The Stephen Spender Prize 2015 - in association with - for poetry in translation - Stephen Spender Trust
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The Stephen Spender Prize 2015
in association with
for poetry in translationThe Stephen Spender Prize 2015 for poetry in translation
in association with
Joint winners of the Winners of the Commended
14-and-under category Open category
14-and-under commended
No first prize is
awarded in the Thomas Delgado-Little
Open category ‘The Victims Won’t Speak’
this year by Carmen Conde (Spanish)
Anissa Felah
‘The Cicada and the Ant’
by Jean de la Fontaine (French)
Victoria Fletcher
‘The Song about the End of the World’
by Czesław Miłosz (Polish)
Viktoria Mileva Euan Ong
‘Farewell’ ‘In Circulation’ Grace Guthrie
by Nikola Vaptsarov by Alain Bosquet ‘Birthday’ by Sulpicia (Latin)
(Bulgarian) (French)
18-and-under commended
Sarah Hudis
Winners of the
‘Writing in the Sand’
18-and-under category by Iwan Llwyd (Welsh)
Anna Leader
‘Hamburg–Berlin’
by Jan Wagner (German)
Euan McGinty
‘Strong in the Rain’
by Miyazawa Kenji (Japanese)
Alexandra Seizani-Dimitriadi
‘The Monogram’
by Odysseus Elytis (Greek)
Joint first Joint first Second
Chloe Taylor
Beatrix Crinnion Anna Leader Francisca Gale ‘Despair Is Seated on a Bench’
‘Allegro’ ‘Weeds’ ‘Long-Distance by Jacques Prévert (French)
by Tomas Tranströmer by Jan Wagner Conversation’
(Swedish) (German) by Anestis Evangelou
Open commended
(Greek)
Ken Cockburn
‘Search’
by Christine Marendon (German)
Michaela Pschierer-Barnfather
‘Title Colon Dictation’
by Michael Schönen (German)
Anne Stokes
‘Peonies at Pentecost’
by Monika Rinck (German)
Michael Swan
Third Third ‘A Dream about My Mother’
by Henrik Nordbrandt (Danish)
Maud Mullan Martin Bennett
‘A Lament at the Door’ ‘Acherontia Atropos’
by Callimachus by Guido Gozzano
(Ancient Greek) (Italian)
3C ollectors of statistics will be glad to know that in 2015
we received more entries than ever before but from a
mere 46 languages, well short of the 53 recorded in 2013.
There is room in this booklet to print only the winning
entries, but you can read the commended entries and
download previous booklets by visiting stephen-spender.
Although there were some languages new to the competition org. Also on the website are some examples of activities
– including Friulian (sometimes known as eastern Ladin), involving poetry translation, not all from taught languages;
Frisian and Maltese – French dominated as usual, and German if you are unfamiliar with isiNdebele praise poetry, have a
continued to hold its own against Spanish and Italian. There look. We will continue to build up this resource and I am
was a small surge in Greek and Ukrainian entries; one excited to be working on this with a poet-in-residence whose
imagines translators from those languages turning to poetry young EAL (English as an Additional Language) pupils took
to escape the horrors carried by the newspapers. to poetry translation so enthusiastically that one has been
The Stephen Spender Trust did its bit to cheer people up in voted joint winner of the 14-and-under category.
early March, celebrating slightly tardily the tenth anniversary As well as recording the Trust’s heartfelt gratitude to
of the prize in the splendour of the Royal Institution, the prize’s sponsors, the Old Possum’s Practical Trust and
an evening made possible by the generosity of the Old the Dr Mortimer and Theresa Sackler Foundation, to the
Possum’s Practical Trust. The programme featured 26 winning Guardian, and to Josephine Balmer, Katie Gramich, WN
translations of poems from Anglo-Saxon, Bengali, Finnish, Herbert and Stephen Romer, this year’s wonderfully wise
French, Ancient Greek, Irish, Italian, German, Japanese, and conscientious judges, I’m delighted to announce that
Latin, Old English, Romanian, Russian, Spanish and Welsh, 2016 will be a landmark year. After much debate and with
introduced by Seamus Heaney’s beautiful ‘From the Republic some trepidation, we have decided to take the step of making
of Conscience’ in recognition of his support of the Trust the prize worldwide. We have long been aware of the irony
until his death in 2013, and rounded off by Stephen Spender’s of inviting translations from any language but restricting
joyful ‘Dolphins’. Noma Dumezweni, Patricia Hodge and entry to British and Irish translators. From 2016 everyone
Michael Pennington, directed by Joe Harmsworth, brought will be eligble to enter.
a new depth of meaning to the poems, providing a master
class in reading poetry aloud. If you weren’t able to be there, Robina Pelham Burn
do listen to the readings on the Trust’s website. Director of the Stephen Spender Trust
Judges’ comments
If there was ever of Rabia Balkhi’, Malene Engelund’s Viktoria Mileva, with the latter just
any doubt that poetry delicate rendering of second World War nudging ahead for the prize which
matters then the entries Danish poet Morten Nielsen, Cristina she shared with Euan Ong’s inventive
to the 2105 Stephen Viti’s lyrical account of oppression version of French poet Alain Bosquet.
