Translating Poetry
by Susan Pomasko
Marlborough School
Grade Level: 8-12
Common Core Standards
Reading: Informational Text
RI8.1. Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says
explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
RI8.4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including
figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on
meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.
RI8.6 Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how the author
acknowledges and responds to conflicting evidence or viewpoints.
Writing
W8.6 Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the
relationships between information and ideas efficiently as well as to interact and collaborate with
others.
W8.7 Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated
question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions that
allow for multiple avenues of exploration.
W8.10 Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision)
and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two).
Global Competencies Standards:
Investigate the World: Weigh and integrate evidence to create a coherent response that
considers multiple perspectives.
Weigh Perspective: articulate and explain the perspectives of other people, groups, or schools
of thought and identify influences on these perspectives, including how differential access to
knowledge, technology, and resources can affect people's views.
Communicate Ideas: effectively communicate, verbally and non-verbally, with diverse
audiences. Choose and effectively use appropriate technology and media to communicate with
diverse audiences, including through respectful online social networking
Unit Overview
Students will investigate poetry from various cultural backgrounds. Students translate the work
of poets then write and translate their own poems. Students will translate other lessons as well,
including "Translating Poetry from Ukraine", "Haiku," and "Women in Poetry". Students will
share their poetry with different students from various countries
Lesson Plan 1: Introductory Lesson
Lesson Plan 2: Women in Poetry
Lesson Plan 3: Translating Poems from Ukraine
Lesson Plan 4: Haiku
Lesson Plan 5: Sharing Poetry with the World
Learning Objectives
The purpose of this unit is to motivate students to participate in a project of translating poetry
that will utilize a variety of learning modalities. Each student will select a poem from various
cultural backgrounds and research the life and work of the poet, explore the work in the original
language and find or write a translation of the particular work. Poetry in Spanish, Chinese,
Korean, Turkish, Russian, French, Bengali, Hindi, and Persian will be included. A variety of
research tools will be utilized to do this. The technology component will assist with research and
add to the richness of the material by providing textual and visual links to the poet and his/her
work.
Performance Tasks and Outcomes
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Research the poet's life
Find examples of the poet's work in the original language and in translation
Investigate the socio-cultural context of the work
Collaborate with group to find and share material
Report findings and present to class
Illustrating the project with a work of art or an archival image
Using a variety of graphics
Learning how to effectively search for and gather information on the web
Learning self-management and how to work successfully with others
Expected Outcomes
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Students will learn to plan and organize.
Research skills.
They will become better problem solvers.
Students will recognize cultural connections and differences and see how poetry can
cross barriers and brings the global community together
Technology Required
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Internet Access
Microsoft Paint or Other Drawing Application
Microsoft Powerpoint
Digital Camera
Lesson Plan 1: Translating Poetry: Introductory Lesson
Objectives:
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To introduce the concept of translating poetry
To distribute a list of suggested poets.
To present students with a series of performance tasks which they will complete in
relation to a research project.
Classroom Work:
After a discussion of various cultural backgrounds which will be placed on the chalkboard,
students will name poets they know or their favorite poets and add them to the board. A
supplementary list will be distributed including the following poets:
http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/born/5/18th_century_poets.html
Poem
Poet:
Title:
