Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge discussion
2017 Read Harder Challenge
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Task #23: Read a collection of poetry in translation on a theme other than love
Sure! For any of them, any "collected poetry" volume would fit as none of them write/wrote nearly solely on love (unlike, say, Neruda maybe). But here are the ones that I know don't have an overriding love theme and that would be considered classics:Rita Dove: Museum, or, if you want to hop around a bit more in a volume that contains Museum plus others, Collected Poems: 1974-2004
Seamus Heaney: Perhaps his most classic works are Death of a Naturalist, Field Work, North, and Wintering Out. I would look for a collection that contains all or most of these, such as Opened Ground: Selected Poems, 1966-1996.
Philip Larkin: I'd recommend High Windows and The Whitsun Weddings, both of which are contained in Collected Poems.
Elizabeth Bishop: A Cold Spring and Geography III; both are included in The Complete Poems: 1927-1979 (and I am sure in other collections of her work).
Sylvia Plath: Ariel is without a doubt her most classic poetry publication.
Robert Frost: I'd recommend Frost: Poems, or a collection with similar poems in it if you want to read the classics. (Goodreads helpfully lists all the poems in this collection.)
Mary Oliver: Try Wild Geese for the classics.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge: People seem to enjoy Kubla Khan the most, so maybe try that one (collections of his works, including his shorter works, would work too).
Anne Carson: I should backtrack a little here, because her *most* famous work is technically about love, so I'd try Plainwater: Essays and Poetry (though it does contain some essays).
Walt Whitman: Leaves of Grass.
Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise.
C.K. Williams: Either Collected Poems or Selected Poems will work and give you a good range of material.
Kate wrote: "Sure! For any of them, any "collected poetry" volume would fit as none of them write/wrote nearly solely on love (unlike, say, Neruda maybe). But here are the ones that I know don't have an overrid..."Thank you!
Penny wrote: "Kate wrote: "Sure! For any of them, any "collected poetry" volume would fit as none of them write/wrote nearly solely on love (unlike, say, Neruda maybe). But here are the ones that I know don't ha..."You're welcome!
I read Les Fleurs du Mal (Flowers of Evil) by Baudelaire...proud of myself for having finished it but WOW so NOT a light read!
It took me a while, but I found this one. It's a poetic novella written in free verse. I'm counting it. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/938307...
Shannon wrote: "It took me a while, but I found this one. It's a poetic novella written in free verse. I'm counting it. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/938307..."That totally counts - and is a great rec, thanks!
For this one I read The Collected Poems of Chika Sagawa, which was translated from Japanese. I don't usually read poetry so I am glad that this challenge pushed me out of my comfort zone.
Does Baudelaire: Poems this work? Translated from French. Don't think they're about love. Poetry is not my favorite.
Elyse wrote: "Does Baudelaire: Poems this work? Translated from French. Don't think they're about love. Poetry is not my favorite."Not all of the poems will be about love (it collects Les fleurs du mal and Paris Spleen), but for this challenge you're better off with trying to find a copy of Paris Spleen. Even more so if poetry is not your favorite, as this book is all prose poems.
Kate wrote: "Elyse wrote: "Does Baudelaire: Poems this work? Translated from French. Don't think they're about love. Poetry is not my favorite."Not all of the poems will be about love (it collec..."
Thank you!
If I don't find something else that catches my attention to fit this category, I might read the book of Psalms from the Bible. I'll look around and consider other options, but who knows.
I love Spanish and Latin American poetry, but since I speak Spanish I've been looking for poets from others parts of the world to complete this task. Well, I found a gem: Polish Nobel Prize winner Wisława Szymborska. I highly recommend Here.
I'm reading Nothing More to Lose by Najwan Darwish and it is really enjoyable. Also quite slim, so not a hard book to take on if poetry isn't generally your thing.
I took the epic poem route and read The Epic of Gilgamesh, translated from the Sumerian. In my mind, it feels like it fits because it's a "collection" of the fragments discovered and isn't complete. I found each "chapter" felt like it's own separate piece, though most of them were connected.I also found some great lectures about it on Youtube from Missouri State, and I learned a lot by watching them after reading - so I feel like this still got me outside of my comfort zone. I'm glad I fulfilled the prompt this way instead of choosing a "mercy" pick and not enjoying it at all.
Rebecca - I think on NOVA they actually built one of the boats as Gilgamesh would have.