Spender Prize have in communist Albania from Gëzim That said, there were some excellent
dispelled it. As in pre- Hajdari, and Pavlo Shopin’s timely ‘You Greek and Latin entries from unusual
vious years, many entrants submitted and I Are Refugees’ from Ukrainian poets such as Sulpicia, amusingly
translations of poems that held a deep poet Serhiy Zhadan. reimagined by Grace Guthrie. And
resonance for them. Yet perhaps more As in previous years, our Open prize- in the 18-and-under category, Maud
noticeable, even among our younger winners introduced us to wonderful Mullan’s drawing out of an epigram by
entrants, were the translations that new poetry – the true gift of transla- Callimachus just edged her two versions
showed us how poetry can respond tion – from Francisca Gale’s compact of Horace. But, again, our joint first
to worldwide conflict and tragedy, if but perfectly-formed ‘Long-Distance prize winners, Beatrix Crinnion and
the most moving – and successful – of Conversation’ by Greek poet Anestis Anna Leader, translated contemporary
these combined the political with the Evangelou to Martin Bennett’s extract languages, Tomas Transtrőmer’s Swedish
personal. Thirteen-year-old Thomas from Guido Gozzano’s overlooked and Jan Wagner’s German respectively.
Delgado-Little, for example, com- fragmentary Italian epic. Meanwhile, our list of commendations
mended for his translation of Carmen This trend for contemporary poetry included Japanese, Greek and Welsh, all
Conde’s Spanish Civil War poem ‘The was particularly noticeable in our two beautifully translated by Euan McGinty,
Victims Won’t Speak’, recounted how younger categories where classical Alexandra Seizani-Dimitriadi and Sarah
his own great-grandfather had died works have long been dominant. In Hudis. A personal favourite which did
for the Republican cause. In the Open the 14-and-under category, we were not quite make the final cut was Helen
category, I was also moved by Clare impressed by two young Bulgarian Chen’s ‘Charon’ from Chinese poet Bei
Pollard’s heart-stopping ‘The Last Poem translators, Teodor Egriderliev and Xiao Huang, bringing us in to the 21st
4Judges’ comments
century by contemplating the powers I also learned a great deal from works by contemporary poets I had
of Google. the translators’ commentaries, which not previously read, including Monika
Poems about translation itself were a ranged from the perfunctory to the Rinck and Christine Marendon, each of
common theme this year, many reflect- profound. One entrant rather too whom has a distinctive voice and style,
ing the prisms of layering language on candidly declared that ‘The original captured with a deft and sensitive touch
language. Of these I was most entranced did not rhyme, which meant one less by their respective translators, Anne
by Edward Clarke’s version of Nicola thing to worry about’, while another, Stokes and Ken Cockburn.
Gardini’s beautiful ‘Emily in Mondello’ Anna Leader, astutely observed of her At the end of the process, and the
in which the Italian poet muses on his translation of Gaston Miron’s ‘Poème lively and enlightening discussion with
own engagement with Emily Dickinson. de séparation’ that ‘The difficulty of my fellow judges, I am left with unfor-
On the minus side, there also appeared translating this poem was resisting the gettable lines of poetry echoing through
to be a marked increase in the use of urge to “explain” it.’ my head: ‘weeds always sneak back
Google Translate. But most of all, it Not all the translations managed like old guilt’ (Jan Wagner, translated
was lovely to see our entrants having to become poems in English. There by Anna Leader); ‘Let the wind howl,
fun with rhyme and word play, from were some which remained stubbornly let the wind swither / Someone shall
Michaela Pschierer-Barnfather’s ‘Title prosaic, often those by translators be Agamemnon, somebody his killer’
Colon Dictation’ in the Open competi- locked in a lethally close embrace (Odysseus Elytis, translated by Alasdair
tion to eight-year-old Anissa Felah’s with their originals. In the younger Gordon); ‘Another sentence. Tears are
‘The Cicada and the Ant’. I thank them age category there were sometimes quick to come / To one already set far
all for brightening these particularly problems with register, especially in the apart, / As if pain on pain had stripped
gloomy summer days this year with commentaries. Future entrants might life from her heart’ (Anna Akhmatova,
their invention – and enthusiasm profit from avoiding the hideous word translated by Miriam Ettrick).
Josephine Balmer ‘relatable’ and might also bear in mind Next year, I will have a better idea
the literary nature of the competition: of what to expect, namely, a box full of
This was my first year there’s nothing wrong with translating unexpected and delightful discoveries.
as judge for the Stephen a French rap song, but judges are not Katie Gramich
Spender poetry transla- really impressed by how many views
tion prize. I was excited the rapper’s video has had on YouTube! The two younger
at the prospect and Yet the quality of the original poem categories this year were
somewhat overwhelmed is important. A thin original is unlikely full of fresh takes on
by the reality. I certainly wasn’t expect- to produce a brilliant translation. This how to convey what
ing a total of 586 translations, of such explains why a number of entrants poetry means to a
extraordinary variety, from no fewer attempted new versions of classic particular culture. The
than 46 languages. texts. I particularly enjoyed eight-year- 14-and-under winner, Viktoria Mileva,
Sadly, there was only one translation old Anissa Felah’s translation of La expressed the eery sense of presence in
from my own mother tongue, Welsh, Fontaine’s ‘La Cigale et la Fourmi’, Vaptsarov’s poem on the eve of execu-
though this was a very good version which showed an impressive command tion by the repetitive use of the future
by Sarah Hudis of part of a poem of rhyme and rhythm: ‘I promise with tense – the one tense about to be denied
by Iwan Llwyd, ‘Sgrifen yn y Tywod’ my insect heart / To pay you back when him. I also liked how Chrysostomos
(‘Writing in the Sand’). If only Sarah Harvest starts’. There were also inven- Kamaris drew out an ambivalence from
had attempted the whole 32-line poem, tive and thoughtful renditions of works Ioannides’ lullaby, in which Saint Marina
rather than just three quatrains. I hope by Rilke, Leopardi, Dante, Baudelaire, is exhorted to take the baby away, ‘Then
there will be many more Welsh entries Mallarmé and others, including a strik- when it is older, bring it back.’