1 Phenomenal Woman
Maya Angelou
2 Where the Sidewalk Ends
Shel Silverstein
3 If You Forget Me
Pablo Neruda
4 I carry your heart with me
E. E. Cummings
5 The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost
6 A Dream Within A Dream
Edgar Allan Poe
7 There is another sky
Emily Dickinson
8 Life Is Fine
Langston Hughes
9 A Girl
Ezra Pound
10 Messy Room
Shel Silverstein
11 To My Wife - With A Copy Of My Poems
Oscar Wilde
12 Still I Rise
Maya Angelou
13 Let America Be America Again
Langston Hughes
14 To You
Walt Whitman
15 Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Robert Frost
16 I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
William Wordsworth
17 The New Poetry Handbook
Mark Strand
18 Funeral Blues
W. H. Auden
19 Touched by An Angel
Maya Angelou
20 The Raven
Edgar Allan Poe
21 Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
Dylan Thomas
22 A Word to Husbands
Ogden Nash
23 Bear In There
Shel Silverstein
24 If those I loved were lost
Emily Dickinson
25 Romance
Edgar Allan Poe
26 Seeker Of Truth
E. E. Cummings
27 I Taught Myself To Live Simply
Anna Akhmatova
28 Walking Around
Pablo Neruda
29 Digging
Seamus Heaney
30 Brown Penny
William Butler Yeats
31 The Broken Heart
William Barnes
32 A Birthday Poem
Ted Kooser
33 The Mother
Gwendolyn Brooks
34 A Life
Sylvia Plath
35 As Soon as Fred Gets Out of Bed
Jack Prelutsky
36 I'm not Yours
Sara Teasdale
37 And The Moon And The Stars And The World
Charles Bukowski
38 America
Allen Ginsberg
39 Those Winter Sundays
Robert Hayden
40 All the World's a Stage
William Shakespeare
41 A Poison Tree
William Blake
42 Daddy
Sylvia Plath
43 Be Glad Your Nose is on Your Face
Jack Prelutsky
44 O Captain! My Captain!
Walt Whitman
45 A Red, Red Rose
Robert Burns
46 I know why the caged bird sings
Maya Angelou
47 Fast rode the knight
Stephen Crane
48 Happiness
Raymond Carver
49 A Pretty a Day
E. E. Cummings
50 Dream Deferred
Langston Hughes
This list is an ongoing instrument which is meant to be amended and developed as the process
develops. Students will be free to add poets of their own choice as the term proceeds.
Students will be asked to perform several the following tasks:
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Select a poet of particular interest.
Research the poet's life.
Find examples of the poet's work in the original language and in translation.
Write a translation of one of the poems selected.
Compare the student translation to one done by another poet.
Find cultural material, via a search engine, related to the socio-political milieu from which
the poet comes.
Illustrate with original art.
Students will be given several weeks to complete this project and will be checked with
regard to progress periodically. A bibliography and documentation of sources will be
required.
Lesson Plan 2: Women in Poetry: Voices, Translations
Poems Used: Original and translated works by the following poets:
"Refugee Ship" by Lorna Dee Cervantes
"The Language Issue" by Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill
"Pantoum for Chinese Women" by Shirley Geok-lin Lim
Objectives:
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Students will examine the work of three contemporary women who represent various
ethnic and cultural backgrounds.
They will look at the original and the translation for the works of Lorna Dee Cervantes
and Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill
Students will identify elements such as figurative language (metaphor, simile,
personification), and poetic devices (alliteration, assonate, rhyme, rhythm) used.
Students will write a poem in the style of one of the poets.
Students will recognize and list major themes shared by all three poets.
The poems will be compared and contrasted for similarities and differences.
Motivation:
The following quote will appear on the board: "At present, the phenomena of butchering,
drowning and leaving to die female infants have been very serious." -From The People's Daily,
Peking, March 3, 1983. Students will be asked to discuss the quote, its meaning and
implications for women in the Republic of China today. How does this tie in with similar issues in
other parts of the world. Discuss related topics and chart on board. What can women from such
diverse backgrounds have in common? Discuss and put responses on chart paper.
Development:
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Distribute poems -- Read each silently and orally. Present each poem at least twice with
different readers.
Identify the major themes introduced in each poem.
Find and list examples of figurative language. Write in notebooks and on the board.
Make a separate list for each of the three poems.
What observations can be made about the form of the Shirley Geok-lin Lim poem? What
are the characteristics of a pantoum? List on board:
Traditional Malayan form: originaged in the 15th century.
Composed of several stanzas of four lines each.
Follows the pattern of using lines 2 and 4 of each stanza for lines 1 and 3 of the next
stanza.
The first line of the poem should be the same as the last line.
Every line in the poem is used twice.
Form
line A
line B
line C
line D
line B (repeated)
line E
line D (repeated)
line F
line E (repeated)
line G
line F (repeated)
line H
line Y
line C (repeated)
line Z
line A (repeated)
Rhyme is optional
Does the poem meet these criteria? Why or why not?
How has the culture and ethnicity of each poet influenced her work? What are the issues of
major concern to each poet?
Explore the feelings that evoked the strongest response from you. What were they and why
were they so strong?
Technology Component:
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Find other works and translations by one of the three poets.
Research one of the poet's life and cultural background. Find out what societal, cultural,
political forces influenced the work. What role did the issue of gender play in the work?
Find a sample of the poet reading her work.
Write a poem that reflects a theme explored in the work of the poets studied.
