I have been reading a lot of poetry lately, mostly focusing on Spanish language poets, because I am learning Spanish. I find poetry is easier to read than prose, maybe because I can focus on one line at a time, and the words are less crowded. However, I've been surprised to find that so many …
The poetry of Jorge Luis Borges
I've read his many stories off and on throughout my life, but never his poetry until this year. From reading his memorable stories, certain words and ideas have come to carry a lot of 'Borgesness' with them: Labyrinth, hexameter, tigers, algebra, chess, libraries, mirrors, coins--and this carries through to his poetry as well. This could …
Inferno, by Dante Alighieri
Possibly due to my lack of college education, I've for some time been under the impression that many of these very old texts are read only for education purposes, and not for enjoyment. So when I came across a copy of Inferno in a Goodwill, and looked at the first couple pages out of curiosity, …
After Nature, by W.G. Sebald
I've never been able to 'get into' poetry before. Now I'm thinking I've just never been introduced to the good stuff, because this book has really grabbed me and made me want to seek out more like it. The book contains three prose poems, or rather, three parts. Part one is about the 16th century …
Translating poetry: how can meaning be preserved?
I'm so enamored with Sebald that I got a book of his poetry, Across the Land and the Water (from the library, just in case it turns out I'm not a poetry kind of guy.) I've not read much of any poetry, by anyone, but Sebald's writing is just so damn poetic anyway, I figured …
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Jonas David 