next year – come on, Cymry! ing version of Goethe’s ‘Erlkönig’ by One translator in the 18-and-under
French, German, Latin, Spanish, Adrian Dobson called ‘The Boggart’, category, Mundie Lawrance, found
Russian and Italian were well repre- in which Goethe’s horseman is trans- two very different ways to bring the
sented across all three categories. formed into a northern motorcyclist translation to life: the performative
I was particularly impressed by the pursued by a malevolent goblin straight finger click in Vysotsky’s ‘Singer at the
high quality of the German and Latin off the moors of Jane Eyre. However, Microphone’, and the use of a land-
entries. It was also thrilling to discover such classic texts provide particular scape orientation in Bo Bergman’s ‘We
work in languages of which I have no challenges, not just in their inherent Whispering Wings in the Night’. It
knowledge, like Bulgarian and Chinese. richness but also in the daunting fact was exciting to see last year’s winning
Such discoveries are of course the raison that so many great translators have subject, Jan Wagner, being conveyed
d’être of the Stephen Spender compe- attempted the task before. so ably by Anna Leader. I particularly
tition: translation opens the door to Many of the winning and com- admired Beatrix Crinnion’s take on
another culture, another world. mended entries are translations of Transtömer’s ‘Allegro’ because, like
5Judges’ comments
these other younger translators, she My first impression, had only recently set out to study
combined strong decisions about form this year as last, on Swedish on her own. Maud Mullan’s
and layout with precision of tone. surveying the 586 elegant Callimachus (‘A Lament at the
In the adult category, I admired translations submitted Door’), with a commentary referring
several recurrent sub-categories of for the prize, was of learnedly to Greek rhetorical terms,
translation. One was the difficult comic variety. And there were came third. Among the commended,
rhyming poem – often dismissed, some unusual languages: Bulgarian, my favourite was Chloe Taylor’s Prévert
although the necessity to marry rhyme Portuguese, Turkish, Chinese, Anglo- (‘Despair Is Seated on a Bench’); her
and lightness of tone make it the tricki- Saxon, Welsh; and in the Open decision to break the French up into
est of modes. I liked the dexterity of category, Arabic, Kurdish, Japanese, stanzas, each one representing a kind
Caroline New’s translation of Giusti’s and Tagalog. I was frequently moved of photographic still in an unfolding
‘The Snail’, and thought that success- by the quality and personal nature of cinematic narrative, was convincing. I
fully incorporating the words for punc- the commentaries, especially among the should also like to mention here Violet
tuation terms into nimble couplets, younger translators, several of whom, Smart’s Octavio Paz, Euan McGinty’s
as Michaela Pschierer-Barnfather did when not native-speakers of English, Miyazawa and Abe Chauhan’s Kästner.
with Michael Schönen’s ‘Title Colon were anxious to showcase famous In the Open category Francisca
Dictation’, required real brio. poems from their own countries. This Gale’s ‘Long-Distance Conversation’
The second such category was was the case with our joint winner in the by Anestis Evangelou delicately con-
Classical elegy. I was impressed by 14-and-under category, Viktoria Mileva, veyed the touching original Greek
the pared down elegance of Duncan who translated the short, poignant poem and the rueful surprise at the end.
Forbes’s Martial translation, which ‘Farewell’ by the Bulgarian poet Nikola Martin Bennett’s fine version of Guido
made me think again about that poet, Vaptsarov, shot by the Nazis. The Gozzano’s ‘Acherontia Atropos’ is an
while Arabella Currie’s ‘Piso for God’ commentary, personal and informative, example of what the Spender Prize
(Philippus of Thessalonica) seemed to was a model of its kind, setting the can do best – encourage ambitious
demand inscription on the nearest piece two quatrains in context. Among the attempts to revive in translation com-
of marble. commended I especially liked Grace plex work by poets too liable to be
The winning poems, and those that Guthrie’s ‘creative translation’ (her airbrushed out by fashion or sheer lazi-
approached that status, did several description) of Sulpicia’s ‘Birthday’, put ness. Three more powerful contem-
things well. One was to handle narrative into the voice of a ‘bratty teenager’ who porary German poets we commend-
– or rather that air of story, usually in may be a younger Bridget Jones. Among ed are Christine Marendon, Michael
media res, that is all the poem requires. those that didn’t quite make the final Schönen and Monika Rinck, translated
Families or individuals half-knowing cut, I would commend Cath Churchill’s by Ken Cockburn, Michaela Pschierer-
they are on the cusp of change feature in Ovid, Kajal Patel’s Rimbaud, and Gwen Barnfather and Anne Stokes respec-
Richard Gwyn’s fine ‘Winter Poem’ (by Choi’s Brecht. tively.
Jorge Teillier), and are the subjects of The 14-and-under category also My personal commendations include
a visitation in Martin Bennett’s version contained several versions of French rap Clare Pollard’s powerfully topical
of Gozzano’s ‘Acherontia Atropos’, songs by Stromae, MC Solaar and others. ‘The Last Poem of Rabia Balkhi’,
where the ominous moth, flapping and A word of warning: these versions failed Elizabeth Howard-Ahern’s Old English
tapping on the glass, acquires an almost to satisfy the judges because rap is and James Ackhurst’s richly orchestrated
Nabokovian edge. emphatically not just rhythm-based but Neruda. Richard Gwyn’s versions of
I was especially moved by also rhyme-based – the end-rhyme is the contemporary Columbian Darío
poems where that cusp has passed: the lynch pin, and the English versions Jaramillo Agudelo I found compelling.
