My closer poetry friends will instantly note my tiny homage here to Blake and Dickinson.

5/5

Poetry translation really is an ART!

OTOH... learning a language can open up possibilities for readers.

Did you know your local library might offer FREE ACCESS to a language-learning service?

Many do!

I encourage you to ask a librarian about that sometime.

#poetry #translations #language

4/5

All poetry is word choice--selecting words to suggest notions, feelings, scenes, etc.

But poetry also involves wordplay, symbols, idioms, sounds (e.g. onomatopoeia), irony, and worlds more.

Imagine trying to address all of those things in a poetry translation!

#poetry #translations #language

3/5

Some translators decide to render a poem as prose, trading strict form/meter (e.g. Dante's terza rima) for more creative possibilities.

All translators end up sharing in every poet's challenge of searching for the (subjectively) "best" words to express things.

#poetry #translations #language

2/5

...and the same goes for Beowulf, Divine Comedy, Aeneid, and many other classic and contemporary poems.

Some translators try to honor original poetic forms. Others need to get creative.

Their biggest challenge? Choosing words.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...

#poetry #translations #language

Some information about the Golden Bridle, Pegasus, and Bellerophon:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellero...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegasus

#poetry
#poem © me 2025
#mythology

I hope to release those new instrumentals and other music next year, likely after I finish and publish my fourth poetry collection.

Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy the song.

I have other music (piano, more) at SoundCloud:
soundcloud.com/robertjtiess

Thanks for listening.

#music #songs #instrumentals

2/3

At the center of this song is the understanding that we must invest ourselves more mindfully, if not wholly, in what we do, who and how we love, the peace and knowledge we seek, and so on.

I'm composing and recording new material that also connects with that.

#music #songs #instrumentals

2/2

One of the coolest things about Teasdale's poem is that it inspired and became central to Ray Bradbury's same-named short story:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_W...

Bradbury didn't just take the title;

he electrified his apocalyptic tale with the actual poem!

#poetry #poems #peace #war

3/3

Poet William Carlos Williams is another example:

known for brief Imagistic poems like "The Red Wheelbarrow," he stunned a bunch of people with his 5-volume epic poem Paterson.

And T.S. Eliot wrote a book of cat poems.

Why be limited?

Let's keep trying new things!

#poetry #poets #writing

2/3

Imagine rock star Eddie Vedder releasing an album of ukulele songs.

Or Brave New World author Aldous Huxley veering into mysticism and philosophy.

Wait--all of that happened!

Risks were taken.

Reactions were mixed.

But many fans and critics embraced those efforts.

#poetry #poets #writing

2/2

Tying into this is one of my favorite T. S. Eliot quotes from Four Quartets:

"...but there is no competition-- / There is only the fight to recover what has been lost / And found and lost again and again.... For us, there is only the trying."

www.goodreads.com/quotes/61116...

#poetry #poets