Rebecca wrote: "I took the epic poem route and read The Epic of Gilgamesh, translated from the Sumerian. In my mind, it feels like it fits because it's a "collection" of the fragments discovered and i..."What a great idea!
Kirsten *Make Margaret Atwood Fiction Again!" wrote: "Rebecca - I think on NOVA they actually built one of the boats as Gilgamesh would have."Oh, I love NOVA! I will have to see if I can find the episode. I find historical recreation like that so interesting.
It just occurred to me that unless you read it in Hebrew, the book of Psalms from the Hebrew Bible could count. I won't, because I'm in seminary and it wouldn't exactly be stretching my horizons, but it's definitely a collection of poems.
TM wrote: "Here are a couple of suggestions:Mr Cogito by Zbigniew Herbert, translated from Polish by John Carpenter and Bogdana Carpenter. This is a slim volume (62 pages in my print version) of persona poe..."
This comment was written a few moths ago but thanks TM. I'm not a huge poetry fan so I was looking for a short book, and it's great the the suggestions are translated from Polish and Swedish. I'm bilingual so I didn't want to read poems that originally were either in English nor Spanish, and I was finding it difficult. I was quite lost with this category. These suggestions are very useful.
mel wrote: "Any suggestions for a collection translated from Spanish with the original text included?"Concerning the Angels is the book I selected and it contains both English and Spanish
I read I Am the Beggar of the World: Landays from Contemporary Afghanistan, a really fascinating look into a literary tradition that I had little knowledge of. Meaningful poetry and the author has insight into the translation process.
I am looking at some of Rabindranath Tagore's works for this task...there are many free collections of his poetry on iBooks (and $0.99 versions on Amazon). I have also looked at collections on more mysticism-centric poems by Rumi that are available (in order to avoid the love theme as the task states).
I just finished I Am the Beggar of the World: Landays from Contemporary Afghanistan. This book might not count, because the first section of the book is on Love, but the book is worth reading anyway. The design of the book takes full advantage of the traditional structure of landay poems.
Ellie wrote: "I'm going to jump on the Pablo Neruda train with 'The book of Questions'."Thanks for the recommendation. I am not a big poetry fan; however, the book of Questions was quite enjoyable and even prompted me to look at Neruda's "Odes"
My copy of Neruda's Ode to Common Things is on its way! Since it is about to be National Poetry Month in the US, I also plan to read 2 other volumes of poetry or more. Excited!
I am not a big fan of poetry. I don't really have the educational foundation to enjoy good verse, but I am enjoying Sonnets to Orpheus
I plan to read the book of Psalms from the Bible since my version is in English!
if you're struggling for ideas or can't find much of interest in your local library, here are some suggestions from Arabic-writing poets available online https://arablit.org/2017/03/08/for-in.... They're not full books but it's a good way to dip your toes :)!
If anyone is still looking for a book for this topic, the kindle edition of The Essential Rumi is currently on sale for $1.99. https://smile.amazon.com/Essential-Ru...
I read My Flower Leaf Flower Leaf: Japanese haiku translated into English, retaining 5-7-5 syllables a translation of Japanese Haiku. Very short and quick, free with kindle unlimited, and about flowers. Might be a good one for those of you who are dreading this task :-)
I ended up reading Rilke because my library didn't have a lot of options on Overdrive. The best thing I can say about it is mostly that it was short, which is too bad. I'd actually read some amazing poetry recently and was starting to think I might like it but this reminded me of why I don't generally seek poetry out. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I read Odes to Common Things by Neruda, and it was AWESOME! It was also super fast. If you can find a copy, I recommend it - if you speak any Spanish, reading both versions side-by-side is also interesting, but not necessary.
Like many others, I also went with a Neruda collection, Sublime Blue: Selected Early Odes by Pablo Neruda. It has side-by-side Spanish and English versions, which wasn't of much use to me since I'm not fluent in Spanish, but might be nice for bilingual readers. I'd advise getting a print copy, though. I read an e-book version and there were some formatting issues. What would have been side-by-side Spanish and English versions on separate pages in a print copy ended up being a mishmash of Spanish and English. I'd start in English, then end up with several lines of Spanish, followed by more English, all on the same page. It really interfered with the flow of the poems.
99 Psalms by SAID is a short, beautifully-written book of poems. SAID is a native of Iran who studied in Germany and had to remain there because of his opposition to the Shah. The poems were originally written in German. (If you are double dipping -- This would also fulfill #4 - A book by an immigrant and, possibly, #18.)