Nordbrandt’s ‘A Dream about My failed to reproduce this. I commend Olivia McCannon for
Mother’, translated by Michael Swan, In the 18-and-under category, her passionate Louise Labé, Kevin
uses the poignant discontinuities German came through strongly, Maynard for his haunting Góngora
of dream to convey the continuing notably in the two translations from (both versions), David McCallam for
presence of the dead. ‘Long-Distance the contemporary Jan Wagner, who his Chénier, Peter Jackson for his Vigny,
Conversation’, by Anestis Evangelou, invests humble phenomena or small Caroline New for her Giuseppe Giusti,
is brilliantly handled by Francisca Gale, events with sensuous linguistic and and Olwyn Grimshaw for her short
who has to use the plainest language to metaphysical charge. Anna Leader’s fragment of Ovid, traditionally done,
convey a conversation between father rendering of ‘Weeds’ relishes the word-perfect, lovely to read.
and adult child, and expresses the rev- consonantal German and matches Stephen Romer
elation that the distance referred to is it. Joint first was Beatrix Crinnion’s
death – withheld till the last line – with version of Tomas Tranströmer’s
devastating restraint. homage to Haydn, ‘Allegro’. Crinnion
WN Herbert explained in her commentary that she
6Joint winner, 14-and-under category
Прощално Farewell
На жена ми To my wife
Понякога ще идвам във съня ти Sometimes I will come into your dreams,
като нечакан и неискан гостенин. an unexpected and unwelcome guest.
Не ме оставяй ти навън на пътя– Do not leave me outside –
вратите не залоствай. doors bolted.
Ще влезна тихо. Кротко ще приседна, I will come in silently. I will sit quietly,
ще вперя поглед в мрака да те видя. I will stare into the darkness to see you.
Когато се наситя да те гледам– When I have seen you enough,
ще те целуна и ще си отида. I will kiss you and go.
Никола Вапцаров (Nikola Vaptsarov) Translated from the Bulgarian
by Viktoria Mileva
Viktoria Mileva’s commentary
I was looking for a Bulgarian poem to acting against the government and the The poem is a nice shape in Bulgarian
translate, so I asked my mother. Actually German troops in Bulgaria. On the same and I wanted to keep the same shape, as
my grandmother suggested this poem by day he was arrested, 23 July 1942, he was much as possible, in English. The language
Nikola Vaptsarov. He is an important poet sentenced to death. He wrote this poem is simple. I like the first two lines which give
in Bulgaria even though he only ever wrote to his wife at 2pm that afternoon. In the the impression of a ghost coming and the
one book of poetry in his lifetime. He evening he was shot and killed. It is a note to end which shows that even when you are
died when he was only 32. At first I did let his wife know he is going to die but it is dead, love does not leave you.
not really understand everything about the also a love letter. I think this is an important I came to the UK from Bulgaria a year
poem but after I read it again and again I poem for people to know outside Bulgaria ago on 19 July 2014. I spoke only a little
began to like it very much. – it is going to help them to understand bit of English then but now I am already
I think the poet wrote the poem because things about the war and how deeply the forgetting some Bulgarian words and I like
he knew he was going to die. He was arrested Bulgarian people feel for their dead. When to write my poetry in English.
during WWII for being a communist and my grandma Marinka died I was so sad.
7Joint winner, 14-and-under category
Pages Volantes In Circulation
La poussière jamais ne couvrira ces pages. Dust will never cover these pages.
Que je sois vif ou mort, Whether I will live or die,
un vent viendra les agiter a wind will stir them, and,
et, s’il le faut, elles s’envoleront if the world needs new meaning,
par-dessus la montagne, it will take them
pour se poser chez quelque peuple migrateur. over the mountains
Un prince, un voleur de chevaux past endless sands
les cueilleront comme des nénuphars, perhaps to settle among
puis un prophète ordonnera qu’on les traduise. the foothills of confusion.
Elles prendront un sens nouveau, Maybe a prince,
et les enfants parmi les pierres pâliront maybe a horse-thief
de les comprendre, may pluck them like water-lilies.
ou de les déformer pour qu’elles rajeunissent, Maybe they may baulk
plus blanches, At the scratches upon them.
plus pures Maybe a prophet might order their translation.
et plus impitoyables Then the scratches will be words,
then the words can be reborn,
with new life, with new sense;
Alain Bosquet Even the children who play amongst the rocks
will pale with new understanding,
Reproduced by permission or even twist the words themselves so
of Editions Gallimard the pages themselves will be renewed,
so white,
so pure
so cruel
and now no longer mine.
Translated from the French
by Euan Ong
Euan Ong’s commentary
The process of translation is a challenge line of the poem is ‘et plus impitoyables’, religion. Perhaps the pages are religious
in itself – a fact I was deeply acquainted conveying a sense that the words are texts? I hinted at religion with vocabulary
with when attempting to translate ‘Pages merciless to the author. I interpreted this as such as ‘reborn’.
