In A Poet’s Glossary, Edward Hirsch writes that translation is “a necessity, the only way of bridging the barriers of language.” To celebrate the translation of poetry during September’s National Translation Month—and year-round—we’ve put together this selection of poems in translation, as well as essays, lesson plans, and other resources.
Poems in Translation Alongside the Original
“A Woman Sleeps on an Island” by Marjorie Agosín
translated from Spanish by Cola Franzen
“In a Neighborhood in Los Angeles” by Francisco X. Alarcón
translated from Spanish by Francisco Aragón
“Farewell” by Francisca Aguirre
translated from Spanish by Ana Valverde Osan
“Natural Criminal” by Francisco X. Alarcón
translated from Spanish by Francisco Aragón
“White Chairs” by Krystyna Dąbrowska
translated from Polish by Karen Kovacik
“Like You” by Roque Dalton
translated from Spanish by Jack Hirschman
from The Diary of Kaspar Hauser by Paolo Febbraro
translated from Italian by Anthony Molino
from Names of the Lion by Ibn Khalawayh
translated from Arabic by David Larsen
“Romance Sonambulo” by Federico García Lorca
translated from Spanish by William Bryant Logan
“The Sky Over My Mother’s House” by Jaime Manrique
translated from Spanish by Edith Grossman
“1958” by Pablo Medina
translated from Spanish by Eloisa Amezcua and Pablo Medina
“VIII” by Diego Alfaro Palma
translated from Spanish by Lucian Mattison
“Carrying Our Words” by Ofelia Zepeda
translated from O’odham by the poet