As some others, I went with Pablo Neruda and I read his book of poetry Sublime Blue: Selected Early Odes by Pablo Neruda. It has odes to numbers, the atom, gloom, etc. Not being a reader of poetry, I really found some quite moving and would definitely recommend!
I read Paroles: Selected Poems by Jacques Prévert, translated by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. The copy I bought a long, long time ago isn't the one here. My copy published by City Lights (it may also be or have been a micro press, I gotta look up that definition again) is only 71 pages.
Stina wrote: "Ugh, this one is going to be tough for me. I never trust translations, especially of poetry. Though I would consider a side-by-side English/French or English/Italian volume. Any suggestions for that?"Tales of a Severed Head has side-by-side translation.
I read Alphabet by Inger Christensen. I liked it so much that I'm planning on reading Butterfly Valley too.
Just finished the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Another book I've had on my shelves for awhile.Interestingly, I had bought this used and hadn't really looked in it. There is an inscription just before the title page that is so sweet I need to share:
May 26, 1944
To My Darling Wife-
May this be the first of many good books we will read and digest together and may we always be as happy as we are now.
Love eternal,
Davis
This is (one of many reasons) why I love used books!
Amber wrote: "Just finished the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Another book I've had on my shelves for awhile.Interestingly, I had bought this used and hadn't really looked in it. There is an inscription just befor..."
It's so lovely! I agree, the serendipitous finds in used books are just wonderful.
I am working my way through Madwomen: The "Locas mujeres" Poems of Gabriela Mistral, a Bilingual Edition. It's really different from poetry I would typically read, and I'm enjoying it a great deal so far.
Although I don't usually read translated poetry, I'm planning to read Pablo Neruda's Extravagaria
I don't generally read poetry so I just went to the literature from other countries section in the library (880s and 890s in the dewey decimal system for Afro-Asia/Other in case anyone needed to know) and looked around until I found a book of poetry that didn't look too long or too dense. I ended up grabbing Three Chinese Poets which was pretty good. I really appreciated the introduction which gave me some much needed background info on the authors and the times they lived in and Chinese poetry in general.
someone here suggested 'I am the Beggar of the World' I am reading that now and enjoying it. I also found the book, 'Load Poems Like Guns' which is a more traditional style of poems by Afghan women versus 'Beggar' which is Landays (described as folk couplets) that are more of an oral tradition. this book includes the poem translated in English on the left side and the poem written in its original Persian on the right. I am interested to find out what allows one group of women to write while another depend on oral performance. money/class? Area of the country? Time period?
I don't read a lot of poetry but I do enjoy it. I love the way individual words become art instead of just being a vehicle to tell a story - if that makes any sense.
I've been working my way through Collected Poems for more than a month and finally finished it this week! This was a bilingual edition, so I read both the original Spanish poems and the English translations. I absolutely love Lorca's work and knew this would be a good option for me for this prompt. My favorite poem of all time is "Romance sonámbulo" (Sleepwalking Ballad) from the Primer Romancero Gitano (The Gypsy Ballads) collection; I was taken with it the first time I read it and remain so all these years later. I almost picked up a Neruda collection I had on my shelf instead but am glad I opted for this one despite the length.
Most of the fourteen collections included in this edition would work for a stand-alone option for satisfying the prompt. This book also worked for another challenge I'm participating in -- one of the prompts was to read a book more than 800 pages, so this checked the box for that category.
I just finished Absolute Solitude: Selected Poems by Dulce María Loynaz. Some of the poems were about love (which I hadn't realised when I bought it) but it isn't the overall theme. I am therefore going to continue to count it for this challenge. I'm not used to reading poetry so still thinking through my opinion on the collection but I didn't find it a boring or unpleasant experience, just unusual for me. The publication includes the original Spanish side by side with the English translation.
Apologies if this has already been suggested but I'm reading The Norse Eddas for this. They're verse sagas and have been on my TBR list for about 20 years!
Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
I Am the Beggar of the World: Landays from Contemporary Afghanistan (other topics)I Could Pee on This: and Other Poems by Cats (other topics)
On Love and Barley: Haiku of Basho (other topics)
The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes (other topics)
Absolute Solitude: Selected Poems (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Matsuo Bashō (other topics)Dulce María Loynaz (other topics)
Jacques Prévert (other topics)
Wisława Szymborska (other topics)
Anna Akhmatova (other topics)
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Thank you, but could you give me names of collections that fit the task :)