Volantes’. I had studied this poem before and the author regretting that if another culture I, personally, believe translation is
enjoyed its message about the difficulties translates his work, the process will be cruel your best attempt at bringing the ideas of
of translation, leading me to choose it to (it will not have the depth of the original), one language into the culture of another:
translate. I had to make a radical title change and yet it can no longer be said that the language embodies the culture of the nation
– a literal translation of ‘Pages Volantes’ translations belong to the author. I felt this who speaks it. For me, with little experience
seemed a little awkward. I believe that the point needed an extra line to explain. in translation, it seems fitting to translate this
point of the poem is not just about the pages The ‘peuple migrateur’ would probably poem about translation and the hardships
‘flying’ but actually ideas being transferred refer to some non-European people. This endured – you are writing your experience
from culture to culture, hence the title ‘In tribe will almost definitely use a non-Latin of translating the experiences of translation
Circulation’. I hint at the concept of theft script (for them, our alphabet will be ‘script – and in doing so giving the world new
(‘volantes’) in the last two lines. The final unknown’), and the ‘prophet’ suggests meaning.
8Joint first prize, 18-and-under category
Allegro Allegro
Jag spelar Haydn efter en svart dag After a dark day,
och känner en enkel värme i händerna. I sit down to play Haydn
and the simple heat of my hands warms the gloom away.
Tangenterna vill. Milda hammare slår. The keys are ready. The gentle hammers beat.
Klangen är grön, livlig och stilla. The melody is green, vibrant, serene.
The melody says that freedom exists
Klangen säger att friheten finns and that there is one who doesn’t render unto Caesar.
och att någon inte ger kejsaren skatt. I shuffle along, hands in my Haydnpockets.
Nonchalant.
Jag kör ner händerna i mina haydnfickor I hoist my Haydnflag to declare our message:
och härmar en som ser lugnt på världen. ‘We do not back down. But we strive for peace.’
The music is a house of glass on the hillside.
Jag hissar haydnflaggan – det betyder: There stones fly and there stones roll.
»Vi ger oss inte. Men vill fred. « Roll straight through.
But each pane remains
Musiken är ett glashus på sluttningen Unbroken.
där stenarna flyger, stenarna rullar.
Translated from the Swedish
Och stenarna rullar tvärs igenom by Beatrix Crinnion
men varje ruta förblir hel.
Tomas Tranströmer
Reproduced by permission
of Monica Tranströmer
Beatrix Crinnion’s commentary
The opportunity to enter the Stephen and influential poet and even won the There were several challenges in this poem,
Spender competition arose not long after I Nobel Prize in Literature in 2011. It is not one being the line ‘och härmar en som ser
had begun to teach myself Swedish, and I difficult to understand why. The Swedish lugnt på världen’. I eventually opted for just
thought that having a go at it would be a he uses is not particularly extravagant or the one word ‘nonchalant’, as not only was
fun way to discover more about the Swedes, elaborate, and yet his poems create very it short and precise, it gave the calm and
their country and their language. While I do intricate and pure images. Tranströmer, detached sense that would otherwise feel quite
tend to use music to learn more vocabulary, who died in March this year, is one of the clunky in the English. The choice to make
reading and translating foreign poetry was most translated Scandinavian poets of his the poem one stanza instead of couplets came
something which I had not yet considered. time – his poems have been translated into naturally while translating. I felt that it made
So I started, as a beginner, simply: searching more than sixty languages – and arguably the poem mirror the peace and serenity of the
Swedish poetry on Google. the most celebrated too. Despite this, or music, but without losing its structure as it
One of the poets who stood out to perhaps because of this, I wanted to try to still had the one-word lines ‘nonchalant’ and
me most was Tomas Tranströmer; he has give the same image and fluency without ‘unbroken’ which framed the two themes of
been praised for being such an accessible being too wordy. the music (ie the music versus the metaphor).
9Joint first prize, 18-and-under category
Giersch Weeds
nicht zu unterschätzen: der giersch not to be underestimated: weeds,
mit dem begehren schon im namen – darum their syllable full of greed – this is why
die blüten, die so schwebend weiß sind, keusch they bloom so hoveringly white, chaste
wie ein tyrannentraum. as a tyrant’s dream.
kehrt stets zurück wie eine alte schuld, weeds always sneak back like old guilt
schickt seine kassiber to send secret messages
durchs dunkel unterm rasen, unterm feld, through the dark, under lawns and fields
bis irgendwo erneut ein weißes wider- to someplace where a white resistance-
standsnest emporschießt. hinter der garage, nest is festering. behind the garage,
beim knirschenden kies, der kirsche: giersch by the crunching gravel and under the cherry tree: weed
als schäumen, als gischt, der ohne ein geräusch as choking froth, as foam, that germinates
geschieht, bis hoch zum giebel kriecht, bis giersch schier soundlessly and creeps up the gable, until it grows almost
überall sprießt, im ganzen garten giersch everywhere, in the whole garden weeds
sich über giersch schiebt, ihn verschlingt mit nichts als giersch. slice into weeds, twisting with and swallowing nothing
but weeds.
Jan Wagner
Translated from the German
Reproduced by permission of the poet by Anna Leader
Translator’s note: ‘Giersch’ is Aegopodium podagraria
(ground elder), a highly invasive weed with white flowers.
Anna Leader’s commentary
Jan Wagner’s work really appeals to me that it becomes suffocating, just like the wordplay would have rendered the first
because of the strikingly original and weed-choked garden that it is describing. stanza untranslatable but for the lucky fact
sometimes unsettling images that he Preserving this was the most difficult part that ‘greed’ and ‘weed’ rhyme. The original
includes in his poems: ‘Giersch’ reads like of translating this text, and I tried to use ‘s’ poem invites the reader to return to it over
a nightmare that you can’t wake up from. and ‘ch’ sounds to produce the same sonic and over again, and to read it out loud – my
The best thing about this poem, apart from effect. The whole poem plays off the pun hope is that the reader of my translation is
the imagery, is its sounds – the last stanza between ‘Giersch’, an invasive weed, and deeply disturbed, and cannot look at their
especially is so full of the ‘sch’ sound ‘Gier’, the word for greed or desire. This garden again in the same way.
