

Michael Swan’s commentary

This is an early poem by Rilke, not widely anthologised and scarcely translated. (I have only been able to find one version of it, and that really isn’t very good.) I embarked on the translation because I like the poem very much. It’s a remarkable piece which stands out in Rilke’s work of that period, and I think it deserves to be much better known. It presented a familiar challenge. In Rilke, sound patterning is as important as sense and imagery, and neither can be prioritised at the expense of the other; so one inevitably ends up juggling small compromises in both directions.

13 Winners of the Open category

The story so far: The lovers are betrayed to King Mark, who arbitrarily pronounces Yvain the leper approaches Mark, to suggest an even crueller end: the death sentence. They are to be hurled alive into a blazing pyre. ‘… Fierce fires will not outlast the day Tristran escapes on the way to the fire-pit. King Mark is obdurate; And ash is swiftly blown away. his wife Yseult must die. The people of Cornwall mourn as their She will have little time to ponder – beloved Queen is led to the flames. My way, the punishment lasts longer…’

Tristran Leper, an extract from Tristran

Li rois l’entent, si respondi: Mark: ‘Se tu m’enseignes cest, sanz falle, …To give your King such shrewd advice Let the lazars be her masters – Qu’ele vivë et que ne valle, Entitles you to name your price! All her once-majestic opulence Gré t’en savrai, ce saches bien; I ask you now to be my tutor Turns to filthiness and feculence. Et se tu veus, si pren du mien. As to what punishment would suit her. I did not always live in ordure Onques ne fu dit tel maniere, By God! No one has yet devised Till I succumbed to my disorder. Tant dolerose ne tant fire, A fate so grim and agonised. She’ll learn that there’s no turning back Qui orendroit tote la pire Lifelong he’ll be my friend, who finds When dragged into my stinking shack Seüst, por Deu le roi, eslire, The worst of cruelties refined. And laid down on a teeming mattress Que il n’eüst m’amor tot tens.’ By Heaven, I honour such a mind. As befits an outcast’s mistress. Ivains respont: ‘Si con je pens, Je te dirai, asez briment. Yvain: Such divinely vengeful drollery! Veez, j’ai ci conpaignons cent: My mind, Sire, is at your disposal. We’ll share the scrapings of your scullery – Yseut nos done, s’ert conmune. Here is the gist of my proposal: Old bones and rotten leavings are Paior fin dame n’ot mais une. One hundred lepers, here we stand – A leprous pauper’s caviar. Sire, en nos a si grant ardor Deliver Yseult to our hands She who tore your tender feelings Soz ciel n’a dame qui un jor As common harlot to our band Will scrabble for stale crusts and peelings Peüst soufrir nostre convers: Perpetually to be shamed. When she is begging at your gate. Li drap nos sont au cors aers. Our lust is by disease inflamed O toi soloit estre a honor, And our desires are unrestrained. By God, this is a fitting fate! O vair, o gris et o baudor; Daily and hourly, she’ll be raped. When she sees our rooms of state Les buens vins i avoit apris To be molested by incurables So un-luxurious and unloved Et granz soliers de marbre bis. Would render each night unendurable. She’ll rather she were un-alive. Se la donez a nos, meseaus, No woman born could tolerate When Yseult, the queen of snakes Qant el verra nos bas bordeaus Such a humiliating fate. Contemplates her grave mistakes Et eslira l’escouellier She’ll learn how grievously she’s sinned; Et l’estovra a nos couchier She cannot not bear to look at us; Then her just penance will begin Sire, en leu de tes beaus mengiers Our lesions, with their putrid crust With weighty lessons to be learned. Avra de pieces, de quartiers Our rags glued to our skin with pus! She’ll wish to God that she’d been burned. Que l’en nos envoi’a ces hus, Then she’ll recall her life with you Por cel seignor qui maint lasus, The elegance that once she knew: Translated from the medieval French Qant or verra la nostre cort, Garments of soft-textured fur by Jane Tozer Adonc verra si desconfort. Sable, snow-fox, miniver; Donc voudroit miex morir que vivre, Her access to your royal heritage Donc savra bien Yseut la givre Wines of the very noblest vintage Que malement avra ovré: Halls of porphyry, alabaster. Mex voudroit estre arse en un ré.’

