Word: poulin
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Great poetry is ageless. It is translations that grow old. In the future, Poulin's work will probably be superseded by a fresh interpretation. New translators will find other gems in the treasure of Rilke's work. But it may be generations before Rilke's ecstatic conclusion to the tenth Elegy sings better or truer in English...
English renditions of these two triumphant works have never before been available in one book. And Translator A. Poulin Jr., 38, has done more than simply collect Rilke. He gives the German a tight, idiomatic English style that is both readable and remarkably in tune with Rilke...
Rilke did not look for vaulting transcendence in airy phrases. He squeezed the words in his possession hard enough to make their substance felt. Poulin's words are naturally different from Rilke's, but he too puts language under a similar pressure...
Those who learned Rilke from earlier translations may miss some cherished lines or bridle at Poulin's occasional use of contemporary vocabulary. Yet a comparison between his version and one of the best previous translations suggests that Poulin's is closer to current taste. In their 1939 rendering of the Duino Elegies, J.B. Leishman and Stephen Spender wrote...
...Poulin unbuckles this Germanic syntax and pares away words that obscure the image...