10Third prize, 18-and-under category
AP v23 Epigram 64: A Lament at the Door (AP v23)
οὕτως ὑπνώσαις, Κωνώπιον, ὡς ἐμὲ ποιεῖς Sleep like this
κοιμᾶσθαι ψυχροῖς τοῖσδε παρὰ προθύροις. In the ice bath of evening,
Head heavy on the hard porch
οὕτως ὑπνώσαις, ἀδικωτάτη, ὡς τὸν ἐραστὴν Where you have left me.
κοιμίζεις, ἐλέου δ᾽ οὐδ᾽ ὄναρ ἠντίασας. I curse you, sweet lover, I curse
γείτονες οἰκτείρουσι, σὺ δ᾽ οὐδ᾽ ὄναρ. ἡ πολιὴ δὲ You, lying in the shuttered house.
αὐτίκ᾽ ἀναμνήσει ταῦτά σε πάντα κόμη. Sleep like this! Nothing is crueller
Than you. Live how you
Have made me live.
Callimachus
Is forgiveness foreign to you?
No dream of pity stirs
Your hair in the darkness.
The neighbours passing
To and from their lamp-lit gardens
Lower their eyes – oh such
A miserable sight! No,
Not even a dream disturbs you.
I sleep this way, the cold
Like the flat of the steel blade
On my cheek. I curse
You with this.
Suddenly, at your mirror
You will pull white hairs
From the polished brush.
They will warn you
Of all my pain.
Translated from the Ancient Greek
by Maud Mullan
Maud Mullan’s commentary
I started reading Callimachus in response Greek holds most of its meaning in struggling with the subtleties of words that,
to my Greek and Latin studies. He is one verbs, something often hard to convey in by nature of an epigram, are minimalist, but
of the few Ancient Greek poets whose English, which is syntactically weak and need more expression to create the same
works survive in completed form and I relies on word order and a wide vocabulary sense in English. Therefore I ended up
was interested to see how his work had to convey subtleties of meaning. Like with a three-stanza poem – longer than the
influenced the later Roman authors with Latin, techniques that Greek uses to original, but, I hope, staying closer to the
whom I was more familiar. What could influence meaning in poetry are hard to sense than I otherwise could have.
have been a dry afternoon in the library recreate in English. Emphatic word order Callimachus’ epigram is written in elegiac
became an engrossing one once I discovered is often impossible, and techniques such couplets, a quantitative verse form that does
that much of Callimachus’ extant work as repetition, polyptoton and alliteration, not lend itself to English. Therefore I have
consists of epigrams – some pithy, some which Callimachus uses here to great effect, chosen instead to use free verse in three
funny, others mournful, but all of them in sound awkward and dull in English. nine-line stanzas, focusing on conveying
beautifully constructed Greek, and, what’s In translating Epigram 64, I found it the sense of the poem rather than being
more, short enough for one to translate in difficult to convey the repeated phrases in constricted by metre.
one sitting and have a complete result. English without it being clumsy, as well as
11Second prize, Open category
Υπεραστική συνδιάλεξη Long-Distance Conversation
Εχτές το βράδυ μου τηλεφώνησε Last night my father
ο πατέρας μου. called me.
Στείλε μου μερικά Send me some bottles of ouzo,
πενηνταράκια ούζο, μου είπε, he told me, and one or two
και καναδυό κούτες τσιγάρα cartons of strong cigarettes,
σέρτικα, να κάθουμαι τα βράδια so I can sit of an evening and think of you all.
να σας συλλογιέμαι.
And – before I forget – five or six records
Και – να μην with those old Pontic songs, you know,
το ξεχάσω – και πεντέξι δίσκους the sad ones.
φωναγράφου μ`εκείνα τα παλιά, ξέρεις,
ποντιακά τραγούδια, τα λυπητερά. Over here the days pass by so slowly,
and where are you supposed to find
Εδώ στα ξένα δύσκολα περνούν οι μέρες cigarettes, ouzo, and songs from home,
και που να βρεις τσιγάρα, ούζο και τραγούδια in the shops of heaven.
της πατρίδας, στα μαγαζάκια τ`ουρανού.
Translated from the Greek
Anestis Evangelou by Francisca Gale
Francisca Gale’s commentary
I first came across this poem (which has and ‘called’, so that the effect was not too to replicate this rhythm in the same way in
not, as far as I know, been translated into jarring. In turn, it is worth noting that the English.
English before) during a seminar on death word for heaven in Greek, ουρανός, is also In many respects, the poem is distinctly
in modern Greek literature. The reason for used for the sky, so my choice of ‘heaven’ is Greek, and so sometimes it was not possible
the poem’s inclusion in such a course is not a decision for less ambiguity in the final line. to translate directly into English. For
apparent at first; it’s only in the final line of What particularly attracted me to the instance, πενηνταράκι is a specific measure
verse that it becomes clear that the father is poem is the father’s voice – very informal used for spirits in Greece, which would
not simply working abroad, but is in fact and colloquial, somewhat reminiscent of the have made a clumsy translation, so I decided
dead. The degree to which this comes as a voices of rebetika, the Greek blues. This simply to describe them as bottles of ouzo.
surprise could have been heightened in my was, however, perhaps the most difficult Nevertheless, I think the ‘Greekness’ of
translation: the title of the poem could also be aspect of the poem to represent in English. the poem is retained in translation, and
rendered ‘long-distance phonecall’, and the The distinct rhythm of the father’s speech is this cultural specificity makes the poem’s
father could have ‘phoned’ the son. Instead created through the positioning of the lines universal themes – homesickness, death,
I chose the more ambiguous ‘conversation’ within the stanzas of free verse, so I sought family – all the more poignant.