Béroul Jane Tozer’s commentary

Years ago, someone dear to me was li nain boçuz, betrayer of the lovers, is a He defies subtle interpretation. Here his shunned by the health services as he dwarfish hunchback. Googling ‘Frocin’ effects are horribly matter-of-fact: hell in died of AIDS. Bigots still regard certain yields a student’s appeal for clues to a fresco. Yvain’s speech is as unequivocally afflictions as punitive. the dwarf’s ‘motivation’. Is the expected nasty as playground bullying. He doesn’t Sex, disease and death. In stories, leprous answer that a mediaeval poet might imply stoop to weasel words, Guantánamo-style. stigmata may signal an accursed soul. that malice was a psychological reaction Could there be more meticulously Béroul’s audience would know Yvain for a to disability? protracted cruelty than this fate worse bogeyman. Yet not all lepers were labelled I blame standardised teaching. Béroul than death? It should be a painful passage evil. Despite fear of contagion, compassion was observant, but deliberate analysis would to translate, but it’s easier to render the was shown, and care given, if only to be alien to him. ‘Motivation’ is a very 20th dark side than the godly. And much more gain heaven-points. There’s a complex of century concept. The question should be: fun. My model is Monty Python and the attitudes to the mediaeval leper. Many ‘Why does Béroul make much of hideously Holy Grail. would have been misdiagnosed sufferers of personal descriptions?’ Answer: ‘To evoke Béroul tells it in 36 briskly mordant lines. conditions like psoriasis. shock and instant emotional response.’ His audience was familiar with leprosy. I Béroul has another baddie who, like Béroul, the story-maker, is virtually the use 20 lines more, adding colour and rhyme Yvain, is differently villainous. Frocin, only writer I allow to tell me what to feel. rather than padding.

14 About the Stephen Spender Memorial Trust

Stephen Spender – poet, critic, editor and translator of poetry – lived from 1909 to 1995. The Trust was set up in his memory to promote literary translation and to widen knowledge of 20th century literature, with particular focus on Stephen Spender’s circle of writers.