Illustrate your poem with appropriate symbols or art.
Lesson Plan 3: Translating Poems of Ukraine
Poems Used: Original and translated works.
"I Was Thirteen" by Taras Shovenka
"Babii Yar" by Yevgeny Yevt
Objectives:
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Students will read poems by two famous poets from Ukraine
Internal and external conflict in each poem will be explored.
Form, figurative language and major themes will be explored.
Students will find cultural, historical and political links on the Internet to demonstrate and
understanding of the background and forces that influenced each poet.
Poems will be compared and contrasted.
Students will write a poem influenced by a major event such as genocide or any type of
social injustice that has affected their culture or changed their perspective on life.
Motivation:
Students will take an online trip to the Museum of Jewish Heritage and investigate the artifacts,
art, diary entries to be found on the second floor which features the Holocaust Memorial
material. Each will print out information and write a preliminary report on some particular aspect
of the holocaust. These will be presented in class and precipitate a preliminary discussion that
will set the stage for the study of the three poems noted above.
Development:
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Poems will be distributed and read orally.
What is the major theme explored in each?
Who is the speaker in each poem?
Describe the setting.
Find several examples of figurative language such as similes, metaphors,
personification, alliteration, oxymoron, apostrophe and synesthesia.
What do you notice about the form, rhyme, and verse?
What effect does the form have on the content?
What does each poem reveal about the cultural, political and social context of the work?
Write a brief prose version of each poem. Tell the story in your own words.
Find the original language version of the poem.
Technology Component:
Find biographical background on one of the poets and report on how his background influenced
his work. Find the poet reading his work. Find another poem by the same poet and if possible
record the English version in your voice.
Lesson Plan 4: Haiku
Poems Used:
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Traditional haiku by poets Issa, Basho and Chiyo, translated by Harry Behn and others.
Modern haiku by poets including W.F. O'Rourke and Etheridge Knight.
Selections from The Sea and the Honeycomb: A Book of Tiny Poems, edited by Robert
Bly.
Objectives:
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Students will learn the form of the traditional haiku and demonstrate their mastery of the
form by writing original haiku in the style of Issa, Basho or Chiyo.
They will find one or more translations of the work of an early writer of haiku.
Students will write original haiku, both traditional and modern style. Completed work will
be illustrated with original art or traditional Chinese art foudn online.
Students will enter their work in the Japan Society Haiku Contest.
Motivation: What makes haiku different from other poetic forms?
Discuss: Format for a haiku: three lines, seventeen syllables, sharp images, references to
nature, a sharp turn or sudden insight or contrast.
Development:
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Read several samples of traditional haiku poetry.
Make several observations about the poems: List the following images on the board:
kite/hovel, flower/filled well, balloon/child leaving zoo, birds without necks, washing
dihes/pan of stars, convicts/lizards on rocks.
View short film on haiku, in class as a summary.
Demonstrate understanding by writing one traditional haiku and two modern-style haiku.
Technology Componenet:
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Students will do online research on the following:
Gather information on the background and historical context of the life of a traditional
writer of haiku such as Basho or Issa.
Find three to five haiku not read in class and illustrate with traditional Chinese art found
online or create your own art work to illustrate each selection.
Lesson 5: Sharing Poetry with the World
Objectives:
Students explore a variety of poems, find one poem they feel a particular connection to, and
share that poem by reading it aloud to their classmates. Students then write their own poems
and create videos of their readings to share with other classes.
Students will:
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Explore poems from a variety of sources, both print and online.
Write and then share their poem by reading them aloud to their classmates.
Create videos of their poem to share with other classes.
Materials Needed
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Computer(s) with Internet access
A large variety of resources -- including books and Web Sites -- students can use to
explore poems and choose a favorite style
Camcorder or digital video camera
Procedure
This lesson is designed to help students write poetry and share their writing
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Have students choose a type of poetry to write and share
Practice at least three times reading the poem aloud.
Think about (but do not write out) what they will say about the personal significance of
the poem.
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Have students work in pairs to create videos of their poetry.
Encourage students to share their videos with other classrooms, at a parent open house,
or at a classroom poetry slam.
Poetry Sharing Possibilities
http://www.poetrysociety.org.uk/content/competitions/npc/
http://www.poetry.com/
http://www.poetfreak.com/explore
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/national-poetry-month-poetry-technology-mary-beth-hertz?page=8