12Third prize, Open category
Acherontia Atropos
from Epistole Entomologiche Acherontia Atropos
L’Acherontia frequenta le campagne, Acherontia frequents countrysides,
i giardini degli uomini, le ville; the gardens and villas of men:
di giorno giace contro i muri e i tronchi, in the gloomiest corridors, in lofts
nei corridoi più cupi, nei solai left abandoned, underneath the eaves
più desolati, sotto le grondaie, where it sleeps, wings roofing its head.
dorme con l’ali ripiegate a tetto. Only come dusk does it venture out;
E n’esce a sera. Nelle sere illuni in September’s chill and starlit evenings
fredde stellate di settembre, quando when dusk already gives way to nightfall,
il crepuscolo già cede alla notte with the butterflies of sunlight all
e le farfalle della luce sono vanished, Acherontia hovers mournful
scomparse, l’Acherontia lamentosa and solitary among the shadows
si libra solitaria nelle tenebre of thuja-trees, the arbours or flowerbeds
tra i camerops, le tuje, sulle ajole where its daytime cousins lately played,
dove dianzi scherzavano i fanciulli, children gambolled. It is up and about;
le Vanesse, le Arginnidi, i Papilî. a bat, zigzagging, gives it a wide berth.
L’Acherontia s’aggira: il pippistrello Acherontia goes roaming. Deep and dense
l’evita con un guizzo repentino. is the silence, unbroken by screech-owl,
L’Acherontia s’aggira. Alto è il silenzio or the cricket’s strident monotone.
comentato, non rotto, dalle strigi, The villa is like some sunken ship, its sole
dallo stridio monotono dei grilli. identifying feature the windows
La villa è immersa nella notte. Solo of the room where a family take dinner.
spiccano le finestre della sala Acherontia nears, pauses, spies in,
da pranzo dove la famiglia cena. numbering, one by one, each eater,
L’Acherontia s’appressa esita spia whistles a name, flaps against the glass
numera i commensali ad uno ad uno, three, four times, body a bony knocker.
sibila un nome, cozza contro i vetri
tre quattro volte come nocca ossuta.
continued on page 16...
13Third prize, Open category
...continued from page 15
La giovinetta più pallida s’alza A young girl, the palest there, rises
con un sussulto, come ad un richiamo. with a start, as if she’d been summoned.
«Chi c’è?» Socchiude la finestra, esplora ‘Who is it?’ she half-closes the window,
il giardino invisibile, protende explores the dim garden, her blonde head
il capo d’oro nella notte illune. probing darkness, peering and peering...
«Chi c’è? Chi c’è?» «Non c’è nessuno. ‘Who is it? But, Mamma, no one’s there!’
Mamma!» She re-shuts the glass, with a first shudder
Richiude i vetri, con un primo brivido, sits back at the table, between her sisters.
risiede a mensa, tra le sue sorelle. But already one can hear the festive chirrup
Ma già s’ode il garrito dei fanciulli of children delighted at their surprise guest
giubilante per l’ospite improvvisa, and gatecrasher since darted from sight.
per l’ospite guizzata non veduta. Around the lamp it circles, droning –
Intorno al lume turbina ronzando funeral’s messenger, a dismal mascot.
la cupa messaggiera funeraria.
Translated from the Italian
Guido Gozzano by Martin Bennett
Martin Bennett’s commentary
In January I found myself up in Scotland, little bit easier. Secondly, a rare privilege for it through (his illness), the fragments of
with a whole month free from teaching and a translator, the poem came with Gozzano’s Epistole Entomologiche will find themselves
the weariness of my own voice. Despite the preliminary draft in prose thrown in, so without an editor.’ Translator then as part,
snow and polar wind outside, there on the helping to pin down the meaning. Thirdly, however belatedly, of a rescue team, seeking
window’s inside ledge nestled two butter- the series of poems was left unfinished, to ensure that Gozzano’s fears remain
flies, reminding me that inside my suitcase endowing the task of translation with a unfounded.
was a collected works of Guido Gozzano, sense of urgency. To quote the editorial So much for the translator. The original
the last section – Epistole Entomologiche – notes on Gozzano’s premature death from poet has long, like the proverbial butterfly
devoted to just such a creature. The subject TB, the poem was found ‘on four pages sprawling upon a pin, been grouped with
matter, then, seemed something of gift. All torn from an exercise book of which the the so-called ‘Crepusculari’ / Twilighters, his
the more so given that the poem sequence cover is lost. The writing is in pen, black having written himself into a hyper-literary
itself – Gozzano’s ‘congedo poetico’ / poetic ink becoming progressively less intense, dead end. Epistole Entomologiche marked a
farewell (of which ‘Acherontia Atropos’ is with occasional additions in pencil.’ This new beginning, the young disillusioned and
just one part) – also marks his farewell to with another note on how Gozzano had ironic literateur finding in a lifelong passion
rhyme, making any translator’s task that remarked to his mother, ‘If I don’t make for entomology a new way to re-connect.