The Times Stephen Spender Prize The archive programme On 21 February 2007 (the 100th The aim of this annual prize, launched In May 2002 the Trust presented the anniversary of W. H. Auden’s birth) a in 2004, is to draw attention to the art British Library with a collection of Stephen reading of Auden’s poetry was held at the of literary translation and encourage Spender’s non-fictional, published prose. Shaw Theatre, the result of a collaboration young people to read foreign poetry at Representing around one million words of between the Trust and the British Library. a time when literature is no more than mainly essays and journalism, the archive Lady Spender, who knew Auden well, an optional module (if that) in A level covered 70 years, from 1924 to 1994. It was selected the readers (all poets themselves): modern languages. Entrants translate a compiled by postgraduates, financed by a James Fenton, John Fuller, Grey Gowrie, poem from any language – modern or grant from the British Academy, and was Andrew Motion, Sean O’Brien, Peter classical – into English, and submit both supervised academically by Professor John Porter and – in recognition of the the original and their translation, together Sutherland and by Lady Spender. The 821 years Auden spent in the United States with a commentary of not more than 300 items, from 79 published sources in Britain, – American poet and academic Richard words. There are three categories (14- Europe and the USA, are catalogued Howard; the programme was devised and-under, 18-and-under and Open) with chronologically and also alphabetically by Grey Gowrie, a founding member of prizes in each category, the best entries by source. The Trust’s online version can the Stephen Spender Memorial Trust and being published in The Times and in a be searched and sorted according to a an Auden scholar, and featured poems commemorative booklet produced by the variety of categories via the Trust’s website: predominantly from the 1930s and 40s, as Trust. The prize is promoted by The Times www.stephen-spender.org well as ‘Auden in Milwaukee’, written by and has been sponsored in 2009 by the Lady Spender is currently collating and Stephen Spender in 1940. Eranda Foundation, to whom the Trust is annotating Stephen Spender’s journals, Stephen Spender’s centenary in 2009 very grateful. which will be published by Faber in 2010, was marked by a poetry reading on the while Mark Kermode has been digitising evening of Thursday 26 February at the Translation grants the important photographic archive Royal Institution’s splendid 450-seater Since its inception, the Trust has given held by Lady Spender, which comprises Faraday Theatre and a series of seminars approximately £42,000 in grants for the photographs taken by Stephen Spender and and academic debates at the Institute translation of contemporary writers her from the late 1940s up until the 1990s. of English Studies the following day. A into English. Recipients include Index second reading, featuring Fleur Adcock, on Censorship for two special issues of Events Grey Gowrie and Craig Raine took place creative work, one on banned fiction The Institute for English Studies, University in October 2009 at University College, and the other on banned poetry; Modern of London, hosted a successful one-day Oxford, where Stephen Spender was an Poetry in Translation; the Harvill Press, symposium in January 2001 on ‘Stephen undergraduate. for a bilingual edition of poems by Rutger Spender and his Circle in the l930s’ The readers at the Royal Institution Kopland; The Way We Are, a multilingual with contributions on Edward Upward, were Grey Gowrie, Tony Harrison, Seamus anthology of writing by children and Isherwood, Auden, Spender and MacNeice, Heaney, Barry Humphries, Poet Laureate young people from Waltham Forest; the with an unpublished article on these poets Andrew Motion and Natasha Spender. Aldeburgh Poetry Trust, to bring to the written in the Thirties by Isaiah Berlin; the The 90-minute programme was devised festival exiled Palestinian poet Mourid speakers were a combination of those who by Grey Gowrie and a recording of the Barghouti, the Iraqi poet Fadhil Al- knew Spender and his circle at first hand evening is available to download from the Azzawi, and Aharon Shabtai with his and scholars working on them today. Trust’s website. translator, the poet Peter Cole; the British In May 2004, three of the Trust’s Papers at the conference on 27 February Centre for Literary Translation, to bring Committee members – Seamus Heaney, Tony explored Stephen Spender’s poetry, fiction five Eastern European translators to Harrison and Harold Pinter – generously and non-fiction, and his relationship to the seminars and the BCLT’s summer school; agreed to celebrate the publication of political and historical developments of his the Great Women Poets tour, which Spender’s New Collected Poems with a time; they also reassessed his achievement brought translation workshops to schools reading of his poetry and some of their own. in the light of recent archival research around the country; and the Children’s They were joined by Jill Balcon (widow of and new critical perspectives. The speakers Bookshow Outside In: Children’s Writers Stephen Spender’s friend, C. Day Lewis) were John Sutherland, Barbara Hardy, in Translation, which saw foreign writers and Vanessa Redgrave. The 90-minute Val Cunningham, Peter McDonald, Mark and illustrators taking part in events programme was devised by Lady Spender Rawlinson, Alan Jenkins, Stephen Romer in seven cities, with workshops in 40 and directed by Joe Harmston; all 900 seats and Michael Scammell. schools. of the Queen Elizabeth Hall sold out.

Contacting the Trust

The Stephen Spender Memorial Trust 3 Old Wish Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex BN21 4JX tel. 01323 452294 [email protected] www.stephen-spender.org

The Stephen Spender Memorial Trust

Patrons Lady Antonia Fraser cbe, Lord Gowrie pc, Drue Heinz dbe, David Hockney ch, Wole Soyinka, Lady Spender

President Sir Michael Holroyd cbe*

Committee Jonathan Barker mbe, Lord Briggs, Desmond Clarke, Valerie Eliot*, Professor Warwick Gould, Tony Harrison, Harriet Harvey Wood obe*, Josephine Hart, Seamus Heaney, Barry Humphries, Sir Frank Kermode, Christopher MacLehose, Caroline Moorehead cbe, Prudence Skene cbe*, Lizzie Spender, Matthew Spender, Philip Spender*, Saskia Spender, Richard Stone*, Sir Tom Stoppard om cbe, Tim Supple, Professor John Sutherland, Ed Victor, Professor Daniel Weissbort

*Also a Trustee

Registered charity number 1101304 Company limited by guarantee number 4891164 Registered in England at 3 Old Wish Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN21 4JX Cover image © the Estate of Humphrey Spender