: Re: How can I translate my poems in English that it doesn't sound odd/non poetic for English speaker audiences? There are many translated Persian/Farsi poems in English like The Rubaiyat, by Omar

@Heady158

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Short answer: I don't think it's possible to really translate a poem.

Some translators will create a "prose translation". That is, they translate the poem much as they would non-poetic language, trying to retain the meaning, while sacrificing rhyme, rhythm, and so forth. The result usually sounds nothing like a poem but simply like ... well, usually not ordinary narrative, because it will often have a heavy reliance on turns of phrase, mood, and so on, and it will end up being a little disjointed, because things that contributed to rhyme and rhythm and so on in the original will still be there, but no longer serving any purpose.

Take just one element: Suppose the original poem rhymes. Of course if you translate the words, the chance that two words that rhyme in language A will translate into words that rhyme in language B is very small. So what do you do? You might be able to find a different word with a similar meaning that does rhyme. You might be able to re-arrange the word order some to put a word that rhymes at the end of the line. But at best that will be difficult, and it would often be impossible to do without losing the meaning.

As others have said, you could basically re-write the poem in the target language. That is, try to write a poem in the target language that conveys the same general meaning and tone and as much of the same phrasing as you can. But it's barely legitimate to say that this is a translation, it's more like an imitation.

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