14The Stephen Spender Trust
Poetry translation part of the October 2015 London Literature
Stephen Spender Prize Festival, the translators helped 60 children
in association with the Guardian from four of the Southbank Centre’s
associate primary schools to translate into
Launched in 2004 and supported for the English ten strikingly illustrated books
past three years by the Old Possum’s from around the world. Working with
Practical Trust and the Dr Mortimer and seven languages, some of which used a non-
Theresa Sackler Foundation, this annual roman alphabet, the children discovered
prize celebrates the art of literary translation that everything – from pictures, to story
and aims to encourage a new generation and tone – needs translating. They become
of literary translators. Entrants translate code-cracking language detectives, using
a poem from any language – ancient or glossaries to create first a literal translation
modern – into English, and submit both the then a polished, nuanced version. They
original and their translation together with learnt what translation involves, what
a commentary of not more than 300 words. happens to books when they make the
There are prizes in three categories: Open, journey from one language (and culture) to
18-and-under and 14-and-under. Booklets another, and how languages and translated
of winning entries from previous years can literature enrich our lives. The children then
be obtained from the Trust or downloaded took to the stage to talk about what they had
Stephen Spender – poet, critic,
from its website, which also provides advice learnt, throwing in for good measure the
for entrants, an attempt (with examples) by editor and translator – lived from animal sounds they had translated and the
former judge George Szirtes to categorise hybrid animals they had invented.
translated poetry, and a growing bank 1909 to 1995. Inspired by his
of poetry translation activities aimed at Translation Nation
literary interests and achievements,
teachers. This award-winning collaboration between
Previously restricted to UK and Irish the Stephen Spender Trust was set the Stephen Spender Trust and Eastside
citizens and residents, the Stephen Spender Educational Trust has been funded by Arts
Prize will open in 2016 to entrants from up to widen appreciation of the
Council England, the Esmée Fairbairn
all over the world and incorporate the literary legacy of Stephen Spender Foundation and the Mercers’ Company.
Joseph Brodsky/Stephen Spender Prize for The aim of the three-day primary work-
the translation of Russian poetry, which is and his contemporaries and promote shops is to highlight to children and their
supported by the Derek Hill Foundation families how language and literature provide
and commemorates the friendship between
literary translation.
a window into other cultures; raise the
Joseph Brodsky and Stephen Spender. profile of community languages in schools;
and increase participants’ understanding
Translation in education is about engaging positively with the many of how language functions, helping them
languages spoken by young people in the develop clearer and more nuanced English.
Translators in Schools UK. Translators in Schools and Translation The double-period secondary workshops
This professional development programme, Nation (see below) use multilingualism as a aim to encourage language-learning, cel-
developed by award-winning translator crucible for creativity and learning, linking ebrate the linguistic diversity found in our
Sarah Ardizzone and teacher Sam Holmes, to National Curriculum objectives in literacy, schools and generate a curiosity about world
delivered by the Stephen Spender Trust modern languages and citizenship. With its literature. They also instil recognition of
and funded by the Calouste Gulbenkian intrinsically dual-language focus, translation the important role translation plays in our
Foundation and European Commission, is an ideal tool for drawing on multilingual lives, opening participants’ eyes to the many
was established to widen the pool of skills while also benefiting children with no career opportunities open to those who
translators with the skills to run translation languages other than English. Crucially, chil- speak other languages. Between 2011 and
workshops in schools. The first training dren who take part in Translators in Schools 2014 workshops were delivered in some 42
day covers translation activities, lesson workshops do not need to speak or read the primary schools and 14 secondary schools.
planning and classroom management; day 2 source language in order to transform it into To date Translation Nation has run
sees participants trying out their own mini- creative expression in the target language. mostly in Greater London. Subject to
workshops on 9–11 year olds brought in What matters is that the journey between funding, we hope from 2016 to deliver it
from a local primary school; the final stage is both languages develops the children’s lit- in schools in three regional hubs, as well as
for participants to develop longer workshops eracy skills, as well as their playful grasp of offering it again in London.
of their own and deliver them in schools. storytelling through negotiating cultural
Translators in Schools graduates may be difference and semantic nuance. The archive programme
contacted via www.translatorsinschools.org. The Big Translate, supported by public
funding from the National Lottery through The Stephen and Natasha Spender archives
The programme has expanded in the past
year to provide training for teachers inter- Arts Council England and by the European Stephen and Natasha Spender’s manuscripts,
ested in introducing translation activities into Commission, was an opportunity for ten letters, diaries and other personal papers are
their teaching and has become part of a wider translators from the Translators in Schools now available to readers in the University of
movement – ‘multilingual creativity’ – which programme to run a public workshop. As Oxford’s Bodleian Library.
Contacting the Trust
For more information about the Stephen Spender Trust and its activities, please contact
Robina Pelham Burn, 3 Old Wish Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex BN21 4JX
01323 452294 info@stephenspender.org www.stephen-spender.org
15The Stephen Spender Trust
Patrons
Lord Briggs, Lady Antonia Fraser cbe,
Lord Gowrie pc, Tony Harrison,
Drue Heinz dbe, David Hockney ch,
Christopher MacLehose cbe,
Lois Sieff obe, Wole Soyinka,
Richard Stone obe, Sir Tom Stoppard om cbe,
Professor John Sutherland, Ed Victor
President
Sir Michael Holroyd cbe
Committee
Jonathan Barker mbe*, Desmond Clarke*,
Sasha Dugdale*, Professor Warwick Gould,
Harriet Harvey Wood obe,
Jonathan Heawood,
Barry Humphries ao cbe, Joanna Hunter,
Professor Karen Leeder,
Caroline Moorehead cbe,
Robina Pelham Burn, Prudence Skene cbe*
Lizzie Spender, Matthew Spender,
Philip Spender, Saskia Spender, Tim Supple
*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 SpenderYou can also read
