Questions for 8/7 -- EN 190 Summer II 2012

Above is a painting by "M. Degas" or Edgar Degas (1834-1917).

Good evening :)

Tomorrow is our last day of new reading and listening material, so I wanted to make sure that I sent you the questions in time.  

I'd like you to read the poems in translation at pages 889-904.  In addition, here are links to translations of Petrarch's sonnets over the years, starting with the sixteenth century--predating Shakespeare!

http://www.sonnets.org/wyatt.htm#002

http://www.sonnets.org/surrey.htm#102

The translation below is from the 1800s.  Thomas Wentworth Higginson fought in the Civil War and tried to mentor the poet Emily Dickinson.

http://www.sonnets.org/petrarch.htm

A.S. Kline's translations are from the late 1900s.  You may also look at and listen to the original Italian.

http://petrarch.petersadlon.com/canzoniere.html

Here is Mark Musa's free verse:

http://thepoetryplace.wordpress.com/2011/08/26/renaissance-sonnets-for-the-beloved/

A.M. Juster's translations rhyme:

http://www.amjuster.com/poem14.html

This page contains over forty translations of Li Bai's "Drinking Alone With The Moon"

http://clatterymachinery.wordpress.com/2007/01/26/li-bai-drinking-alone-with-the-moon-his-shadow-32-translators/

Do you prefer Gary Snyder's translation of Han Shan's poems?

http://www.hermetica.info/hanshan.htm

Translator Tony Barnstone writes on translation:

http://www.cipherjournal.com/html/barnstone_han_shan.html

Below are links we looked at in class today, starting with Allen Ginsberg's "A Supermarket in California":

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15306

Walt Whitman's "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" is here:

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20006

Sherman Alexie wrote "Defending Walt Whitman":

http://www.bpj.org/poems/alexie_whitman.html

Let's look at Shakespeare's Sonnet #73:

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15844

We'll conclude with Philip Levine's "M. Degas..."

http://www.ibiblio.org/ipa/poems/levine/m._degas_teaches_art_and_science_at_durfee_intermediate_school--detroit1942.php

And now for some questions....

-- If you write poetry, write a poem and analyze it, showing how it exemplifies what we have learned about poetry.

-- Choose a poem that we haven't looked at.  Then analyze it, showing how it exemplifies what we have learned about poetry.

-- What have our presentations added to your understanding of literature?

-- What have the poems we discussed today (8/6) added to your understanding of literature?  of poetry?

-- Why should we translate works from other literatures?

-- Why should we learn other languages to read their literary masterpieces?

-- How have the translations (Petrarch, Li Bai, and Han Shan) changed over time?  How have they remained the same?

-- If you know Italian or Chinese, discuss the accuracy and felicity of the translators' work.

-- How do other literatures approach translation?

Good night, and see you in class!

Dr. Szlyk